Hoo boy, no other film more perfectly named for what I'm about to do than this... I am going to use my Bachelors in Film and Media Studies to deconstruct Trolls.
Before I begin going full Tumblr, here's my honest opinion of the film:
It is good. The music is very pop, but it is fun. The art style of world is also a joy, with a felt-like texture to it. The film gets worse after the midpoint, when they are with the bergins and playing the old matchmaker shtick. Also some plot details are contrived, and end up creating one or two plot holes... Kids won't care, they will enjoy it regardless. Adults may get more enjoyment out of the soundtrack. I give it a solid 7/10; colorful and bouncy, with a somewhat annoying plot.
And with that, I am going to have fun playing that which I hate: a socjus warrior that wants to die on a dumb hill.
Commence Media Studying!
Trolls is an ableist film. Its entire message is that "there is happiness inside of everyone," even inside the gray Branch, and the Bergins that are said to feel nothing...
Trolls is ableist against people with depression, who literally cannot be happy.
Let's break it down:
In the beginning, we are told the Trolls are always happy, singing, dancing, hugging, and loving. We are then informed that the Bergins, represented in the film as ugly, gnarled toothed and warted beasts, are never happy. Then one day, a Bergin ate a troll, and was able to feel true happiness. When the Trolls manage to escape the Bergins, the prince of their kingdom is told that without them, he will never be truly happy.
Several years later, the film shows us the Trolls being blissful, carefree, and happy to contrast with the sad Bergins. The film introduces Branch, a blue-gray troll who does not like to be around people, and lives in a survival bunker. The other Trolls try to make Branch just like them through nothing but hugs, singing, and oppressive positivity.
The film makes those who aren't as happy as the Trolls into an "other" that is unlikable and rude. It is hard not to see Dreamwork's intention to paint people with depression as crazed, ugly individuals that, if they seek to undo their state, resort to unnatural means that only give a facsimile of true happiness.
This is further emphasized when the audience is introduced to Bridget, a scullery maid Bergin, who is made to be like the Trolls by having her introduced by singing an Adelle song. She is only made sympathetic because she is like the Trolls, and sees the folly in eating the trolls for false happiness.
It is through Bridget that the film insists that those that were previously stated to never be able to feel happy, could in fact be happy, they just never tried hard enough. How many times have people with depression heard "have you just tried being happy?" or "Why don't you sing a song? That's worked for me!" In the end, the Bergins are made to be as happy as the Trolls just by singing and dancing.
I should hope that it is obvious I don't believe a word that I just wrote up there. I don't believe Dreamworks was being ableist, or that they think depressed people are ugly... and I of course don't believe medication for depression just gives a facsimile of happiness. My point here, is that there are many hills in the world. There are some legitimate causes to fight for, and hills worth dying on. "Trolls is ableist against depressed people" is not one of those hills.
All that discussion and rhetoric above was a big part of my Film and Media Studies degree. In one of my classes, Masculinity in Film, we discussed masculinity in the Titanic. Now, you could have a legitimate discussion on that, talking about what it means to be a true man... our discussion was that Jack was better at sex because he worked with his hands. I learned from all of my various classes how to turn molehills into mountains using reductive reasoning and "high class" language. When you use language like "ableist" when talking about a condition, and "other" when talking about people, your discussion is elevated to a higher level of discourse. (Yes, that previous sentence did the exact same damn thing.) Higher levels of discourse elevate a topic into a higher level of importance... and you turn a mole hill into a mountain.
I hold a great dislike for people that do what I did above, because such discourse can damage causes. If people suddenly started shouting at DreamWorks because of this, nothing positive would result from it. They may apologize, but that apology would not heal any real wounds, because they didn't inflict any to begin with, But those that fought for their mole hill would be content they got "justice" and nothing actually improved.
If you must die on a hill, die on one that is actually helpful. If you want to help people with depression, fight with congress to get them to increase funding for research into cures for depression. Maybe someone out there has the solution, but they can't get the funding to put it into action. That would be a worthy hill.
Fight for a worthy cause; mountains made out of mole hills are still just molehills. Dying on one will not truly help your cause, only selfishly help yourself believe you helped, and did your best, when in reality you did nothing.
Trolls was a good film; I might've taken a couple more passes at the script, but otherwise it was a solid kids film. It's gonna make a lot of money on merchandising...
