Frozen - Hans

[igenlode]

Apparently my sympathy for the devil instincts are still alive and kicking, since my immediate reaction to finally watching "Frozen" was "Prince Hans simply doesn't make sense" :-p

I could swallow Hans as a weak opportunist who suddenly realises that this is his big chance (the heir to the throne is dying after their hasty engagement and the Queen has exiled herself, leaving him as effective regent). But that's not what we're told. We're asked to believe that he has somehow been scheming for this all along and that everything he has done has been with this specific aim in view, which is inconsistent with what we see in the rest of the film.

After all, it's Anna who runs into him -- he doesn't set out to court her. He doesn't even know who she is, and yet he's clearly attracted to her from the start. (Again, this might make sense as opportunism -- he's susceptible to a pretty face, and then delighted to find out that the girl on whom he has made such a good impression is actually a highly-desirable marriage partner -- but as an evil scheme it's hopeless.)

And if, as he later claims, he wanted Elsa dead from the start (since he hasn't a hope of marrying her), then he has no need to insist during their expedition on the North Mountain that she should not be harmed, never mind taking active steps to save her life... let alone trying to save her from damning herself by using her powers for murder, which is an act of no benefit to anyone save Elsa herself. He doesn't need to impress Anna at this point (who in all probability is already dead in any case): all he has to do is allow events to take their natural course and let the sorceress queen get lynched by her outraged subjects.

Indeed, he doesn't need to send out an expedition to rescue Anna at all, since he is already Regent and can only benefit from her death -- nor go on it himself ("I have to look after the people!"), thus compounding the irresponsible error that first Elsa and then Anna have made in running out on their kingdom. If he is a cynical schemer, he has the perfect excuse to send out his minions to ensure that neither of the heirs to Arendelle come back -- he doesn't need to endanger his own life to save Anna, let alone Elsa. None of these actions make any sense if reinterpreted in retrospect: if Hans's apparent motives are not genuine, then the script is cheating.

And as a villain, he's a very bad one-- as in, very bad at it.

He doesn't even need to refuse to kiss Anna: if he knows that he is not her true love then he can simply kiss her in full view of the Court and act devastated when the 'superstition' mysteriously fails to work and she dies anyway. He could sit by her side and watch her die in absolute safety, thus winning sympathy (and making sure that she really does die -- he can even give matters a little extra push if necessary).

The whole 'revealing his evil plans' scene makes no sense at all, and frankly feels like a retcon inserted for some reason -- I'm reminded, inevitably, of Erik-fans' attempts to 'monster' Raoul's actions in order to make their desired hero look better in comparison, where said actions are very obviously being gratuitously and implausibly twisted in support of a plot interpretation that isn't upheld by the facts. If Hans is a villain, why does he act clean against his own supposed interests for three-quarters of the film? This isn't a clever twist -- it's total lack of plot development.

Again, I'm reminded of Andrew Lloyd Webber suddenly having Raoul start acting like a stereotypical badfic villain and Christine suddenly declare a passionate attachment to the Phantom in "Love Never Dies" with no reason given: Hans could have been given foreshadowing as an out-and-out villain, he could have been given credible motives as a conflicted opportunist, or he could even have been a tragically misguided hero who doesn't realise that the reason why his kiss fails to save Anna is that she has fallen in love with someone else, and rushes out to avenge her by killing Elsa. Just giving him a radical character change in the final scenes and announcing that all his charming and indeed admirable behaviour has been a rather incompetent lie doesn't cut the mustard where writing a plausible villain is concerned.

Indeed, it leaves the viewer with the impression that the script had written itself into a hole and didn't know how to get itself out again.

I can see why little girls adore the film, with its theme of loyalty between sisters and message that 'true love' doesn't have to involve romance (though I for one was frankly anticipating this revelation to come at the point where Olaf sacrifices himself by lighting a roaring fire for Anna and telling her that she is worth melting for: I assumed that was going to be the big twist! Why doesn't a snowman's devotion count?) But the message I'm getting is that the writers simply didn't care enough to make Prince Hans a credible human being... which is bad enough in a minor character, but disastrous in one whose flaws are made to be pivotal to the climax of the film :-(

Also, it instantly enlists me on Hans' side :-p

Comments

[pedanther]

When it came to minions, I wasn't counting the fact that he was de facto ruler of Arendelle because he was holding that position on account of Arendelle thinking of him as The Noble Prince Whom Our Princess Loves And Trusts, and he had to keep that narrative running; it still doesn't provide him with anybody who would be willing to hunt down Anna on his behalf.

You might be right that the crowd would have been in favour of something happening to Elsa, though. At this point I think I'm going to have to concede that it's been too long since I've seen the movie, and I'm not sufficiently sure of my position to keep arguing it.

(I do want to point out, though, that twice now you've said that preventing Elsa from murdering someone was of benefit to nobody but Elsa and maybe Anna. It seems to me that at the very least it would have been of some benefit to the person who didn't get murdered...)

[igenlode]

No, Hans certainly can't send anybody to hunt down Anna (let alone be seen to be trying to hunt down Anna!) -- I was thinking that he could send out a fake rescue expedition to take action against Elsa but with orders to 'fail' to rescue Anna, but you're right that there's no-one he could trust with such covert orders.

Although ironically there is, but it's someone he doesn't know about; it would be neater for the two lots of 'bad guys' to tie up together, but that would presumably be a massive giveaway. I'd have thought that as Prince Hans of the Southern Isles he'd have at least a couple of personal attendants, if not a native ship's crew to rely on... but as the very-much-youngest son, presumably the thinking is that he has arrived in a purely personal capacity as an adventurer aboard a foreign ship rather than as the representative of the Southern Isles to Arendelle (which is what I initially assumed; I mean, if a Prince arrives among all the other delegations of notables from foreign countries, you naturally conclude that he has been sent in an official ship to represent his parents' interests!)

If Hans is an evil schemer, than the putative murder victims are just unfortunate collateral from his point of view: he can simply let it be assumed that there was no way he could have saved them from Elsa's powers (no-one else showed any signs of inspiration, after all) and act helpless and outraged afterwards. (From the Disney morality point of view, I'm afraid the men are 'villains' and hence fair game :-p)


I've only seen the film the once and haven't made a study of the script, etc., so these are just the outraged reactions I remember having while the film was actually running -- it's possible that there were things I've missed. (But I've subsequently had a look on the Net and found that there were a lot of people complaining that there was simply no foreshadowing of any kind for Hans' actions -- so if I'm missing it, I'm far from being the only one.)