Continuity
Despite its association with the 1969 special, Frosty Returns has a notable lack of continuity with it. For example, Frosty has a different physical appearance, a more streetwise sense of humor compared to the naïvete of the original Frosty, and the ability to live without his top hat. In the original special and its other sequels, the removal of Professor Hinkle's hat from Frosty's head immediately causes him to become a regular snowman again.
The plot of this particular special is more political and/or socially conscious than its predecessors and successors, alluding to climate change, environmentalism, and corporate greed. In addition, instead of a Christmas celebration, the term "winter carnival" is used. In fact, neither Christmas nor Santa Claus is used at all and Charles makes mention of creating a "fertility goddess" in the snow, possibly a reference to Frey, the Scandinavian fertility god and a deity associated with peace and prosperity during winter solstice. The use of aerosol cans hints to the use of fluorocarbons, which were used as propellants for decades before their potential to deplete the ozone layer was discovered in the 1970s. Frosty no longer has a corn cob pipe. The Frosty song, when sung, uses humming or whistling through the corn cob pipe section, thus avoiding all references to smoking.
Largely because of the differences between the "classic" Frosty shows and its heavy-handed environmental theme, Frosty Returns was largely panned by the media and has only a 31% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Read more about this topic: Frosty Returns
Famous quotes containing the word continuity:
“Continuous eloquence wearies.... Grandeur must be abandoned to be appreciated. Continuity in everything is unpleasant. Cold is agreeable, that we may get warm.”
—Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)
“The dialectic between change and continuity is a painful but deeply instructive one, in personal life as in the life of a people. To “see the light” too often has meant rejecting the treasures found in darkness.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)
“Every society consists of men in the process of developing from children into parents. To assure continuity of tradition, society must early prepare for parenthood in its children; and it must take care of the unavoidable remnants of infantility in its adults. This is a large order, especially since a society needs many beings who can follow, a few who can lead, and some who can do both, alternately or in different areas of life.”
—Erik H. Erikson (1904–1994)