‘Frozen 2’s’ powerful portrayal of male emotions & equal relationships is what kids need

Frozen 2 is the highest-grossing animated movie ever and the box office isn’t the only barrier it is breaking. When it comes to depictions of masculinity in pop culture, Frozen 2 is melting hearts all over the internet.

(Warning, light spoilers ahead for those who haven’t seen it. )

Just like in the first film, the leading male, Kristoff, isn’t charging in to rescue the princesses. Instead, he’s supporting the people he loves and expressing his emotions. Twitter users and cultural critics are loving Kristoff’s story arc in this sequel.

TV and Pop Culture Writer Not Dominick, of Buzzfeed, said it best, tweeting: “Okay, but can we talk about how Kristoff sang a power ballad about his feelings, told Anna that his love isn’t fragile, AND asked Anna what she needed during battle and didn’t tell her to step aside so he could protect her. I love it all so much.”

He asks her what she needs during a crisis. If that isn’t great modeling of a healthy relationship we don’t know what is.

Frozen star Kristin Bell has been dropping hints about Kristoff’s awesome story for a while.

“The thing I think I’m proudest of is the way they represented Kristoff,” Bell previously said during an appearance on The Tonight Show. “Little boys don’t often see representation of other boys having really big loving feelings.”

“I think if that one message comes across to boys, boys get to feel empowered to feel their feelings in a big or a small but hopefully big 80s power ballad, then we’ve done a little bit in the war against toxic masculinity,” Anderson-Lopez explained.

Props to Anderson-Lopez for writing a song about feelings for Kristoff and props to actor Jonathan Groff for bringing Kristoff to life. We need more characters like Kristoff because our boys need to know that it’s okay to feel.

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