With Frozen II on the horizon, speculation over Elsa’s sexuality is kicking into gear once again with a renewed fervor.
Back when the movie first came out and Elsa became a queer icon due to be voiced by Maureen herself, Idina Menzel, and singing “Let It Go,” people have felt like she would be an excellent lesbian princess. After all, Elsa was the rare princess who seemed unconcerned with finding a prince charming. Twitter mobilized, as it does, and generated a #GetElsaAGirlfriend campaign for the sequel to the hit 2013 film.
Ever since the character of Iduna, voiced by Evan Rachel Wood (a vocal LGBTQ+ advocate), was introduced in the trailers with her own magical abilities, it was desired that Iduna be that #girlfriend. However, early hopeful speculation about this went nowhere, and Iduna is, in fact, related to Elsa and Anna, so nevermind that.
Disney, despite having a huge LGBTQ+ fanbase, has always been very inconsistent about how much it will actually represent said identities in their media. While Disney Channel shows have broken some of the boundaries, and they tried it vaguely with the live-action Beauty & The Beast, it is still jarring that within their main ranks there are still no canonically queer characters. Characters like Elsa, Merida, and Moana have been adopted as potentially queer since they don’t have any love interests at all in their movies, so the possibility is out there.
Personally, I think that it is just something that needs to happen. I may not be the biggest fan of Frozen anymore (upon rewatching, Moana is the strongest of the three newest princess films by far), but if Elsa is going to be our first real gay character, then I’m here for it. But I just feel like this speculation is going to help Disney even if nothing happens. I just wish they would rip off the bandaid and just say upfront if it’s going to happen, but they are so afraid of family groups and do not want that big conversation.
I also would like it to just be normalized, which is why the idea that it would be a hidden “twist” is aggravating. I don’t want it to be something that happens in the last third and parents feel “tricked.” If Disney wants to have gay clout, then it should proudly have a gay lead. Right now, they have a platform that is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before, and for them to still be so behind on this kind of representation is damning.
If Elsa is not the princess who will break that queer ceiling, then someone is going to have to soon, because the longer Disney attempts to milk LGBTQ+ fans with few rewards, the sooner the love is going to dry out. You can’t love queer coding for villains, but ignore the fact that we can be heroes too.
(via CNN, image: Disney)
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