Film & TV Lunch Club: November 2023 - As Cold As Ice
Frozen, Fargo, Slalom
The clocks have gone back, the days are shorter, the colours of the trees are turning and November is here in all its crisp and cosiness - the perfect conditions for film marathons and nights in.
This month’s titles are based around the theme ‘As Cold As Ice’ to commemorate 10 years of Frozen - Disney’s 53rd animated film. Sometimes when we use the phrase cultural phenomenon, we don’t actually mean it. But in the case of Frozen, it has earned this label because of the way it has changed trends and behaviours beyond the screen.
Dr Sarah Godfrey, Associate Professor at the University of East Anglia, was commissioned to conduct a study on the film (which you can read in full here: Lessons from Arendelle: The Cultural Phenomenon of Disney’s Frozen) and said: “Frozen is a global phenomenon which pervaded popular culture in a way we can’t ignore, having a massive impact on everything from the names we call our children, to inspiring multiple viral trends such as Elsa hair tutorials, celebrity lip synch battles to the popularity of the sing-along concept on YouTube and TikTok. It was the first time many young girls saw an act of sisterly love given more prominence over a romantic one. Elsa and Anna have been crucial in creating spaces for new female characters, not just within the Disney canon but in cinema and media culture more broadly.”
Before we get into this month’s list, here are some facts about Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck’s animated adventure that you might not have known before:
Frozen’s co-director Jennifer Lee broke lots of records and boundaries with this film. She was the first woman to direct a Disney animated feature film, as well as the first female director behind a feature film that earned more than $1 billion in gross revenue at the box office.
It is loosely based on the 1844 Hans Christian Andersen tale, ‘The Snow Queen’. However, the original ending of Frozen changed during production so there aren’t actually many similarities remaining at all besides the idea that a good person needs to be saved from having a frozen heart.
The film inspired a tourism boom in Norway (increasing by 40 per cent) as a result of the country (or specifically Bergen) being the real-life inspiration for Arendelle, the fictional village in Frozen.
New research by Disney found that the film resonates with one in two children. In a survey of 3000 parents by Fly Research across the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy in August 2023, 43% of parents felt the characters had a positive impact on the representation of gender roles in animated films, and 33% credited this for boosting their sons’ and daughters’ confidence. Parents agreed that the movie’s themes positively affected their child, with the top outcomes being kindness (44%), courageousness (33%), acceptance (30%) and teamwork (29%).
About Elsa: she is the only Disney princess that is not a teenager, as she is 21 years old, and is also the first Disney princess to be crowned Queen in the film.
The 10th anniversary celebrations for Frozen include a movie re-release, a new podcast series of a standalone adventure set after Frozen 2, fan-favourite content on Disney+, updates to the hit musical, and a range of new products, toys, and costumes.
Here is the selection and long list for November:
🎞 November Selection 🎞
Disney's Frozen Official Trailer | Walt Disney Animation Studios
Frozen (2013; Dir. Chris Buck & Jennifer Lee)
When the newly crowned Queen Elsa accidentally uses her power to turn things into ice to curse her home in infinite winter, her sister Anna teams up with a mountain man, his playful reindeer, and a snowman to change the weather condition.Stream on Disney Plus.
Fargo (1996; Dir. Joel and Ethan Coen)
Minnesota car salesman Jerry Lundegaard's inept crime falls apart due to his and his henchmen's bungling and the persistent police work of the quite pregnant Marge Gunderson.
Stream on Freevee.Slalom (2020; Dir. Charlène Favier) - Under the guidance of a strict ex champion, a promising 15 year old girl trains as a professional skiing star.Will she be able to endure the physical and emotional pressures?
Stream on Mubi or Curzon.
🎬 The Long List: Optional Extras 🎬
Other notable films suggested for the theme:
Wind River - A wildlife officer, who is haunted by a tragedy that happened because of him, teams up with an FBI agent in solving a murder of a young woman on a Wyoming Native American reservation and hopes to get redemption from his past regrets.
Where'd You Go, Bernadette - A loving mom becomes compelled to reconnect with her creative passions after years of sacrificing herself for her family. Her leap of faith takes her on an epic adventure that jump-starts her life and leads to her triumphant rediscovery.
The Thing - A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.
The Hateful Eight - In the dead of a Wyoming winter, a bounty hunter and his prisoner find shelter in a cabin currently inhabited by a collection of nefarious characters.
The Shining - A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.
Molly’s Game - The true story of Molly Bloom, an Olympic-class skier who ran the world's most exclusive high-stakes poker game and became an FBI target.
Snowpiercer - In a future where a failed climate change experiment has killed all life except for the survivors who boarded the Snowpiercer (a train that travels around the globe), a new class system emerges.
Winter’s Bone - An unflinching Ozark Mountain girl hacks through dangerous social terrain as she hunts down her drug-dealing father while trying to keep her family intact.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - Four kids travel through a wardrobe to the land of Narnia and learn of their destiny to free it with the guidance of a mystical lion.
Ice Age - The story revolves around sub-zero heroes: a woolly mammoth, a saber-toothed tiger, a sloth and a prehistoric combination of a squirrel and rat, known as Scrat.
Dr Zhivago - The life of a Russian physician and poet who, although married to another, falls in love with a political activist's wife and experiences hardship during World War I and then the October Revolution.
The Mountain Between Us - Stranded after a tragic plane crash, two strangers must forge a connection to survive the extreme elements of a remote snow-covered mountain. When they realize help is not coming, they embark on a perilous journey across the wilderness.
The Revenant - A frontiersman on a fur trading expedition in the 1820s fights for survival after being mauled by a bear and left for dead by members of his own hunting team.
In Bruges - Guilt-stricken after a job gone wrong, hitman Ray and his partner await orders from their ruthless boss in Bruges, Belgium, the last place in the world Ray wants to be.
Long Way North - In 1882, a young Russian aristocrat goes on an epic adventure to find out what happened to her grandfather and save her family's reputation.
Coming out in cinemas soon…
Anatomy of a Fall - A woman is suspected of her husband's murder, and their blind son faces a moral dilemma as the sole witness.
🔜 Next Month 🔜
The theme for December will be CHRISTMAS AROUND THE WORLD. I haven’t got any films in mind for this one yet so any suggestions would be gratefully received via the comments or on Insta.