Frozen II who is the antagonist of the movie

My sister and I were having a conversation the other day about who the antagonist of the movie is. We both agree that there is no real villain in the movie other than spoiler alert the Grandfather. We disagree through on who is the antagonist of the movie. Before tipping my hand on who thinks what I think it is important to first define antagonist. Also there are going to be spoilers for the movie so if you haven't seen it don't keep reading. Also why did you click on this article.



Dictionary.com defines Antagonist as: a person who actively opposes or is hostile to someone or something; an adversary.

I think this is a fair working definition but I think this post by https://www.grammarly.com/ does a better job defining it. 

The antagonist is the principal source of conflict for the protagonist. Often, the antagonist is a bad guy, a villain, but he doesn't necessarily have to be. He may just be someone who has a different agenda. Antagonists might be one person, a group, or even an animal.

https://miro.medium.com/max/700/1*hxHQgvaVJQgO5ZlB5x_TJA.jpeg

I guess then we have to figure out who the protagonist of the movies is before we can define who the antagonist is. Back to grammarly article on what a protagonist is. 
https://www.grammarly.com/blog/protagonist/

The most common definition of protagonist is the leading character of a drama or literary work. 

Hmm, well it does go on and say that there can be more than 1 protagonist but there has to be a better definition. From Wikipedia: A protagonist is the main character of a story. The protagonist is at the center of the story, makes the key decisions, and experiences the consequences of those decisions. The protagonist is the primary agent propelling the story forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles.

What character in the movie is driving the movie, hmm well that would be Elsa. At every point in the movie she is driving the movie forward. The movie is really about Elsa finding out about her true self and where she really belongs. Some people say that Anna was the protagonist but they are thinking about the first movie not this one. It's undisputed that Anna is the protagonist of that movie. 

Now that we have established that Elsa is the protagonist of the movie let's look at who is the principle source of conflict for Elsa. Wait, do you hear that someone telling Elsa to stop and be safe. Why that is Anna!

Anna is the main antagonist of the movie. 

Yes, she is and her is why:

At every point of the movie when Elsa needs to do something Anna opposes her because Anna wants to maintain the status quo. Anna has her sister back and wants things to remain but Elsa on the other hand needs something, just being queen is not enough as she has many questions about her powers. 

Now when the spirits call to her she sets off on the new adventure to save the enchanted forest. 

Now in the forest we get this scene:


Elsa needs to use her power to put the fire out and Anna is like nope be safe don't run into fire. Again it shows how the two have different values at this point. Anna is the safety of her family and Elsa is continuing to search for the something more.

Elsa needs to go across the dangerous ocean and Anna wants to stop her. Elsa needs to go to her limits to find out who to save the forest. It can't be done unless she goes as far as she can go and the only way to do that is move beyond Anna and take chances. Anna is not purposely trying to hold back her sister, she just wants to have a family after so many years of her sister not having anything to do with her. You can't blame her but in this case she is the antagonist. 

Clearly, you can tell I think that Anna is the antagonist of the movie. My sister disagrees. In support of her argument she points to Anna being brave and destroying the bridge which saves Elsa. Anna cannot be the antagonist since her actions where needed to destroy the bridge and she argues that makes her the true protagonist of the movie. 

This is an excellent point but it over looks the fact that the antagonist can't redeem themselves. I think the best example of this would be Darth Vader. He is the antagonist in the Original Trilogy to Luke's protagonist but in Return of the Jedi, Vader turns and throws the emperor over the edge saving Luke. If an antagonist that is an actual villain can be redeem the antagonist who is good can save the protagonist as well.

 I think it is clear that Anna is the antagonist of the movie since if Anna had her way the enchanted forest would never be freed and Elsa would never discover her true potential. Let me know if you agree or disagree in the comments below.