Woman Claims Frozen based on Own Life

Oct 03, 2014

Written By Billy Sexton, Editor, AllAboutLaw.co.uk

A woman is sueing Disney in a $250 million lawsuit, claiming that the plot to festive-hit Frozen is based on her autobiography.

The 2013 animated released depicts a queen with magical icy powers and is widely considered to be an adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson’s fairytale, The Snow Queen.

However, Isabella Tanikumi belives Frozen is actually based on her 2010 autobiography, Yearnings of the Heart. She claims the story, characters and general feeling from her work has been stolen and she has demanded a jury trial. Her autobiography is summarised by Amazon as a “compelling, introspective account” which sees Tanikumi take readers on a journey “through various phases of her remarkable life from her family's survival during the devastating earthquake of 1970 in Huarez to the trials of overcoming heartbreaks of her youth”.

There is a 'sister element' of Frozen as Tanikumi recalls “conquering personal insecurities and exploring the reaches of her intellect while facing the tragic, and untimely death of her beloved sister, Laura”.

Conversely, IMDb summarises Frozen: “When a princess with the power to turn things into ice curses her home in infinite winter, her sister, Anna, teams up with a mountain man, his playful reindeer and a snowman to change the weather condition.”

As you probably guessed, there are no talking snowmen, ice castles or reindeer in Tanikumi’s book. One could argue that she needs to ‘Let It Go’.

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