Frozen Where is Arendelle
Frozen was so good when it came out some years back that they had to give us a sequel, with Frozen 2 to come out in November the 22nd, details of which can be found over at the excellent mtglion.com. You only have to see how well it did in the global box office, becoming Disney’s most successful animated movie of all time, until recently, to appreciate its excellence. It was all folks could talk about for weeks and months, from the characters, to the songs, the storyline and so much more. Part of its charm was how different it was to what you would expect from a Disney animated movie. For instance, there wasn’t the usual swooping in at the last minute by a handsome princess to come to the princess’s rescue and save the day. It was rather more about family and the love between siblings; giving us a different kind of love to the one we usually get from Disney. It was also peculiar in another way to the usual Disney animated movies, most of them at least, in that the place it was set was actually inspired by an actual place in the world. In most cases, as per the gurus over at guttulus.com, we never really know where Disney movies are set, it is usually just a matter of speculation, but here, Arendelle is actually inspired by a place that actually exists, something this article will look to get a little bit deeper into by highlighting where exactly Arendelle is.
While Arendelle is a fictional place, as you’d expect of an animated movie, the inspiration behind the name is actually a city that exists. This is the Norwegian city of Arendal, which is actually a port city located on the southern coast of Norway. As per the subject matter experts over at mtglion.com, the fact that Hans is referred to as a prince of the Southern Isles serves as proof that this is the case. You can see how the two are related as the names are actually quite close to matching. Having said that, research shows that the Arendelle we see in Frozen actually has more similarities with another Norwegian city, Bergen, rather than the port city of Arendal. This is showed by the fact that Disney has set up tour guides to Norway in relation with Frozen and they actually confirm that the city of Bergen and to be specific, a UNESCO Heritage Site in the city known as Bryggen, is the exact inspiration behind Arendelle, as is covered in detail over at guttulus.com. Arendelle and Bergen actually have appearances that are very similar, which you can confirm when you check out the town, located in the Norwegian Western fjords. Not only is the city along a waterfront, which is crucial in this regard, the buildings there are mostly of wooden hanseatic architecture.
Apart from the buildings, there is also a connection to be found between the castle in Arendelle and a Stave church located in the city, and as per the folks over at mtglion.com, this was most likely the inspiration behind the castle in Frozen. Disney, of course, put their own little twist to it, to give it that Disney castle feel that we are all familiar with. This is why while the real church in Bergen, known as Heddal church, is made out of wood, the castle is a mixture of wooden and stone structures. There are those that believe that the stone part of the castle in Arendelle in Frozen was actually inspired by the Akershus fortress which is found in Oslo, Norway’s capital city. There are also that argue that the stone part was inspired by Bergenhus fortress which is found in Bergen; however, one thing is for certain, as can be seen over at guttulus.com, the castle from Frozen was definitely inspired by Heddal church, which even has those three tall towers we know so well from the movie.
Other than buildings, another aspect of Arendelle that points to the fact that it was inspired by Norway and by extension Bergen is when you take a look at the fashion and clothes worn in Frozen. This is because, the clothes, especially those worn by the ladies in Frozen, as per the folks over at mtglion.com, are inspired by the bunad, which is a Norwegian folk costume. The artistry that went into creating the bunads worn by the characters in frozen is quite amazing as the clothes of each individual are designed to portray a certain message about them and their role in the movie. The fact that Frozen has got rock trolls is yet another thing that goes to show that Arendelle was actually inspired by Norway as trolls are a big part of Norwegian folklore, as is explained over at the excellent guttulus.com.
There is a lot you can uncover about this topic as well as on related topics such as the upcoming Frozen 2 film by visiting mtglion.com and guttulus.com