The Real Reason Why Jack Frost is so Awesome!!!

Why Jack Frost from Rise of the Guardians is Awesome

I saw ads on the side of my facebook advertising Rise of the Guardians. By looking at the pictures, the concept art, and the way that they had presented the movie, I thought it was going to be some sort of fantasy movie that took place in an icy forest, with a rather handsome main character, a talking magical bunny, a tree fairy, a wise old wizard, and some golden cloud guy who floats around. They deal with the perils of the forest at nighttime, when this dark evil force comes forth, and they protect the innocent creatures of their home as best they can.  

Boy I was wrong.

I go and see the movie with my little brother, and my idea of it was WAAAAAAAAAAAY off. Nevertheless, I left the theater feeling pleasantly surprised at how good it was. At first I wasn’t sure why. When it came out on home video, I saw it again and finally realized what it was that I liked about it. It was Jack. 

This is NOT a fan-girl post. It isn’t even really a “fan” post. Thought I’d say that. 

Jack Frost from Rise of the Guardians is a stunning character. It doesn’t take much character creation analysis to see that this character was purposefully created to appeal to a very wide spectrum of people, to be marketable. Although 80% of what makes the character likeable is completely shallow, there are some “subliminals” to him that I have come to notice the more I observed him.

So here are the four reasons why Jack Frost was created:

First, and the most obvious, is because of his dashingly good looks. Perfect smile, narrowing eyes, boy-band hair, skinny pants, hoodie... Doesn’t help that Chris Pine voices him, either. *sighs* 

OK, you get the idea. This is to grab the female’s attention, and young and old, are automatically captivated by his icy design. While I, regrettably, admit that I have a cartoon-crush on him, this is clearly a powerful marketing ploy, because statistically females spend more money than males do. The more females at the theater, the more money made in the box office. This is the number one reason why Jack Frost is on the silver screen. Typical mega corp behavior... 

Dreamworks poop. 

Ok fellow dudes, you can stop rolling your eyes now. 

Secondly, and on a relatable level, Jack is on a quest to find out who he is, what his purpose is on earth, and just why he was chosen to do something he didn’t think he could do. We all wanna know who we are, what we are, when we are to be us, and most importantly why... Why are we here? Why does God wanna use us? Why, and will I ever know, am I... me??? And how am I supposed to be me in this world? What is the point of it all? Teens are always struggling with this, as they (ahem, we) are budding adults. Everyone can relate to this.

Thirdly, on an even deeper note, Mr. Frost has a longing for a family, a love for children, and a desire to just make children happy. Jack is a very fatherly figure. Ladies, stop imagining what you and his kids would look like, and pay attention. 

He has a very real and natural longing to serve children (the new generation) and bring them into a life of fun, or “spiritual” joy, if you will.

He is self-sacrificial, risks his life to save others, and is a hero that children can look up to, both in real life and in Guardian land. Everyone admires a superhero character, and one with a familiarity (a somewhat nostalgic feeling) of wanting to be with children.

Fourthly, he gets tempted. This is where the half-unintended-by-the-designer-but-not-by-God part comes in. 

Pitch hates children. He doesn’t target the adults, he targets the kids. Why? Because they represent the faithful ones. Pitch is all about fear. In reality, Satan isn’t necessarily about brutally tearing you to pieces as painfully as possible, despite what all the horror movies want you to think (that’s what Hell is for). He’s more interested in the littler, more subtler things that “sneak into” your weakest moments (when the kids are asleep, for example) which can eventually lead you into a greater catastrophe. But where does all the real-life violence, money-pooling, conspiracies, and lustful mindsets come from? 

“Why tempt a man into adultery when gluttony is enough to send him to hell?” -The Screwtape Letters

Every sin we commit is fueled by fear. Think about it. The fear of what the others might think if you don’t do it. The fear of getting caught. The fear of remaining never being loved. The fear of never experiencing a romance. The fear of being defeated. The fear of messing up big time. The fear of pain. Even the fear of our own selves. It’s a very personal and very real darkness contained within our own souls. 

Back to you, Jack.

Yay!

Jack doesn’t even realize that being a guardian (which is, his destiny, his calling), trusting this mysterious powerful force that has chosen him, even though he has been “silent” to Jack all these years, will lead him to his center. Pitch wants Jack’s center to be of fear. This is when the power of the encouragement of fellowship comes in.

I am now going to put the basic plot of the movie into a strictly Christian perspective.

In the intro to the movie, Jack is risen from the dead, is given a second chance, and new life. He is new to being “born again”, and he doesn’t understand what his new life is all about. Then, without warning, this unknown force intrudes on his life and turns it all around. Through this, North, Tooth, Bunnymund, and Sandman all teach Jack very different but essential lessons about true identity through faith. 

North responds to the call to evangelize to Jack, which is what invites him into the discipleship and challenges him to seek out truth over all things in a completely different way.

 Bunnymund is all about new beginnings, which is where new life in Christ starts, and also points to the joy of Jesus’ resurrection. 

Tooth tries to comfort and listen to Jack when he is at his lowest. She also reminds him that even though he was never guaranteed an easy journey in the faith, it was undoubtedly the most joyful one, and it truly made a difference in the world. 

And finally, the most loving sacrifice, Sandman lays down his life for his friends. 

The power of “four” (or more), and using our own spiritual gifts to built a culture of love is oddly very evident in this movie!  

And what does all this come down to?

Faith like a child. It’s like when the little boy says right to the face of darkness:

“I believe in you, I’m just not afraid of you.”

In our culture of fear, we are learning not to believe in the existence of Hell and devils. We must must MUST believe in fear, but by all means, we must mist MUST not be afraid of it! The little boy is also an amazing example of how the true Christian faith really looks. I am thus encouraged in my faith journey, and I really hope you are too, or at least have an idea of how to look through new eyes to see Jesus’ perspective, or messages in everyday objects. 

Now I guess I can say that seeing ROTG was well worth my $7.50. 

Bye bye babies!!!!

Muah

Fangirls: The Cool, the Dumb, and the Ugly

Howdy partners! Good to be here with Y'ALL!

Being a fan of something can be SO cool. It's fun to really get into something and to choose your favorite characters and to gain inspiration out of it. It's even cooler when you have a friend or a bunch of friends who are into the same things as you, and exciting conversations can be made from that as you anxiously anticipate the next upcoming part of the series. Sometimes it's also really awesome to see the fun ideas and creativity that can be brought forth from fans!

Sometimes.


When you are a fan of something, say that really cute anime emo guy that never talks to anyone but is still frickin cute because he just is, you can basically take the way you view that character and "change" him around, or rather, re-design his characteristics to match your own personal preference.

For example, this emo boy just so happens to not be interested in dating any girls currently, and he probably feels that he just doesn't have time for them, being busy sulking around and thinking about how much life sucks and all. Sadly that's just the way the cartoonist created him. But the way his slanted, narrow eyes and shaggy black hair are drawn is just far too much for your brain to remove from its memory and your heart does a little jump every time he speaks in that deep, smooth voice (yeah you, fangirl, you know what I'm talking about). Even though he's fictional, you just somehow can't stop thinking about him. So what do you do???

You might decide to make your own OC (original character), draw her up and then pair her up with emo kid. In your imagination you are now somehow a part of the story and have full control over all the other character's emotions and decisions, especially the character you have a crush on. You two could have some sort of smoking romance and absolutely nothing could go wrong or get in the way of your "original" angst-y love story. Hey, it's a whole new world now! For you, anything goes. Until the next episode of that anime emo-kid is a part of comes on TV in English with a new character - a female who is destined to be his girlfriend. *facepalm*

Another typical thing that fans do that you could also do is save every single picture of him off Google and DeviantArt onto your computer. On YouTube you can make a million AMVs dedicated to that character and even make be the first to claim the username, emo_kidluver4ever. You can go to every underground nerd forum and post about your love for him and how IS (not how you wish he was) your husband and you will threaten anyone dare tries to disagree or argue back with a nasty type-tag-war (apparently you have such a convincing way with your words). After that no one will like you, but at least you've put all this effort into making claims to this character and now he's yours! Sorta. Happy now? Ppfft. Seriously, get a life.

You could also buy all the posters that have his face on it, buy all the t-shirts with him on them, buy all the tv show episodes, action figures, toys, video games, and costume items, etc. Basically you just need to stock up on as much of his merchandise as possible so that your can create your own custom museum or sanctuary in full dedication to him. You can brag to all your other emo kid-loving friends about how much of a bigger fan you are than them, and you can have them come over to your house so that they can marvel at the beauty of your emo-kid decorated dwelling. Soon enough you'll be flat-broke and you'll have to sell your prized emo-kid possessions. And possibly your house, too.

You might have been a victim of one or more of these fan situations until you met that creepy 45-year-old woman who can't stop obsessing over emo-kid (who's only 16 years old), and well, you back away from that situation.... very slowly..... and cautiously......

But thankfully there is good news for you. You can save yourself a lot of grief, time, money and disturbing mental images by just doing this: NOT. GOING. OVERBOARD.

There is fine line between a "you're an O.K. fan" and a "you-are-so-into-this-it's-really-creepy fan". I know some people who are crazy about Star Wars and collect their merchandise and watch their movies a hecka lot, but the difference between them and crazy fans is these guys at least have self-control. They can make friends with other Star Wars lovers and still go on living their normal lives without Star Wars being the only topic of conversation. Star Wars is a fun something  and they don't treat it like it's a someone. They know that nothing about Star Wars is more important than real-life experiences and people. They let Star Wars become a fun part of their lives without letting it be their lives. To put it all simply, what these people do is prevent an invasion from happening in their hearts.

Everyone has SOMETHING they can get all nerdy about! If you know me well enough, you'll know that right now I am crazy about the Avengers. Loki and Thor = awesome. And ever since I was little I've been a big fan of Sonic the Hedgehog. "You're too slow!" My absolute favorite TV show is Avatar: The Last Airbender, and lately I've been trying to keep up with their new spin-off series, The Legend of Korra! Look, there's not necessarily anything  wrong with getting into characters and whatnot, but you have to know when to prevent a mixture of falsehood being made out of your life. With as abundant as modern media is, it is WAY easy to get caught up big time in the mix. Your time is precious and it cannot and must not all be wasted on fiction. Know and understand what is real and let go of some of the things you cling to. They won't cling back. Remember that. You are in control of your own decisions, so be strong and don't let fiction become your new reality.

Bye bye, birdies! I'm going to bed. It's way too late. In fact, it's not even June 4th anymore. It's June 5th!!!! AHHHHHH!