I'm not gonna stay in your stupid box! - A rant, by Sra

So here's the thing. Last night I literally had three different boys almost-simultaneously tell me that my own personal life experience didn't count as evidence in the argument. Something that I personally had happen to me was irrelevant, but three seconds earlier some guy's story about a thing his baby sister did once, was.

(This was the same guy who told me the hover shoes in the movie were stupid, because they looked too much like ice skating, and therefore were girly. Yes, he said that Channing Tatum looked too girly in the movie where he was genetically part wolf, and shirtless at least 40% of the show. But even if he did, SO *editing phrase for language* WHAT? Girls are bad now?)

ANYWAY, I'm not even exaggerating, which I have a tendency to do. Here's how it went down:

*little boy playing with truck* 

The Dad: "Aw, that is so cute." 

Me: "Yeah." 

Dad: "It's just so interesting how little boys just so naturally go for cars, and little girls go for the barbies."

Which isn't exactly an evil thing to say. I think I might have said it once, years ago. And I've heard it a million times. It's just that usually I'm not surrounded by a crowd of guys who are talking nerd-tastically about computers and rockets, which I know very little about. I felt very pressured to prove myself as an able and intelligent human, (Something that happens kind of always as a girl around guys), so I spoke up when I may not have normally. I said:

Me:  "Sometimes."

The Dad: *in the most brushing-me-off manner this particular guy has ever used on me* "No, it really is. He just picked up that truck one day, and got really into it, and it's just hilarious how he went right for it."

Me: "He went right for it because the only toys he has are-"

Dad: *interrupts to tell a relevant and uninterrupted story about how his sister first discovered Barbies* 

Me: "Okay, that's kind of funny and cute, but here's my childhood story from personal experience, which proves that the stereotypes are, in fact, stereotypes, not rules." 

I told my story. At which point not one, and not two, but ALL THREE guys in the room simultaneously started to argue with me. Arguing with me about MY OWN LIFE STORY.

What? Like seriously, what even? I've experienced mansplaining before, and it's annoying, but I feel like I've never really gotten the worst of it, compared to many girls. This, though. This was beyond such absurdities.


Me:

And that's what I'm the most upset about. Yeah, I'm frustrated that people are perpetuating socially artificial gender stereotypes. Yeah, I hate that they use completely flawed logic to refute my statements. And yes, I'm frustrated that I'm practically invisible in most parts of my life anyway. People have literally asked me a question to my face, sat there waiting for an answer, and STILL ignored what I said to them in response. I hate it.

But more than any of that, I don't need this nonsense of having a guy explain away what small bits people do hear from me. I don't need three doofy-looking guys who are years younger than me acting like anything I say can be made to fit their scenario.

Every single time I've ever talked to a male about a female social issue, the male has gone on to argue that it's a completely different issue, and not about women at all. Literally ever single time, without exaggeration.

OBVIOUSLY I don't really know what I mean. OBVIOUSLY I mean this other thing. OBVIOUSLY they're right, because they're men, and they would know.

NO. No that isn't what I meant, and no explanation you're gonna try to give me is going to change the fact that this is a thing I experienced.

There were three dudes, and three women in that room. Do you know what percentage of the conversation came from any of the women? 20% if I'm being generous.

So that's my rant on being heard. But while I'm here, we might as well talk about the gender stereotypes too, since that's what sparked the issue in the first place.

First, your kid isn't playing with that truck because he's a boy. He's playing with that truck because that's the toy you bought him. What's he gonna do, toddle down to wal-mart to pick out something else?

Some boys do go for cars naturally. And so do some girls.

Some girls do go for barbies naturally. And so do some boys.

"Boy toys" and "Girl toys" are an entirely artificial idea. What really defines what they go for are the choices they are given.

If you're out of orange popsicles, you say to your kid "Alright, so do you want purple or yellow?" They will pick purple or yellow. Does this mean that they just naturally like purple better than orange?

By the above logic, yes. Yes it does.

Think about it.

\/  This is exactly the thing. I am Sofia, and I just want to fly my winged horse, dang it. \/

Even the story the guy told about his little sister proves this. She'd never seen a barbie before, so she went for the cars because she didn't know barbies were a choice. It is the EXACT SAME THING.

I was lucky. My family has always been very good about letting me find out what things I liked. To be completely honest, I had no idea that there even was a societal stigma about "girls are bad at math" or "girls don't like science" until I was a sophomore or junior in BYU.

My mom taught science, and I didn't have the realization that she didn't know everything in the world until the summer after 10th grade. I grew up knowing that women were every bit as smart as anyone else. I grew up just inherently knowing that fantasy and sci-fi were every bit a girl's thing as a boy's.

The things I was very into as a kid had nothing to do with barbies. I was into dinosaurs, rocks, microscopes, constellations, rockets, dragons, and I was hardcore into swords. I dressed up as Peter Pan and the blue power ranger for Halloween.

And my parents let me, because THAT'S WHAT YOU DO. You let your kid find out what they like. You let them explore it, and see where it takes them. Not once, during my entire life, did either of my parents tell me that swords were boy's toys, so I couldn't have them.

(I'm still SO into swords.)

IT'S SO PRETTY. 

                                                                              

 *Drool*

Ooh. Nice. 

Ok, ok, I'll stop. I'm sorry. I just got really sidetracked on google. 

ANYWAY

But even as good as I had it, one of my earliest very-clear memories deals with this exact subject.

It was my cousin's birthday party. We were at a park. I don't know whether he was turning three or four, but I would have been probably five or six.

My aunt had gotten some little barbie-esque plastic doll toys, and some plastic ninja stars. She was going down the line of kids, handing them out. I was psyching myself up to ask for a ninja star, because I really didn't want a dumb old doll figurine, and I was kind of scared. I don't do confrontations well, and I especially didn't when I was a teeny kid facing a grown up. But I wanted that ninja star so bad.

My aunt got to me. She barely even looked at me as she walked by, and didn't say a word. She just handed me a ninja star and moved on, like it was no big deal.

Me:

 SHE UNDERSTANDS ME!!!


That was a big deal to me. A HUGE deal. So much so that I am 30 now, and it still gives me warm fuzzies.

It was important, because I spent my entire life since feeling like people keep shoving me into boxes. Teachers, friends, enemies, cartoons, church leaders, classmates, magazines... even the arbitrary standards of what counts as professional clothing.

I looked forward to girl's camp every year like most kids waited for Christmas, because it was the only week in the entire 52 that I went somewhere I felt I could be whoever I wanted to be.

Guess which one is me. 

I spent half of 7th grade and the entirety of 8th sitting completely by myself at lunch every single day. (In 9th and 10th I had exactly one friend, who played Magic The Gathering with me during lunch. But then he graduated. *sad face*)

I also had a duo of hardcore bullies during 7th and 8th.They were super annoying, but I'm pretty sure that the societal pressures of a middle schooler had already weighed on me as much as anything was going to. So, sorry-not-sorry, Justin and Steven. You mean nothing.

Everyone obsessed over make-up and boys and prom and dresses and hair and fashions and pop stars and shoes and I wasn't into any of those things. (Well, except Backstreet Boys. That, I understood.)

It's super hard to make and keep close friends, when no one cares about anything that you care about. And because of that, I kept trying to cram myself into the boxes that they sat in, so that I wouldn't be alone.

But I didn't fit. And even I, as the super slow mover that I am, eventually came to the conclusion that I didn't have to.

So don't any of you tell me that the way you handle gender issues with your toddlers won't make any difference.

Don't you tell me I'm less, because I don't fit your standards of what I should be.

Don't you dare tell me that boys playing with "girl toys" will create a freak.

Or that a girl can't like "guy things" and be feminine at the same time.
Or that her worth is somehow based on what YOU'VE decided you like.

And don't you ever dare tell me that my experience doesn't prove anything or mean anything. There are kids in every single school that feel the same way I do. People who are weird, and really don't fit in and need a place where they don't have to change their fundamental natures just to avoid ceaseless mockery.

Don't make them spend 30 years wondering why they're stupid and useless and wrong before they figure out that they aren't.

I have a sword now. Your boxes can't hold me anymore.

So sorry-not-sorry douchewads, that I am physically incapable of ever being a size zero. That, when stripped down to my bare dry bones, my pelvis is still larger than that.

Sorry-not-sorry loser guys, that I don't care about make-up, and actually strongly dislike pedicures.

Sorry-not-sorry that my version of a great tiara would have spikes and a hidden knife.

Sorry-not-sorry bigots, that I would rather play with swords than make future wedding plans, and that I'd rather be in a wood shop than a kitchen "where I belong".

I made this.

Sorry-not-sorry misogynists, that I like science, and that I've probably watched more nova documentaries that any five random strangers put together.

I like baseball and computer games, and rpgs and logic puzzles and dinosaurs and nerdy tv shows and fantasy novels

I officially decided to stop caring what any of you think. It doesn't mean your words stop hurting. They still do. What what it does mean is that I bounce back, and get on with living, whether you approve or not.

This is my new theme song. I'll peace out on this power-princess note.

Why I Didn't Hate the End of Korra - a religious perspective

Do not read this if you haven't finished Korra yet/don't want spoiler for it. Because spoilers there will very definitely be.

So, as you are already aware (since I just told anyone who didn't want spoilers to go away), the finale episode of the Legend of Korra took a turn that a lot of us did not see coming.

There were hints, like "Sorry I only ever wrote letters to Asami while I was gone", etc. Though let's be honest, they were really subtle ones for the oblivious amongst us. (I'm oblivious to EVERYTHING.) Ones that were, except for that blush, pretty indistinguishable from what happens when two people are the bestest of best friends, which Korra and Asami are.

Exhibit A:

(And I'll be honest here, I really liked Korra's hair better when it was all water-tribe-ey. It's just a thing. Carry on.)










So when this happened:

Ya know, I was pretty blindsided by it.

And yet, I wasn't at the same time. That was weird, and forced me to explore the reasons why.

See, I'm quite devoutly religious. And I live in a community where over 50% of the people around me are too. So I got a LOT of negative reactions, when we all watched the episode. A lot of "Aw, why'd they have to go all gay on us?" or "I was really disappointed in the writers," or "I felt really uncomfortable during the finale."

Which was very confusing for me, and the main reason I'm writing this post. Because A) I didn't feel all creeped out or angry like everyone else seemed to, and B) jeez, but doesn't all that sound a whole lot like hate speech, which devoutly religious people ought not to propagate?





Therefore, I now present to you the reasons why I didn't hate the end of Legend of Korra:






Firstly and foremostly, I just freaking love Asami, and Korra too. I don't agree with every choice either of them have ever made. Especially Korra, before she mellowed out. But I care about both Asami and Korra as deeply as anyone can care about fictional people. Maybe a little more, because I'm weird that way, and develop very serious bonds with my fictional folks.

Therefore, I just physically cannot be as upset about their choices as some feel I ought to be. When they smile, I smile. When they cry, I cry. When they feel loved and needed by someone, I feel warm and fuzzy because who doesn't want that for the people they care about?

Even when your loved ones do something wrong, which makes you sad because you know they're going to get hurt, you don't disown them and hurl hate speech. You love them into making better choices. (And yeah, sometimes that takes the form of tough love. But it's still love, not anger.)

I mean, how can you really, honestly claim to love anyone whose happiness doesn't also make you feel happier? That's the way real love goes.

But let's now get on to the Komodo Rhino in the room.

Religion is an awfully hard thing to discuss in civilized company, because the people who believe are certain that God has issued commandments which we are better off to follow, and the people who don't believe are certain that dumb humans just came up with those arbitrary commandments in order to more effectively judge people they don't like.

There's not just an impasse here. It's like the valles marineris.

What we have to do in these situations is understand that not everyone has the same beliefs that we do, AND that that's their god-given right. People are allowed to believe what they want to believe, even if it's wrong, or stupid, or gets them killed, or whatever.

That's tough, though. Tough for religious people, and tough for the non-religious. (Yes, non-religious people are just as bad. Please, PLEASE stop automatically assuming that I'm a neanderthal just because I have faith.) But yeah, no one has an easy time dealing with this.

How do we know when to stop accepting what people do as "they just believe different", and start actually trying to change it? Where is the line? Who can say when the fence has been jumped?

So when a predominantly religious community gets t-boned by their favorite show taking a 90 degree bat-turn, the gut reaction is disappointment. And I get that, to a certain level. Like I said, it's not easy for anyone.

But homosexuality isn't the only thing that there are commandments about. We also believe that it's stupid to do drugs. That it's wrong to sleep together before marriage. That murder is wrong. That cheating people is wrong.

AND YET

When two people are falling in love throughout a rom-com, and that end scene finally happens where they kiss, and disappear into the bedroom, everyone is like 'FINALLY. Jeez.' or 'awwww! Yay!'

When Tom Cruise shoots people through the entire movie because that's the only thing he knows how to do in movies...

When a bunch of macho guys decide that robbing the most secure casino on the vegas strip is a good idea...

When Mel Gibson is avenging his son's death, and goes into psycho over-kill mode on the Brit soldiers he's hacking apart...

When the guy is married and the girl is engaged, but they run off together anyway... (And lest anyone mistake me, I super adore Shakespeare in Love, despite these things.)

You know what? This list could go on for a long time. So I'mma stop while I'm ahead.

The point is, why don't we get upset at these things in the same way? I'll tell you why. Because we're used to them. They've been in the common social consciousness since the beginning of time, whereas homosexuality honestly has not. Existed, yes, and prevalently in some places. But been in the limelight, not so much.

Stories are built around conflict. Without conflict, there is no reason to watch any of these movies or tv shows. And so, when that conflict finally resolves itself, we rejoice, even if the ending is less than moral.

We're doing our best to do the "allowing others to believe different stuff" thing. We say to ourselves "They don't believe in the same standards that we do, so I can't justly hold them to the same scale, right?"

And on that note, I'd like to ask if Korra is really any different here?

No. No it isn't.

Mike and Bryan weren't setting out to be all "ooh, let's have our MC do evil things." They were doing the same thing that the writers of Shakespeare in Love did. That the writers of almost every rom-com ever did. That the writers of the average sitcom do.

Most people these days don't think that waiting until marriage is a useful thing. So when they have the MC's sleep together in their movie, it's just the entirely natural progression of the developing relationship of the characters.

Mike and Bryan don't believe that there is anything amiss about two girls falling in love. And so, the Korra finale is just the next logical and reasonable step in the progression of two characters.

And you know what? I happen to agree. I mean, yeah, it bothers me a little that other people don't get what I get, and don't believe what I believe. But if we take that out of the equation, like we do with every other sort of televised immorality, Korrasami only makes complete and total sense. Like, why wouldn't that be the natural course of things?

Basically, if you're gonna get mad over Korra, you should be getting mad over everything else too. Anger at one of these things but not the other ones is like trying to jump rope with that line. You gotta choose a side. And if you're gonna choose the side of  "Look, I get that some people don't think this is wrong, so I won't judge them," then you have to include Korra in it.

So there you have it. That's the gist of it. For a further delve into my personal reactions to everything, please see my next post. Otherwise,

So here are some of the other reasons why I totally get Korrasami. Actually, there's one, mainly, but I'll break it down a little.

That one being this: Asami is literally perfect. I'm for reals serious about this.

I have a really hard time being upset about a show that finally gave us some really amazing characters.

Asami is everything that any female ever wished for/needed to be. She is the ultimate "strong female character", by which we mean 'character who is strongly developed and deeply real, and happens to be female'. There aren't as many of those as you might think.

When you very first meet her in season one, you see how pretty she is, and you're all like "GREAT. That's all we need. Another Megan-Fox-in-transformers movie. No, Megan, you don't count as a strong female character! Leave now, and never come back."

Asami looked like the quintessential femme fatale, whose gorgeousness and sexy wiles are going to make trouble for the guys, show up all the girls, and convince women around the world that they're only worth something if they're as hot as she is."

But then you find out that, even though she's insanely rich, she's actually very generous. And even though her dad ends up being in cahoots with the bad guys, and she loves her dad very much, she's tough enough to do the right thing.

She's probably the sweetest person in the whole show, and I feel like that even includes Jinora.

She legitimately cares about other people, and will help them any time she can. Including riding to the rescue on polarbear dogs.

She's an actual genius.

She's a CEO.

She lets refugees stay in her house until they can get back on their feet.

And, by the way, her house is HUGE.

She helps the Avatar hunt down bad guys, and can acquit herself amazingly in a fight.

She drives like the Fast and the Furious.

And not just cars. Airplanes, airships, and personal hummingbirds too.

She's upbeat.

She's thoughtful.

She's got a sense of humor.

She's got serious chutzpa.

She's still gorgeous on top of all of that.

And, she does it all fully clothed. I seriously dare any of you to list some desirable quality that Asami does not have. Ya know, besides element bending. Because obviously the point is that she's a non-bender and still owns everyone.

My point, ladies and gentlemen, is that she's on my list. If she were not a cartoon, I would be head over heals in love with Asami Sato. Actually, being a cartoon is not that relevant. She's utterly perfect. So.

I want to be her, and to love someone just like her.

I haven't had all that many bestest best friends in my life. Only a few, and it's exactly the same way with all of them. I'm not romantically attracted to them, because that's just not in the cards. But they have taught me what real love means. I consider myself amazingly lucky to be a part of their lives, and that's where Korra and Asami were, as well.

Now, if I had a bestest best friend of all time who was literally perfect, AND who I was capable of being romantically attracted to, is it not the next natural progression of relationship to pursue that romantic level? If it were a guy and a girl, everyone would answer yes. People would be agog and aghast if they did not take it farther.

So, Korrasami. It makes complete and total sense, in that context.

Yes, I still have traditional christian beliefs. But no, I'm not going to be all "Mike and Bryan are evil and I hate them for believing different things than I do!"

Yes, I do still wish that people knew and understood what I do, so we could just all believe the same thing and be happy. But no, I'm not going to be all holier than thou because they don't.

And that is where I'll wrap up for today. Peace out. And have some more of these fanarts that I'm really loving. :P

(Have I mentioned that Bolin is one of my most favorites also? Cuz, yeah. He is. And Mako is lame.)

Actually, flogging is far too good for internet trolls.

Whatever religion you are (whether atheist, agnostic, some various christian denomination, or even the complete other end of the spectrum, with the most ultra-strict sect on earth) there are always things that the majority of humankind has in common. And one of those things is the belief that humans should be treated with humanity.

I hope the profundity of that word choice is not lost on you. That you really feel how powerful it is that we linguistically equate kindness and decency with what it means to be human.

I don't think anyone reading this could formulate any sort of argument for the other side. No matter how you insist that humans do not deserve the decency of a charitable hand and the benefit of a doubt, the world at large would rise up against you and state with the authority of a million million voices that you are incontrovertibly wrong.

I've seen it happen.

The 9-11 attacks are one such example. In the months following those plane crashes, no one stood up and said "So some people died. Who cares? They were probably annoying corporate jerks anyway." No one insisted that we just chill out, because the loss of human life didn't actually matter. Instead, dozens of people formed immediate rescue teams, risking life and limb to help those trapped in the wreckage. Hundreds of firefighters, cops, emt workers, and even ordinary civilians joined the ranks shortly thereafter. Thousands of people spread the word of courageous acts and selfless assistance given. And millions of people felt a little surge of pride in the way that humanity had come together.

Why, then, do internet trolls even exist? If we do, as a whole, agree that feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, and comforting the downtrodden are the worthiest of goals, why do we, as individuals, work so hard to bring about the opposite?

Yeah, humans are flaky by nature. We forget things so quickly. This post 9-11 world isn't so different from the pre-attack. Not anymore, anyway. We constantly need reminders.

SO CONSIDER THIS A REMINDER.

Tell me, who benefits from saying "Ooooh, dat gurl so ugly!"

What material or spiritual gain comes from "This is the stupidest @#%$ video ever. &^%#$%@ moron!"

Is anybody anywhere in the world better off because you made sure to let people know that some arbitrary chick's wedding dress is heinous, or because you drove a young girl completely out of social media by making evil commentary about the loss of her father, or by threatening death to someone who believes in a different religion than you do?

Well, are they?

You don't have an answer to that, because there isn't one. Nobody is better off, including the troll who said it. No one gains anything. No one wins anything. The net worth of trolling comments is completely negative. If you gain nothing whatsoever, it would seem logical that the most selfish thing to do would be to stop altogether. And the most humane thing to do would be to stop altogether.

Funny how we're all on the same side of this, and yet we continue to taunt. To jeer. To tear down. To post derp faces, and undisguised political propaganda, and vitriolic comments.

I'm not perfect. I've said dumb things before too. We all do. But HUMANS ARE BETTER THAN THAT. We've all seen it. We know what we can do when we come together. So come together, already.

**NOTE:

I would like to make a brief comment on the difference between constructive criticism and trolling. One is helpful, and the other is purposeless. "This song sucks" is trolling. "I like the chorus, but bridge doesn't connect very well. It's often helpful to use a g chord in this instance. See if that helps." is constructive feedback.

Learn the difference. Love it. Use it.

Peace out.

I do not like the cone of shame

I haven't written a post in FOREVER.

I want to write more, but I keep not having ideas. What should I write about? We could play the short story game where different people give me story aspects, and I try to mash them up. Or whatever. Help me out here. 

0:)

Frozen: You do realize Elsa's not the hero, right?

Anna is.

Don't get me wrong, Elsa's pretty fabulous. Who wouldn't admire some snazzy ice powers, a fractal palace, and Idina Menzel's singing voice?

But people have gotten the idea that Elsa is the to-be-idolized superhero. These are the top 24 image results if you google "frozen". 23 are actually about the disney movie, and 18 have people in them. Of those 18, 14 have Elsa in it, and 9 feature only Elsa, or have her as the central figure. (10 if you count that one where her and Anna are both central) Only 4 (5 if you count that one) feature Anna centrally or alone.

People have been going crazy with cosplays of Elsa. 

It's impossible to even count the number of blogs and statuses and tweets about letting it go, and not hiding "who we really are". You get the idea. 

All good things. She's pretty cool. But while the story does revolve around her and her gifts, she's not the hero. As a matter of fact, she causes half the problems in the story, albeit unintentionally.

With all the explosions of "Let it Go", people seem to have drastically and tragically undermined Anna, who is the actual hero. Why is she the hero?

1) Her courage

 Well, it's not because her courageous sacrifice was the one that saved the day. Don't be silly.



But seriously...

Sure, she was silly about some charming guy. But let's all be honest, who here hasn't been, at least once? (You may replace "guy" with "girl" if applicable.)

Anyone who says "no" is either lying or a severe sociopath. Anyway, yes, she made some bad choices. But so did Elsa. So does everyone. There's no such thing as a good story hero who makes all the right choices all the time.

BUT

she made the brave choices when they really mattered. Anna was the one who ran after her sister, even when everyone else was afraid. She had enough guts to try to make things right, even though she nearly died multiple times. All of the choices that took real courage were made by Anna.

All Elsa did was push people away, hide away, and run away when the going got tough.

Not saying I blame her. She had good intentions, and many of us would have done the same thing. But if we're going to idolize someone, let it be the brave girl. Let it be the one who chose to sacrifice true love, and her own life, in order to save her sister.



2) The "Let it Go" Message

People talk about Elsa and Let it Go in "inspiring" ways. And I don't quotation inspiring because I'm being sarcastic. Their message is that we should have courage to like the music we like, or wear the clothes we want, or go into the career that we love without fear of silly people who would make fun of us for it. As if it actually matters that someone likes some music that isn't popular. And that's a fine message. Worthy. Excellent. Etc.

But I honestly think that this message is conveyed by Anna a whole heck of a lot better than it is by Elsa. Elsa just happens to be the one who sang the song.

Elsa's example tells us that running away and hiding from the world is the way to solve our problems. But Anna chased after her sister, and loved her anyway, whatever had already happened. And it was that love that ultimately saved the day, both for the kingdom, and for Elsa's ice-queen problems. She's the one that tells us that we should love people, even when they're different.

And that's the message that we should be getting.

3) Anna is better to relate to

While this is not necessarily a technical aspect of what makes someone the MC, as opposed to just an important side character, I think it's something that most of us don't realize about this movie.

Part of why people idolize Elsa is because she was different than the others, and then broke away from it all in an attempt at understanding who she really was. We look up to that because every one of us, at some time or another, feels like we're so different, and no one gets us, and blah blah blah.

But let's be brutally honest here. Is any one of you really different in the ice-queen way?

(If the answer is yes, message me immediately. Because I need to see the cool awesome element powers.)

But for most of you, (read: all) the answer is no. I'm not. But I do still feel different all the time. Judged. alone. But whatever your differences are, they are human differences. They may seem hard at the time. It may seem like no one else gets it. You may feel very, very alone.

 But you aren't a magical queen. You aren't a monster or a demigod or an alien. You're human just like we all are.

And, surprise surprise, everyone one of us feels like that sometimes. The best thing about Anna is that she shows that in a human way. She's a girl that hates being alone, but is a lot. She wants to love and just enjoy life, and she's locked in this empty, dreary castle. Her sister shuts her out. Her parents die. Things aren't totally rosy for her. But she handles it in an optimistic, exuberant, positive way. A way that we really could take a lesson from.

So yeah, I've never felt what it's like to have to hide secret magic powers from my subjects, and I never will. Pretending like my problems are even a little bit similar to that is... well, pretty silly. But I have felt alone. I have felt sad. I have felt neglected or shut out. And I'd like to hope that I can face all of it with as rosy a demeanor as Anna did.

4) Screen time

Let's just get silly and technical for a moment. But usually the main protagonist of a story has the majority of the screen time in a movie/page time in a book. Same is true here. Anna is shown at least twice as often as Elsa is. Maybe more. But I'm not going to go time it.

All in all

Yeah, they are both important. And I'm not trying to diminish Elsa or anything, because she is cool. But I just wanted people to realize how cool Anna was, and let her get a little of her share of the limelight.

I liked the movie as a whole. Especially the sisterly cuteness. It's not a relationship aspect that gets much attention, and it really should.

In conclusion, I'll just leave this here. Ciao.