Elsa’s Gift Management
What the Movie “Frozen” Tells Us About Being a Gifted Leader
The first time I saw the movie Frozen, I didn’t quite get it — the movie plot or the lesson. The part about Elsa’s gift and how it was managed is what I’m mostly focused on here. Plus, the part of knowing she was to be Queen someday and the complete lack of taking that into account.
About 3 years later I watched Frozen again and was disturbed with the message that it portrays:
The oldest child, Elsa, is gifted. Her fingertips hold power. Younger sister, Anna, is very connected with Elsa. They are each other’s best friends.
Not sure how to handle this gifted child, the parents ask for help. And then they give all their power away to the person they asked, the ‘revered’ healer in the community.
This reflects fears of people who don’t know what to do with other people who are gifted; they shun it or push it away or ignore it. Very common challenge, unfortunately.
That’s the first mistake — doing what they were told by one person without question: isolate Elsa, put her in a room by herself because her gift can cause harm. In the movie, they did this after Elsa created a situation that was dangerous. Not on purpose. She hadn’t been trained how to use her gift. Not Elsa’s fault. Yet she is blamed and shamed for her gift.
Who are the parents really taking care of with Elsa’s isolation? It’s not Elsa, nor Anna. It’s the parents and the healer. If they feel helpless about how to support Elsa with her gift, then as parents, I would assume they have an obligation to seek out more answers. Not stop at one person’s perspective (I also get there is no drama or movie without this plot. My concern is what the plot is teaching the audience who watches it.)
To make it worse, the parents didn’t tell Anna why Elsa is in a room by herself and doesn’t respond at all to Anna’s knocks on the door. Nothing. They were best friends and each other’s closest human beings. And now, without any communication, suddenly their lives are changed. Without their consent. It was dictated.
Completely confused, Anna feels isolated as well. Neither sister wants that, it’s not healthy for them nor does it serve the girls. Eventually it isn’t going to serve the realm that Elsa is in line to serve.
The second mistake was NOT asking a different question which is, “How can we help Elsa learn how to use her gift?” Why isn’t that the direction?
So now we have a young girl, Elsa, whom everybody knows is destined to be Queen when her father dies, who is in complete isolation from any other human beings.
So she has no skill set at how to lead. She has no support and how to run a country. She’s not getting the kind of insight that she needs from the experience of her father or mother because she’s completely isolated.
How can she learn to serve her realm with no training? With no understanding of who is in her realm because she of the isolation? What is she learning about love? What is she learning about leadership? Yikes!
Elsa is a gifted leader with no support, NO HELP, nobody who sees her gifts in a positive way, and no education for her future role as Queen.
Mostly, Elsa’s internal feelings and beliefs, as we see later, is that she’s dangerous, unlovable and that being gifted means there is something wrong and she needs to be isolated, to live alone in a “ice castle away from everything.”
What disturbs me so much about the message of the movie — isolating somebody with their gifts because the responsible people aren’t asking more questions about how to help her — is that it has been hugely influential on young people. Millions upon millions of people have received, consciously or not, a message that being gifted is a problem. And you have to figure out how to solve it on your own, in isolation, which isn’t very realistic or probable.
If Elsa knew how to use her gifts appropriately, she would have done it. Duh!
The message, although not conscious, continues to spread even with the redeeming end.
Ultimately, Anna’s leadership and strength redeem Elsa through love. Thank goodness we see that.
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I truly believe that every gift we have is intended to be used for impact and isolation doesn’t really solve that issue.
What does this message say about us as a society and people who have gifts?
Do we push gifted people away? Isolate them or remove ourselves from their lives?
Do we judge them as wrong or bad?
Do we buy into the fact that once a path is determined then that is the only path?
Do we trust ourselves with our own gifts?
How do we judge ourselves for being gifted?
How much denial or abandonment of gifts do we choose in order to ‘fit in’ and not be isolated from others?
How many other stories have been created that repeat this same message of “being gifted is dangerous and one must be isolated?”
I wonder how many people who are gifted or shunned or put in isolation, have to figure out how to handle their gifts on their own. It’s a pretty impossible task. How can you learn how to work with your gifts if you don’t have support and insight from other people, or even role models? When you’re in isolation there isn’t anybody to look at even to discern what you don’t want.
We aren’t intended to live in isolation. Other people’s reflections to us are important, whether we like it or not. It’s helpful, again, whether we like it or not.
So…the mismanagement of Elsa’s gifts impact her ability to lead well. Of course, that story isn’t written! Frozen II assumes she figured it out with Anna’s help. We don’t know for sure.
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As an Expert Master Hand Analyst for 30 years, I have read thousands of hands of people who are gifted, talked with them about being gifted, the challenges they share, their fears, their stories and why they hold back. I’m highly gifted so I know these options myself.
And I work with leaders who are gifted, whether they own their leadership or giftedness at the beginning. They will if they continue working with me.
Owning gifts and asking for support with learning how to express them is a game-changer. Of course, Frozen would be a whole other story if Elsa had been supported instead of isolated. I get it!
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I also did some research on Hans Christian Anderson, the author of “Snow Queen” upon which Frozen is based. It’s pretty clear from what I read that he had a tough childhood and felt isolated so he knows from personal experience what he’s writing about in the story.
Hans was abused (to build character — yikes!) and discouraged from writing by his teachers at one point. It had been suggested to him that instead of acting he become a poet. Which he tried and then was discouraged when he was young. Lots of ups and downs, father dying early, and many other circumstances of feeling alone to handle life. Yet he wasn’t physical isolated from other people, as Elsa becomes. But I’m guessing he felt emotionally isolated.
Pamelah Landers is an Expert Master Hand Analyst working with Gifted Leaders. Pamelah@PamelahLanders.com
