The cultural impact of Frozen

By: Tess Connelly

The movie Frozen premiered in November of 2013. Since then, it’s hard to walk by anything for children and not see something printed with the face of Elsa, the iconic main princess, or her sister Anna. Frozen is a film made by Disney, a company that could be considered a staple to children’s entertainment since its beginning, and known particularly for their movies surrounding princesses. Though it may seem like just another princess movie,

Frozen, became something more. As of 2020, the film takes its place as the third highest grossing animated film of all time, just behind its sequel, Frozen II (Schaefer). The films and their characters have become synonymous with girls and girlhood, complicating Frozen’s role as a movie for girls. Unlike many of the princess films that came before it, Frozen’s protagonist does not have a romantic interest. Elsa’s story revolves around her internal troubles and the love she has for her sister. Our princess isn’t even a princess – Elsa is the Queen of Arendelle, where she resides. Elsa has powers, ones that can be destructive or playful. She is unlike any other protagonist Disney has created, and it’s done with purpose. With the ever changing views of girls, Frozen and Frozen II, their interpretations, and their criticisms reflect that changing narrative of girls, girlhood, and how girls should be represented in media.

The creation of Frozen started long before its release. Though based on a 1937 novel, it bears very little resemblance to the original story (Abernathy). Stories based around the origin story, The Snow Queen, had been pitched many times in the early 90’s, in what is considered the

“Disney renaissance” era (Abernathy). The princesses of that era - Ariel (The Little Mermaid), Belle (Beauty and the Beast), Jasmine (Aladdin), Pocahontas (Pocahontas), and Mulan (Mulan), have also gotten the name the “rebel children era” (Alp), as many of these princess stories are centered somewhat around disobeying their parents or some kind of conventional rule. Despite their “rebellion”, many of their stories are inextricably tied to their male love interests or even motivated by them. It is clear that Disney has a history of portraying young women as motivated by the men, and their stories do not exist

without them. However, Frozen focuses heavily on Elsa’s internal battle with the power she wields. Elsa’s powers, creating ice, are reactive to her emotions, making any stress or

altercation extremely difficult for her to manage, especially after she had accidentally harmed her younger sister when they were children. Once their parents died, and Elsa became of age, Elsa then became the Queen of Arendelle, where the beginning of Frozen takes place. Elsa is reserved, portrayed as distant even to her sister. In contrast to Elsa, Anna is extremely outgoing and desires companionship. Elsa falls into what is called the “independent woman era”, or the new age era (Alp). Many of the princesses of this era have romantic interests, but also have their own stories separate from them, with motivations and desires that have nothing to do with their male romantic interest.

Elsa’s relationship with romance is complex, and is known generally as the “first feminine-coded princess without a love interest at all” (Wright). Despite being the protagonist of Frozen, her story does not include a male counterpart. It is her sister Anna who has the desire to marry, who has the love story that spans across both Frozen and Frozen II. With both her sister’s romance and Disney’s history of giving their protagonist a love interest, Elsa is completely devoid of any interest at all. She mostly has contact with those who are already part of her family, such as Anna, or Kristoff, Anna’s partner. This lack of sexuality could be interpreted as something other than heterosexual, as her lack of romantic interest to any person in the film is striking when compared to her sister and Disny’s history. This places Elsa in a very similar situation as popular novel character Nancy Drew, whose very specifically had not sexual desire for the boys in her lives, but very deep relationships with girls. This is done purposefully, as Marshall states, “the containment of Nancy's imagined sexuality requires an acknowledgement of it,” (Marshall), wherein the decision to make both Nancy and Elsa not sexual was done with a specific intent. It is not only Elsa’s lack of sexuality, but there are many aspects to the story that seem to be based off of the queer experience. Gonick describes that “Queer girls experience marginalization and oppression on the basis of sexuality and other markers of social difference” (Gonick), which is in line with Elsa’s storyline. She is told to hide her feelings from others, that her power is dangerous, and it should be a secret – it is only in her leaving, creating her own castle of ice and bursting through the doors is Elsa able to

“let go” of her anxiety and fear surrounding her powers. Elsa’s potential queerness and queer storylines did not go

unnoticed, and there were many fans to discussed the desire to have Elsa have a female romantic interest in the sequel (Llompart). The response to these requests did not result in an overt lesbian romance, but the introduction of a new female character could expand on Esla’s potential for queerness. For the first time, Elsa forms a relationship with a woman outside of her family; one that is knowledgeable of the power that she has, that she was once extremely scared to reveal to the world. Frozen II even ends with Elsa leaving her role as Queen to become the protector of the Enchanted Forest, where Honeymaren resides, at Honeymaren’s suggestion that she “belongs up here”. As Anna becomes Queen of Arendelle, she looks upon a statue created to represent the indiginous people who protected them, stating that they are “connected by love”. Once the production of Frozen II had been announced, in 2016, the hashtag “GiveElsaAGirlfriend'' gained popularity across Twitter. (Hunt). Elsa had alread been interpreted as queer representation even before her connection with Honeymaren, speaking to the reflection that her lack of interest in romance can be understood as queer. Though Honeymaren did not become a clear romantic interest, the fan influence to encourage a female partner for Elsa likely played into the decision to create Honeymaren and their friendship.

More overtly, Frozen II contends with the issues facing indiginious people, especially that of colonialism. Unknown to Elsa, her grandfather and the former king of Arendelle Runard, had attempted to build a dam that would harm Honeymaren’s tribe, the Northuldra, and their way of life. When confronted about the dam, the former king killed the Northuldran leader despite the peaceful interaction. In turn, this led to a decades-long conflict between the two communities: Arendelle and the Northuldra. The Northuldra are a group of indiginous people who are deeply connected to the spirits that allow Elsa to have her powers. The group was based on the Sámi people, and Disney had involved Sámi consultants on the film to ensure they were creating an

appropriate and respectful representation of indiginous people,and much of the story is representative of actual conflicts that the Sámi have faced (Huuki). Frozen II represents many of the real life issues facing all indiginous people, and “Frozen 2 and its popularity cannot be understood apart from the massive traumatic impact of settler colonialism” (Huuki), as the story revolves around understanding Elsa’s power and rekindling the relationship Arendelle once had with the Northuldra. Disney’s representation of indiginous people is incredibly important, not only because it often represents real life tribes, but Disney has some of the top grossing animated films of all time (Schaefer) and their influence on children is undeniable, as children’s literature and media can have the “potential to shape children’s social values and perceptions of self” (Zaslow). Thus, the reflection of indiginous people in a movie can shape the way children view these issues. The intersection of race and girlhood is prevalent in the ways Honeymaren and Elsa are similar, but extremely different. Because of Honeymaren’s indigenuity, she has not been able to live as freely as Elsa and Anna did; her tribe had been trapped in the mist of the Enchanted Forest for over thirty years, since the beginning of the conflict with Arendelle. It was because of King Runard’s fear of the power the Northuldra have that motivated the creation of a dam that was secretly intended to weaken them, making their culture a subject of fear and scrutiny for simply existing. In contrast to Elsa who, despite actually bearing the powers that were feared, became the Queen of Arendelle because she was not born a part of the Northuldra. The difference in their experience throughout their lives is specifically attributed to their ethnicities. Girlhood for them was an entirely different experience as a result. Honeymaren and her community are automatically assumed to be violent or a risk to the Arendellians, despite no evidence for this, which was the motivation for the attack propagated by King Runard. However, it is important to note that this places Elsa and Honeymaren into the tropes of the “can do” and

“at risk” girl; Elsa is a white, wealthy woman who has even more power as a part of royalty. Harris describes the “can-do” girl as the self made, resilient girl who embodies girl power. Elsa obtains this power through the beginning of Frozen, by which she is confident in her abilities as Queen and as protector of Arendelle. The “at risk” girl is not always the girl who takes risks, but the girl who is at risk due to her circumstances, as Honeymaren is. Elsa, whether it is overtly stated or not, is tasked with “saving” the Northuldra, an indigineous tribe, from the mist that had been set from Elsa’s grandfather. In reality as well as within Frozen II, countries “have established their nations on the indentured labor of young Indigenous and enslaved peoples, both women and men, although this is little discussed” (Harris), making the Northuldra a minority group at the risk of harm.

The cultural impact of the Frozen franchise is obvious, and has created a reputation for a “feminist” way of thinking (Alp). With more modern ideas of what girls and girlhood are, major corporations like Disney are being forced to abandon the traditional princess they have worked with for years. The topics these princesses have faced have expanded from finding love to examining the effects of colonialism and promoting change. Elsa represents the new age of princess that can be understood as queer through subtext, but fans of Disney media have pushed for a more obvious representation of queer characters in their media. More than anything else,

Frozen and Elsa represents a changing perception of girlhood, and she has burst through the doors to let go of one dimensional women, and instead embrace complex, difficult storylines for young girls to show that they can go into the unknown.

References

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