This is Why Gameboys Were Banned in 1998.

People of the blogosphere, I have made an observation.

Kids have a past time that involves beating a dead horse with another dead horse stuffed with the garlicky flavored corpse of a third, just-as-dead horse.

I am, of course, talking about Frozen.

I wrote about two months ago in my write-up about all the awesome things I'd experienced in 2013. And there, on the list, if you remember, (I wouldn't blame you if you didn't) was Disney's latest animated feature. A refreshing, genre-aware twist on the standard Disney Princess, "love-conquers-all" storyline they've been pushing out for half a century, Frozen caught my eye - and my ears - with its gorgeous animation (seriously, do you SEE some of that body language? Can we talk about Anna's shoulder twirl during "For the First Time in Forever"? CAN WE?), strangely moving songs, and reindeer that thinks he's a dog.

I loved that movie. Dan can attest to this, because ever since it came out, every single time he's tried to talk to me, I was watching Frozen. I watched it on a shitty cam-rip, and then when it finally got Oscar leaked, I watched it over and over again, only in focus. It only got better for me.

When I went to see The Wolf Of Wall Street, I saw the posters in the theater for the Korean release of Frozen and went "oh, that would be fun." I never actually ended up seeing it in theaters.

But that's okay, because every other person in Korea did.

I don't know what it's like back home for you guys right now. I hear they did sing-along showings? So I guess it must be pretty popular, but I've never in my LIFE seen a reaction to a Disney movie like this. We grew up in the Golden Age of Disney films, and I do not think I ever reacted like this. Yeah, I listened to The Lion King soundtrack nonstop. Yeah, I listened to audio storybooks incessantly.

But here, it's utter insanity.

I first noticed something was up when me and Dan sat down and watched Frozen when he came here to Jeonju, and then went out to dinner. It was a Tuesday or some innocuous point during the week, and when we left the restaurant, I heard it: the faint strains of "Let it Go", drifting through the air. My brow furrowed and I told Dan to stop talking, trying to figure out where it was coming from.

It was a restaurant. An actual restaurant, currently blaring "Let it Go" into the streets and presumably inside as well. I had never, ever heard any Disney song in a restaurant before, except for that time I was at, you know, Disney World.

Two days ago I spent some time in Dunkin Donuts reading Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora (I'm 20% through by the way, and loving it. I'm currently going highlighter-function happy with the prose, something I've never done before with a book. Maybe I'll gush about it later?) when a pair of adult women, probably in their 30s, walked in. They ordered their food, sat down in a table in the corner, and about fifteen minutes later I looked up from my Kindle. They had started to play "Let it Go" on their phone. Out loud. In the middle of the Dunkin. And they were giggling and singing. I shook my head and went back to reading.

Yes, I still love the movie.

But if I thought I was constantly around it outside of work, it's even worse INSIDE. Because of course, the target audience for any Disney movie is children, and like Robin Hood, they struck it in the heart and felled it where it stood. It released like a month ago, and still if you leave your PC unattended during break time, you will return to a huddle of Korean children all the way from third grade to ninth grade around your computer blasting "Let it Go" or some cover of such. I have literally heard "Teacher, do you want to build a snowman?" Enough times that I will never, for the rest of my life, EVER want to build a snowman. My future kids can roll their own. (Taken out of context, that is a little strange sounding.) These kids sing while they're working. They sing while they're not working. Sometimes they sing together. It is always, always this movie.


This is a desk in my classroom. Yes, I know who it is, because she has somehow managed to put Frozen, in some capacity, in every single project she's done since the movie came out. "Draw your hero?" "Elsa." "Pick a movie?" "Frozen." "Design a homepage?" "Frozen fan site." That's not even getting INTO that weird fandom obsession of shipping Elsa with Jack Frost from that out of nowhere Rise of the Guardians movie from a couple years ago. I don't know where THAT came from.

In fact, it is SO popular amongst young people here that it started this weird and annoying trend. I feel like that video most accurately represents the past two months of my life.

The only thing I can think to equate it to, is this is what it must've been for parents and teachers to deal with Pokemon. To suddenly have something that kids are talking about incessantly, looking up, fighting over, obsessing with, to the point that Gameboys and cards and toys were banned from schools around the world. Only Pokemon didn't have songs, and my teachers weren't constantly erasing "Gotta catch 'em all" from the board like I have to continually erase "The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway" so I can actually write notes and, you know, teach.

I love my kids. I really do.

I just wish they would let it go.