English Debate Club: Was Elsa's Decision in the Movie Frozen Right?

Um…Sometime back, maybe a few months ago, I signed up for our school's English Debate Club, which was made by a 3rd grade girl who's the smartest in the whole school. 
So, last Thursday, we got together in the conference room and talked about the movie, Frozen. If you read my post on Frozen you would know that I really liked the movie. So anyway, we talked mainly about whether Elsa's decision was right. By decision we meant-or at least I thought- the choice that Elsa made to stay locked up in her castle, shuning everyone, including her sister, Anna. Before we met that lunch time, I thought about it a little. Honestly, I didn't really think there was a right or wrong because either way I would still have understood Elsa. However, because I wanted to look at the movie in a different perspective I chose to say that Elsa was wrong. Here is what I said:


Before I talk about whether Elsa made the right decision let me first talk about what Elsa's problem is.
As you all know, Elsa has an abilty to conjure ice. However, after the incident where she almost froze her sister, she gets scared of her ability and loses confidence in herself. 

Now, let me tell you why Elsa made the wrong choice.

First, effects of social confinement. We humans are social beings. We want to talk to other people, we have to interact each other not just for enjoyment, but also for survival. Then, what happens when we are alone, isolated from society? There is little good in being alone. In severe cases, we would become animals. Or, in the case of Elsa, she would develop the psycological problems that she already has. What I think is that instead of confining herself, she should have actually opened herself to other people. After all, Elsa is the queen of Arendell. I'm sure she has plenty good friends to help guide her. She could have surely asked for the help of a psycologist or therapist. Or, she could have gone to her sister Anna, who would have surely helped Elsa. However, what did Elsa do? She chose to lock herself in her lonely castle. Cuting off all the people who could have helped her. By confining herself she made the problem even worse. Instead of solving it, she let the problem grow and grow. Her emotions built up inside her. As in the movie, this builduop of emotions eventually erupted when she is confronted by her sister at the party. If she had talked with other people about what she was going through her emotions wouldn't have exploded as it did in the movie.





Second, irresposiblity. Elsa is the queen of Arendell. She has to care for her people. But, what does she do? She stays in her castle not even seeming to care about her people. She just locks herself in her room just moping and trebling about her own ability. Elsa could have also used her abilty to make an ice castle for her people. Also as you saw in the movie, people like Kristoff made a living off of selling ice blocks. If Elsa used her ability to make ice blocks, Arendell could have prospered off the ice block business. Also as you saw in the movie if Elsa made ice sculptures and beautiful buildings our of ice, Arendell could have become a major tourist attraction. 

Third, Perspective. To me this is the biggest problem with Elsa. Elsa has an awesome ability. I mean how many people in the Frozen world would have that ability? I'm sure many people would envy her. But, Elsa sees her abilty as freakish and scary, and tries to hide it. I think that instead of seeing her ability as a terror, she should see it as gift. Also in the movie, Elsa acts like she can't control her ability. However, I don't think it's her ability that is the problem. It's Elsa's emotions and the way she sees her abilty that's the problem. If Elsa really couldn't control her ability, ice would appear everywhere without control. Also when Elsa made that beautiful castle as she sang "Let it Go", instead of that beautiful castle. 
 What would have really appeared is probably a heap of ice that looks like this. Or, maybe when she wanted to build that castle her abilty wouldn't have worked at all and she would have got nothing. I think that it's not Elsa's abilty that can't be controlled. I think that it is her emotions that is causing her to lose "control"over her ability.  






These are three reasons why I think Elsa made the wrong decision. Thank you!!!

After this ENC meeting, I realise that I saw Frozen in a perspective different from when I wrote my post about the movie and it was pretty cool to have that experience. Before I end this post, I would like to say that I don't hate Elsa. I actually like her mature character, however like all people, I think that she too has some flaws. Thank you (again)!!