I recently had the pleasure of finally watching the worldwide phenomenon known as Frozen. It is indeed a film that deserves all the hype and awards it has received, but today, I want to talk about sisterhood. Not the female-friendship, sorority kind that I'm used to talking about, but the kind pertaining to "real" sisters related by blood. I never really think about this latter type of sisterhood, most likely because I do not have any sisters related by blood (while I have plenty of sorority sisters and other women in my life whose friendships mean so much to me). But some recent pop culture mega-hits I've liked have centered around the strong love between sisters. And I've really liked that this love seems to receive greater weight than romantic love, even where romantic love is present as a central plot theme.
Frozen is very clearly a story about sisters. When they were children, Elsa and Anna were very close, but Elsa is forced to be distant from her younger sister when she inadvertently hurts Anna with her powers. Despite Elsa's insistence on keeping her distance, it is Anna who pushes forward to help her. Even when Elsa, again, inadvertently hurts Anna, it is pretty much only Anna who prioritizes Elsa. Anna is dying from the injuries inflicted by Elsa, but instead of taking the action she believes would save herself (an act of true love, which everyone at this point has interpreted to mean getting a kiss from her true love, Kristoff), she goes towards her sister who is on the verge of being killed and stands in between Elsa and the villain with the sword. At that moment, Elsa's inadvertent curse on Anna is complete and Anna is frozen in place, but that act of self-sacrifice was the "act of true love" needed to break the curse. In going to her sister instead of her "true love," Anna saves both her sister and herself. She really is no Sleeping Beauty (I mean, she even punches the bad guy in the face after all this).
Anna's love for her sister is afforded a more important position than her romance with Kristoff, even as she gets her happy ending with the right guy. Frozen shows little girls (and boys) that a good story about princesses doesn't have to all be about pretty dresses and handsome princes saving damsels in distress, though it certainly can have pretty dresses and handsome princes in it. The bond and love between sisters can have a more important place in a woman's heart than a man. And according to Frozen, an animated Disney film that has taken the world by storm, that is more than acceptable.
Frozen is hardly the only recent pop culture hit that celebrates the love between sisters over romantic love. The Hunger Games series (the books, at least) are fundamentally about an older sister's love for her younger sister. [Major spoilers ahead if you haven't read the books.] Disagree? Well, hear me out. There's a lot going on in the series, and Katniss is driven by many motivations. She is a strong-willed young woman with a strong sense of right and wrong. She cares deeply not only about her family, but about her friends, her comrades, and the innocent citizens in the various districts as well. As to be expected in any young adult fiction with a female lead, there are two good-looking boys competing for her affections. But in the end, what got her into the games and into everything else was the love for her sister, Prim.
The movies obviously focus mostly on the excitement and the drama of the games and the fighting. On the other hand, the books contain much more details about Katniss's thoughts. Every time she sees Prim, she notes her strength and kindness or how much she has grown. In the first book, Prim is an innocent, scared child whom Katniss believes she must protect. She chooses Rue as an ally because she reminds her of Prim. In the second book, Katniss sees how strong and reliable Prim has become when their mother and Prim tend to Gale's injuries after his back is whipped raw by the authorities. Unlike Katniss, Prim is not squeamish with brutal injuries and knows exactly what to do. In the third book, Katniss is proud of how Prim is actively pursuing her passion for nursing and no longer seems to see her as a helpless child (although she will always be her baby sister). No matter how much Katniss cares about other persons, Prim is always number one in her world.
That is why the third book is so dark. Because Prim dies in such a devastating manner. Yes, there are many other brutal deaths, but Katniss had done everything for Prim. The first book explains that she assumed the role of Prim's caretaker at a young age, after her father's death when her mother had a breakdown. She took the risk of going out into the woods, and she learned how to hunt. She told her everything would be OK at Prim's first reaping, but it wasn't and Prim's name got called, so she volunteered without second thought. Everything started because of her love for Prim.
In the end, Katniss perseveres. She survives. And ultimately, she and Peeta endure together. So yes, the love for her sister was not the only thing that supported her, but the foundation of the story is still about her love for her sister. After Prim's death, it is about surviving that loss. Her ending up with Peeta is nothing more than the genuine but natural outcome of their shared trauma; it is not the force that drives Katniss through all of the pain and struggles hurled against her. The trilogy is much darker than Frozen to say the least, but it does share the message about the extraordinary weight and strength of sisterly love.
In a world where the most popularized and commercialized stories about women have the tendency to center around their interest in men, two immensely popular works of pop culture that place the bond between women over romantic love definitely constitute a cause for celebration. I'm increasingly hopeful that my future children will grow up with stories that show that girls don't have to sacrifice the primary female bonds in their lives to end up with the right guy and get their happy ending.
