Traditional Disney princesses, in frou-frou frocks and sparkly tiaras, would make googly eyes at princes. Their modern reincarnation made Jennifer Lee’s career — and with it, a global franchise.
Frozen, the 2013 Disney animated feature telling the story of Princesses Anna and Elsa, which Ms Lee wrote and co-directed, took almost $1.3bn worldwide and won two Oscars.
The film inspired pint-sized fans to buy merchandise, and listen to soundtracks so that they too could belt out its soaring anthem, “Let it Go”. For mothers and fathers demented by looped repetition, the song became an earworm. As one parody put it, “It’s in my head, it’s in my dreams, this freaking song is haunting me, let it go, let it go, can’t hear it one more time.” Some parents were charmed — in 2014, Elsa became a popular name in the US for the first time in about 100 years. Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at ComScore, describes Frozen as “an absolute phenomenon which went on to be a juggernaut worldwide. It’s one of Disney’s premier brands.” No small feat for the company that brought the world Mickey Mouse.