"Let it go" isn't that empowering

[DSYoungEsq]

The song is about casting off the chains society puts on you. That’s empowering.

BUT, the song comes in the middle of the lesson. Elsa is enjoying the freedom of not having to conform to what others insist she do. She hasn’t yet realized that that freedom doesn’t allow her to do whatever she wants, unless she has no concern for others. So the line about “no right, no wrong, no rules for me, I’m free!” is both a declaration that she won’t let others tell her what to do, but also a failure to understand that the rules she will eventually have to adopt will come from within herself, as the consequences of her unbridled actions become apparent to her.

I’ve long thought the song was over-hyped for its “empowerment” aspect. It certainly has language that, taken literally, would turn anyone into a complete terror.

[simster]

@Kamino_Neko

And, as mentioned above, the disabled, and LGBT+ folks.

It is not, in context, a really hopeful song - she’s had to cast off literally everything she had, including her family, to get this freedom - but it is still a song about claiming freedom.

The rest of the movie is about the next step - having her whole person accepted by others (happily, specifically what’s left of her family).

And back to Machinaforce’s post…

Look at the end of the movie.

Elsa’s still got her powers, so, if this interpretation were correct, Arendel would be blanketed in perpetual winter.

But, no, Elsa’s happy, she’s in full control of her powers.

Why?

Because her adventures allowed her to unlearn her parents well-intentioned but utterly wrong and dangerous ‘your entire existence is wrong, and you need to suppress it’ thing, and she’s thus been able to develop a healthy emotional life.

Elsa’s problem wasn’t her powers. It wasn’t that she accidentally hurt Ana as a child. It was that her parents’ reaction was to isolate her, and teach her not caution, but ‘repress and suppress’.

Right - the trolls said “teach her to controll” - not “teach her to fear”.

[msmith537]

@Hermitian

My impression is that people liked it because it is all about “No right, no wrong, no rules for me”.

Deep down people are pretty selfish and rebellious. They don’t want rules or other people telling them what to do.

I think it’s “rules” and “right and wrong” in the sense of being overly oppressive and not allowing her to be herself (i.e. how LGBTs are considered “wrong” by certain elements of society). Not like she is free to as she pleases without regards for the consequences.
Really, the “rules” were only in her head. No one really knew about her powers. Sure, her subjects were shocked and scared at the sight of their queen freezing stuff. But she could have also handled things a bit more diplomatically than running off into the mountains.

[simster]

@msmith537

I think it’s “rules” and “right and wrong” in the sense of being overly oppressive and not allowing her to be herself (i.e. how LGBTs are considered “wrong” by certain elements of society). Not like she is free to as she pleases without regards for the consequences.
Really, the “rules” were only in her head. No one really knew about her powers. Sure, her subjects were shocked and scared at the sight of their queen freezing stuff. But she could have also handled things a bit more diplomatically than running off into the mountains.

She ran because she was also taught to fear her powers - not how to control them (or even potentially use them).

[JB99]

@DSYoungEsq

The song is about casting off the chains society puts on you. That’s empowering.

BUT, the song comes in the middle of the lesson. Elsa is enjoying the freedom of not having to conform to what others insist she do. She hasn’t yet realized that that freedom doesn’t allow her to do whatever she wants, unless she has no concern for others. So the line about “no right, no wrong, no rules for me, I’m free!” is both a declaration that she won’t let others tell her what to do, but also a failure to understand that the rules she will eventually have to adopt will come from within herself, as the consequences of her unbridled actions become apparent to her.

I’ve long thought the song was over-hyped for its “empowerment” aspect. It certainly has language that, taken literally, would turn anyone into a complete terror.

I agree completely. It’s a catchy song with beautiful visuals, and I can certainly understand the appeal of throwing off burdens and oppression. The problem is that Elsa is not an Ubermensch. She rebels against her oppressed condition but replaces it with nothing. The last line, “The cold never bothered me anyway,” is sexy in the sense that she is saying, “I’m fine with who I am.” However, it could also be read as embracing nihilism. Instead of creating a new value system, Elsa ends up in self-imposed hermitage which exacerbates the problem rather than solving it. The rejection of the status quo is the beginning of the story rather than the end of it.