Elsa a Metaphor?

By: Lorin Puckett

In the new successful movie Zootopia, rookie police officer Judy moves into her new
home and meets her neighbors with names Bucky and Pronk. They are both male antelopes who
live together and bicker like a married couple. But...were they gay?

While LGBT characters are common in movies and TV shows for adults, they remain
barely acknowledged in childrens entertainment. In the past three years, there has been a
campaign on Twitter for #GiveElsaAGirlfriend a plea for Disney to make societies new
favored princess a lesbian in the upcoming sequel to Frozen. Childrens movies have very
standard formats of romance that isn't up to date with the gay movement. Also, Elsa is the first
Disney princess not to have a love interest right off the bat simply because she has to "come out"
as her real self at first -being that she has to accept her abilities. Disney is already trying to hint a
form of self-acceptance, and maybe her next struggle could be coming out about her sexual
orientation because the entertainment industry plays a huge role in societal confidence and
tolerance. Elsa would be a strong fit for a queer queen, and Disney should take the next step
towards creating that for us in the upcoming Frozen 2.

Now, a kids movie may seem like the last place to be talking about "grown up" things
like romance. Yet, LGBT activists say that in almost every princess movie or action-packed
cartoons there are relationships: moms and dads, aunts and uncles, princes and princesses, and
even animals. All of these relationships have subtle reinforcement of a very traditional act of

romantic love. Disney has always attempted to stay up-to-date on the society and its norms.
Disney shattered a glass slipper when it created a princess character who was African-American
in 2009 with The Princess and the Frog. Disney's reasoning was "We wanted to insure that
minorities had a voice too. We wanted to break the mold and create something society needed to
see," said Chairman Robert A. Iger. (Reporter Reports. Ron Whitens) There comes a time for
change in entertainment; Disney is changing with it, so why not bring on the gay?

With Disney attempting to remain updated on society, they have created an independent
princess when it comes to Elsa. They created her not to be a damsel in distress, but a strong and
powerful young lady. Also, they redeveloped the idea of true love not to be romance but to be a
stronger bond of siblinghood. To break Anna from the frozen statue she was, Elsa had to plead
her love for her sister in order to free her. If Disney is so devoted to change, then why is it not to
have change in the LGBT direction?

For one thing, Elsa is the only Disney princess without a potential love interest. That
alone doesn't mean she is gay, but it does mean her sexuality is open for discussion. More
importantly, Elsa's journey can be read as a "coming out" metaphor. From a young age, her
parents taught her to hide away the thing that makes her unique (her ice powers), as she recites
"conceal, don't feel." She lives a life of unhappy isolation until she finally embraces her abilities,
belts out that song constantly stuck in your head, and eventually rejoins her kingdom as a much
happier ruler. Basically, she comes out and feels better for it. Like most allegories, its an
imperfect one. Elsa's ice powers have other elements that don't apply to sexual orientation, and
there are other valid readings of Elsa's powers as a metaphor for any kind of invisible "otherness"

that makes people feel ashamed and alone. In particular, she's become a poster child for many in
the LGBT community, with "Let It Go" adopted as some kind of gay anthem. The
#GiveElsaAGirlfriend campaign is simply a request to emphasize the subtext many already see
in the film.

As conspiratorial as Elsa and metaphors go, one thing of entertainment is certain. The
entertainment industry plays a huge role in societal confidence and tolerance. Some Disney fans
argued on social media that it would have been very beneficial for them to see gay characters in
movies when they were young that maybe they would have become more accepting towards
gay peers, or better able to grasp with their own sexuality. Studies have suggested that seeing gay
characters in popular entertainment can decrease prejudice towards those groups. "There is no
doubt that kids seeing positively portrayed gay characters could have a significant effect that
would contribute to such childrens learning about the world and who is in it, said Edward
Schiappa, a professor of comparative media studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(The Washington Post. Jessica Contrera) It's simple logic, if starting at a young age seeing multigendered relationships together as a common thing then that child will grow up to develop a
mindset of acceptance towards those relationships. The child would not see fit to call any
partnership wrong. Same as living conditions, if a young boy or girl sees his/her mother getting
abused by his/her father every day, does he/she grow up to find that to be a social norm?

So now lets jump back a bit. Following up on Princess Tiana in "Princess and the Frog",
sometimes money falls above message. Simply, money, a majority of the time, matters more than
the much needed message displayed. Carmenita Higginbotham, an associate professor at the

University of Virginia teaches a course on Disney and said that choosing a nonwhite lead even
then made some viewers less likely to see "Princess and the Frog." "Whatever good intentions
individuals may have toward the identities of these dominant characters within the Disney
universe, money will always be a factor, Higginbotham said. (A.V Club. Caroline Siede) Her
belief is that it will take a long time before Disney confronts the topic of LGBT romance. "Until
you have a broad audience that will welcome alternative presentations, Disney won't go there,"
she said. (A.V Club. Caroline Siede)

Is this really the right way to go about it? This may be the perfect time to release Elsa
being the next LGBT symbol. Currently, there are roughly 981,000 adults in gay relationships.
Nearly one in ten LGBT adults are married to the same sex, up 8% from last year. This includes
10.5% of gay men and 8.8% of lesbians. Almost half of all LGBT couples who live together are
married today, up from 38% a year ago. (A.V Club. Caroline Siede) The increase has been
slightly greater in states that did not have same-sex marriage until the Supreme Court ruled. The
point is that the LGBT community is up and rising excessively each year. By the time Elsa
returns to the big screen, there will be tons more open minded people out there. Disney would be
silly not to include a lesbian Elsa in the next Frozen movie because LGBT is becoming the new
social norm.

On a personal note, I have been someone whos struggled to define my sexuality. I have
never been comfortable saying that I wasn't sure if I was into boys or girls. I am someone who
finds everyone to be unique and to have attractive qualities. Never was I to label myself, nor will
I do so now. I remember being a little kid and watching Winnie the Pooh. Pooh said, "Nobody is

exact, but everyone is special. You gotta understand that it might be best to keep an open mind."
(Whinnie the Pooh. TV Show) I never would have expected to get such great advice from Pooh.
My point is that a children's show lead me to understanding open-mindedness, and that a label
doesn't matter if you don't judge. Entertainment influences society and as a child once, I can
vouch for that. I still to this day, being seventeen, look out at the world open-minded because
Pooh Bear told me to. I can honestly say from experience that hearing advice from a TV
character I loved so much inspired me to be who I am now, a non-judgmental person. If we had a
gay princess, I strongly believe that the same would happen for other children as it did for me.

All in all, Elsa would be the greatest fit for a lesbian queen because her whole life is
about coming out and being comfortable in her own element -"ice". Disney should definitely take
the next step towards creating that reality of gay Elsa. After all, Elsa is the first Disney princess
not having a love interest simply because she has to accept herself not as a freak but as a unique
individual. Plus, the LGBT community is growing each year which is becoming the new social
movement. Disney is already creating a larger message of self-acceptance from the Frozen
fandom which is smart because the entertainment industry plays a huge role in societal
confidence and tolerance. If you are someone like me who tries to stay open minded, then maybe
you should remain open-minded about an explicitly gay childrens character. What is the harm of
letting your child accept gay as ok? Maybe this is the next step towards what American needs to
make it great again.

Work Cited
Contrera, Jessica. Are We Ready for a Gay Elsa? The Washington Post. Washington
Post, 11 May 2015. Web 2 Oct. 2016.
Siede, Caroline. Why Disney Needs a Gay Princess. A.V. Club. A.V. Club, 12 May
2016. Web 2 Oct. 2016
Galuppo, Mia. The Online Push for LGBT characters in Animated Movies. The
Hollywood Reporter. Hollywood Report, 2 June 2016. Web Oct 4.2016
Whitens, Ron. Fact Me a Gay Elsa. Reporter Reports. Report Reports, 12 April 2016.
Web. 8 Oct 2016