What this is all about

(Accessed online: http://www.broadway.com/buzz/174011/dreams-do-come-true-disney-confirms-broadway-plans-for-hit-movie-frozen/) 

In 2013 Disney released its 53rd animated feature and its overall 496th Disney film. Frozen is a hit film which created an incredibly popular soundtrack with "Let It go" reaching the iTunes top 20 (Cerasaro 2014).

Frozen is somewhat unconventional in that it is not a typical fairytale. It is about the unconditional love between two sisters and it also challenges contemporary issues such as an inclusion of a homosexual family. 

There are hundreds, possibly thousands of parodies to do with Frozen and this ranges from recreations of scenes, to lip syncing, to mockery and a 24 million-hit video on YouTube of the song 'Let it go' sung in 25 different languages.

The characters in Frozen are also relatable, especially for the stereotype-breaking Anna who conveys a personality of a typical teenager but breaks this when she takes on a hero's role to bring back her sister.

An iPhone application 'Free Fall' was released based on Frozen. The game is similar to the crazed 'Candy Crush Saga' but is thematic instead. 

This shows that the popularity of Frozen has caused it to be cross platform like many other contemporary media texts and I'm keen to explore the certain aspects of Frozen's nature and why the Disney film was incredibly popular.

Let it go

(Accessed online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moSFlvxnbgk)

'Let it go' was the most famous song to come out of the film Frozen. Particularly performed by Idina Menzel the soulful song is about being yourself and not holding back- a popular message, especially for young children.
Although a musical animation, the film spread across platforms as the soundtrack could be bought separately and various music videos were uploaded to YouTube (see above).

Countless amounts of parodies and memes were produced on account of the films' release. For example:

(Accessed online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gavEC5aWAzM)

This is an average couple whose lip-syncing video went viral over the internet. It is enjoyable and feel-good and spreads the message that Frozen is not just for children, and the children in the back of the car were probably the reason why the parents watched the film in the first place. This couple had taken a media text, and reproduced their own version.

This definitely changes how the audience interacts with cinema and films nowadays and this changes the whole concept of the 'consumer'. I would like to identify the difference I see between 'user' and 'audience'. To me, audiences are simply the consumer whereas a 'user' is more likely to interact with that particular form of media, as I believe a 'user' is more of a 'fan'. 'Interactivity' does challenge the way the classic audience member is viewed and this could inspire certain ways a film is produced.

"We are moving away from a world in which some produce and many consume media, toward one in which everyone has a more active stake in the culture that is produced." (Jenkins 2006).

Jenkins defines in his blog that participatory culture are these things:

"1) With relatively low barriers to expression and engagement
2) Strong support for creating and sharing
3) Informal mentorship
4) A belief that contributors matter
5) Social connection with one another.

Not every member must contribute by all must believe they are free to contribute when ready and that what they contribute will be appropriately valued." (Jenkins 2006)

Participatory culture I believe is one of the main differences between old and new media as users are able to interact with the media they are interested in. In relation to Frozen we have several types of fan groups (in my opinion) who take on Frozen in different matters. There are people who would buy anything with a Frozen logo on, those who recreate their favourite scenes and publish them on YouTube, meme creators and then what simply are the 'consumers' (those who simply enjoy). For example:

The Recreations:

(Accessed online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PGrtdcvlVE)

By making these parodies with no profitable outcome highlights the extent that the audience goes to get more involved with their favourite film. Jenkins' challenges that whatever level the consumer goes to, to create these parodies, that it is not important, but the consumer must believe that it is in order for it to matter. Participatory culture is a massive importance to Web 2.0 as the audience is now "active". Bringing it to a cross-platform level shows the advance in technology as anyone whose anyone can publish their creations online and within days it can become viral (if it's interesting or good enough). Having the ability to perform creations on a cross-platform level is important as it has completely changed the audiences ability to interact with media.

However, according to Nielsen, who devised participation inequality, only 1% of the audience are 'heavy contributors', 9% intermittent contributors and 90% are 'lurkers'. In other words only 1% of the audience are "active".

(Accessed online: http://www.nngroup.com/articles/participation-inequality/)

He says,

"User participation often more or less follows a 90-9-1 rule:

• 90% of users are lurkers (i.e., read or observe, but don't contribute)
• 9% of users contribute from time to time, but other priorities dominate their time.
• 1% of users participate a lot and account for most contributions: it can seem as if they don't have lives because they often post just minutes after whatever event they're commenting on occurs."

Personally I would put myself in the 90% as I rarely interact with medias I enjoy, but I do like to consumer other products made by the 1%.

This suggests that although it may seem it, not all audiences are necessarily 'active'. This emphasises that while the majority of the audience population have access to the technologies to produce cross platform entertainment, a lot choose not to. Most likely due to the reason that somebody already had. 

"The fact that fans are "active" consumers does not automatically mean that their practices and submissive or progressive. Theory fans do indeed put a lot of effort into producing interpretations- often quite radical and surprising- of their favoured texts. " (Gray 2006)

Gray often discussed how 'fandom' is chosen by the audience and is not forced upon by the producer. It is somewhat of a passion or hobby to take enjoyment of a text to the next level and producing other cross-platform features for other less-committed fans.