Kade WilsonWRIT 1633: Fans and Fan Writing PracticesProfessor Juli Parrish

CONCEAL, DONT FEEL:A Queer reAding of disneys Frozen

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The first time I saw Frozen, I was unprepared for the effect it would have on me. I went into the theatre disillusioned by all the hype surrounding the movie and the music in it, expecting to

be disappointed when it couldnt live up to the enthused reviews of all my friends. I wasnt. As

a queer woman, I was hit hard by all of the themes in Frozen and their potential to be read as parallel to the struggle of queer individuals (especially queer youth) in society today. I couldnt

stop singing the soundtrack for weeks, blasting Elsas power ballad, Let it Go, at every con-ceivable opportunity. For a brief time, Frozen became an essential part of my self-image; I was Elsa, concealing powers to protect myself from the fear of others, and the world around

me was Arendelle, beautiful but confining.

When I had the opportunity to choose a topic for the final research paper in my WRIT 1633

class focused on fans and fan culture, Frozen immediately sprang to mind. As I began my research, the paper evolved from a discussion of Frozens fans to a discussion of the movie itself. This paper explores the many themes in Frozen that can be connected to the queer community and sheds light on some of the common queer narratives. In my analysis, I con-sider the appeal of Frozen as a queer film and the importance of media to queer audiences, especially queer youth. Delving into different strategies for constructing queer readings of

Disney stories and other fairy tales has been extraordinarily rewarding, both academically

and personally. I hope this paper opens up a dialogue for queer readings to be viewed as an

important and necessary part of our culture, and paves the way for queer readings of other

childrens texts to become acceptable in academia.

INTRODUCTIONDisneys 2013 animated film Frozen was an enor-mous success, grossing over one billion dollars

and ranking as the highest-grossing animated film of all time. Consequently, Frozen has a huge fan following, with many fans buying into what

is called the queer Elsa headcanon, a fan-de-veloped interpretation of the film in which Elsa,

one of the protagonists, is queer. A comprehen-sive queer reading of Frozen sheds light on com-mon queer narratives and creates a lens through

which to view other texts more queerly. This

paper seeks to combine much of the disparate

research into one cohesive reading of a specific

Disney film and then analyze why queer read-ings, and queer readings of this film in particu-lar, are so inviting and important.

WHAT IS A QUEER READING? The first important question to explore is what

queer readings are and how they are constructed.

It is necessary to define what is meant by queer,

62 WRIT LARGE: 2015

Kade is a sophomore at the University of

Denver majoring in German and English

with a concentration in literary studies.

She spends her time as a member of

DUs Queer Student Alliance, Diversity

Committee, and Mock Trial team. She

also laughs hysterically over cat videos or

funny Buzzfeed posts with her roommate

of two years. Kade grew up in Aurora,

Colorado, with her parents, brother, and

feline best friend.

both as a noun and a verb. According to Caitlin

Ryan and Jill Hermann-Wilmarth, queer refers

not only to the community of gender and sexu-ality minorities commonly known as LGBT, but

also to any sexuality, relationship, gender iden-tity, or gender expression that falls outside of

what society has constructed as normal (145).

In their words, Our use of queer theory is not

focused on whether or not people (or characters,

as we will see) are gay, but rather assumes that categories around gender, sexuality, bodies, and

desire are artificially strict to begin with (Ryan

and Hermann-Wilmarth 147). This is to say that

queering a narrative does not entail searching

for some type of hard evidence that a character

is queer, but rather searches for ways in which

the narrative breaks down traditional boundar-ies and leaves room for reading a character or

a situation in a way that doesnt fall within the

dominant hetero-patriarchy.

Once we have defined queer, we can move

onto, more broadly, defining a queer reading.

As Henry Jenkins notes in Textual Poachers, fan audiences in general construct a variety of read-ingsincluding queer readingsof the texts

they read and watch, adapting those texts to meet

their needs and ideas. For Frederik Dhaenens,

Sofie van Bauwel, and Daniel Biltereyst, queer

readings are concerned with repositioning

texts outside the borders of heteronormativity

(335). To put it simply, a queer reading involves

searching a text for themes, ideas, or messages

that seem contradictory to what we are taught is normal. As Dhaenens puts it, the practice of

queer reading should not be interpreted as mak-ing texts queer but rather as trying to understand

how texts might be understood as queer (341).

Ryan and Hermann-Wilmarth discuss several

strategies for constructing queer-readings of lit-erature, including page-by-page analysis, holistic

analysis, themed analysis, and gendered analysis

(144). In this paper, I use a themed analysis to

pick out elements of Frozen that defy traditional ideas surrounding gender and sexuality, whether

literally or metaphorically, in order to construct

a comprehensive queer reading of the ways that

Frozen can be queered.

MAGIC OR CURSE: ELSAS POWERS AS QUEERNESSThe film Frozen follows the story of sisters and princesses Anna and Elsa of Arendelle. Elsa has

been confined to her room since childhood be-cause she cannot control her magical powers to

create snow and ice. Elsa is finally allowed out

for her coronation ball, where Anna meets and

falls in love with Prince Hans, who is secretly

Kade Wilson / LP Picard

Queering a narrative does not entail

searching for some type of hard

evidence that a character is queer,

but rather searches for ways in which

the narrative breaks down traditional

boundaries and leaves room for

reading a character or a situation

in a way that doesnt fall within the

dominant hetero-patriarchy.

63VOLUME 4

DisneyLifestylers.com

plotting to marry Anna, then kill Elsa and gain

the throne. During the ball, Elsa inadvertently

reveals her powers and escapes to the mountains.

When later confronted by Anna, she accidentally

shoots ice into Annas heart, to be healed only

by an act of true love. Though Anna originally

believes a kiss from a man she loves will thaw

the ice, it is her attempt to save Elsa that thaws

her heart and teaches Elsa to control her powers.

The first description of Elsas powers comes

from Anna. Anna calls them the magic, and

the ice and snow are shown to be childishly play-ful and fun, with nothing inherently bad about

them. Elsas powers only become negative when

she becomes frightened and scared or when oth-ers react badly to what she can do. For example,

when Elsa and Anna are playing and Anna be-gins to jump too fast, Elsa becomes frightened,

even saying, Wait, slow down! Elsas fear then

causes the mishap where Annas head is struck by

ice. Queer identities are not inherently bad; they

do not inherently harm anyone, and queer love

doesnt have fundamental differences from het-erosexual love. However, the way society frames

queer identities is what makes them negative in

societys eyes. Elsas powers serve as a metaphor

for this framing and for queer identity.

The film establishes early on that Elsas

powers are not a curse. When asked by the troll

leader, the king immediately replies that Elsa

was born with her powers rather than cursed by

them. This definition of Elsas powers parallels

discussions of queer identity, insisting on the

innate nature of sexual orientation and gender

identity rather than due to some sickness of the

mind or spirit. The effects of society on Elsas

powers become apparent early on, as she is slow-ly socialized to believe negative things about her-self. Though she has only ever hurt one person,

and in an accidental, non-malicious way, Elsa has

internalized the connection between her powers

and harming others. She tells her parents that

she doesnt want to hurt them, and her father

responds that getting upset makes it worse,

showing how Elsas perceptions of others and

her beliefs about how they will react to her pow-ers influence how she expresses herself.

These ideas Elsa holds about herself affect

her well into her teenage and young adult years.

In For the First Time in Forever (Reprise), Elsa

distinctly calls her powers a curse, claiming that

she cant control them, as though some external

power is influencing her. The idea that her pow-ers are not an inborn and beautiful thing reflects

how queer identities are painted by society today;

these identities are demonized and described as

the product of some external force, whether that

be improper parenting, skewed media images,

or sin. Elsa has also absorbed this idea, trying

to deny and repress her identity as if it were the

function of a curse rather than embracing the

magical potential that her natural identity holds.

REPRESSION AND PARENTAL INFLUENCEAnna and Elsas parents play a particularly im-portant role in Frozen. Though they die early on in the story, their short presence leaves a lasting

impact on Elsa. Many of Elsas core feelings

about her powers stem from the lessons her par-

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ents (specifically her father) taught her, telling

her to conceal it, dont feel it, dont let it show.

As dictated to her by her parents, Elsa needing to

learn control over her powers turns into a need

to repress her powers and attempt not to feel.

This idea is easily accessible for a queer audience,

as much of the modern discourse surrounding

queer sexualities and gender identities is to re-press and hide rather than to embrace and love.

An essential part of the narrative of many

queer youth is an attempt to not feel their

sexuality, often as dictated to them by their re-ligion, community, or family. Elsas uphill bat-tle to keep her powers hidden is a clear parallel

to this all-too-common situation. However, the

harder Elsa tries to not feel her powers, the more

she cannot control them. During For the First

Time in Forever, Elsa is shown singing about

repressing her powers (Dont let them in, dont

let them see) while standing directly underneath

an intimidating portrait of her father. The visual

parallel between her fathers coronation and hers

is made clear when Elsa imitates his pose and

then breaks it as ice begins to cover the objects she is holding. Her fathers advice still has power

over her even long after his death, and Elsa is

still striving toward his ideals.

In many Disney princess films, the conflict

between father and daughter parallels the state of

the kingdom, and the plot is effectively resolved

through the courtship and eventual marriage of

the princess (Do Rozario). Though this trope

applies to Frozen, significant parts are changed. Elsas relationship with her father and his advice

does fall in line with the state of Arendelle. When

Elsas powers are finally revealed during the ball,

she runs away to escape to the North Mountain,

where she has the ultimate conflict with her fa-thers advice. When Elsa runs away, she freezes

over Arendelle completely, demonstrating how

negative her powers can be when she feels scared

or threatened, in this case by both her potential

betrayal of her fathers advice and the immediate

reactions of the people around her. Once she has

escaped that environment, she can think more

clearly, and, as her ballad Let it Go demon-strates, she can reject her fathers ideals. During

the song, she throws away her gloves, cloak, and

tiara. The gloves and cloak, used physically to

cover Elsa and repress her powers, symbolize the

conceal, dont feel mentality championed by

Elsas father. By literally letting these objects go,

Elsa obtains freedom from the physical, mental,

and emotional constraints of her fathers ideol-ogy. Because parental ideologies are established

as normal, by releasing these symbols Elsa is

queering the established rules set forth by her par-ents. Elsa sings, The fears that once controlled

me cant get to me at all, further demonstrating

her rejection of her fathers normative ideas.

Additionally, Elsas continual emphasis of

the phrase good girl (in Let it Go, she sings,

That perfect girl is gone) leaves room for a

queering of Elsas gender identity. Though Elsas

rejection of her fathers idea of the good girl

could be a way of becoming a bad girl, this

also could be read as a rejection of the idea of be-ing a girl altogether. Elsas rejection of the ide-ology that was forced upon her from childhood

opens many opportunities to queer her narrative.

As she sings, Elsa builds a beautiful ice pal-ace. In contrast to the dark state of Arendelle,

which Elsa froze while still under the influence

of her fathers repressive ideology, the palace she

builds while freeing herself is beautiful, show-ing what she can accomplish when free from the

limitations others place upon her. Rebecca-Anne

DoRozario argues that the tension between fa-ther and daughter in princess movies is typically

resolved through courtship; however, in Frozen, it is resolved through Elsa accepting herself and

Annas act of true love to save her at the films

end. This rejection of heterosexual courtship,

along with Elsas relationship with her parents,

allows for Elsas character to be queered.

In contrast to the dark state of

Arendelle, which Elsa froze while still

under the influence of her fathers

repressive ideology, the palace she

builds while freeing herself is beautiful,

showing what she can accomplish when

free from the limitations others place

upon her.

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ELSA AS A MONSTROSITYThe first words spoken by Elsa and Annas par-ents in the film are, Elsa, what have you done?

From Frozens beginning, Elsa is set up as the bad guy by those around her. Even from that

very first line, other characters in the story frame

Elsa as evil. This idea becomes essential for a

queer reading of the film. The outsider as a mon-ster is a potent trope in queer readings and dates

back to queer interpretations of the Disney film

Beauty and the Beast. As Sean Griffin discusses in his book Tinker Belles and Fairy Queens, the Beast was often said to represent an AIDS victim, due

to how he is misunderstood and constructed as a monster by those surrounding him. Griffin also

describes how society teaches that queer individ-uals are bad objects, a concept crucial to un-derstanding how Elsas construction as a mon-ster can be read queerly (68).

In Frozen, Elsas character is made to be a monstrosity in several ways. When the troll lead-er is showing Elsa her future, he states that fear

will be her enemy. This line could be taken to

mean that Elsas fear is her own enemy, which is

later demonstrated in the film through her pow-ers becoming unmanageable when she gets up-set. However, the image the troll leader actually

displays is one of red figures attacking Elsa, not

of her own fear damaging her. The fear of others

is the most dangerous part of Elsas powers and

not her own control of them and her emotions.

This is a familiar queer narrative. Even though

there is nothing inherently harmful or bad about

queer sexualities (or sexuality in general), the re-actions of others, especially those motivated by

fear, can be potentially dangerous to queer indi-viduals, and Elsa illustrates this struggle.

When Elsas power is first revealed to the

public at the coronation ball, it is framed in

a dangerous way. She shoots out spikes of ice

around her, which could potentially harm those

in the surrounding area. However, Elsa doesnt

actually harm anyone throughout the entire

movie. She often threatens others with her pow-ers, but it is always a form of self-protection.

For example, when the Duke of Weseltons men

attack her, she shoves one of them against the

wall with ice, a scene that, to those just entering

the room, makes her appear to be the aggressor.

However, Elsas behavior is motivated by self-de-fense against physical and emotional threat. De-spite this, the immediate reactions to her powers

are fear and anger, with the Duke calling her a

monster immediately afterwards. These reac-tions then serve to foster more fear and anger

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Anna here functions as a clear representative of the

real world where people function properly in society

through conventions like heterosexual marriage, making

this literal outing of Elsas hand, the vehicle of her

powers, even more dramatic.

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in Elsa herself, which results in a negative cycle

where only the dangerous parts of her powers

are shown.

Negative reactions from others are, unfortu-nately, an intrinsic and painful part of the lives

of queer individuals, and these reactions under-standably create adverse feelings in the queer

community. Expression of these feelings by the

queer community only feeds more unfavorable

ideas and stereotypes about queer individuals,

increasing the antagonistic reaction to them, creating a cycle much like the one in which Elsa

is trapped. This cycle is emphasized in a literal

way when Elsa fashions a monster out of snow

in order to protect herself from the emotional

confrontation instigated by Anna. Elsas creation

of a monster with her powers can serve as a di-rect analog for the anger and pain many queer

individuals feel. And the fact that she used her

powers, which can also be used for beauty and

good, to make a monster can be read as queer.

Elsas construction as a monster is further

realized in the film when Prince Hans (who has

been against Elsa from the films onset), in re-sponse to seeing Elsa pinning a man up against

the wall, calls out to her, Dont be the mon-ster they fear you are! His statement results

in Elsas distraction, which is enough time for

the pinned man to shoot the chandelier on the

ceiling. The chandelier then falls and traps Elsa,

ultimately allowing Prince Hans to imprison

her. Hans comment not only allows the viewer

to see how others in the film have constructed

Elsa as a monster, it also causes Elsa to pause

for a moment to ask: Have I become a mon-

Everyone deserves to see their identity represented in their

media, and childrens media in particular is lacking in positive

portrayal of queer characters.

ster? The idea of being called a negative thing

so many times that one starts to become it is also a very queer narrative. Through different

means of socializationsuch as religion, school,

the media, and familymany queer individuals

are taught that non-heterosexual sexualities are

somehow wrong, immoral, or sinful. Elsas sud-den and forced reflection on whether her powers

are monstrous is a painful reflection of a social

reality many individuals face, and it further con-structs her as a monstrosity. The fact that she has

been told to conceal her powers as if they were

a negative thing (despite her parents clear state-ment that she was not cursed but rather born with the magic) has made her internalize ideas

about the inherent negativity of her so-called

curse, as Elsa sings in For the First Time in

Forever (Reprise): I cant control the curse.

Because of the constant construction of Elsa as

a monster by other characters in the film and her

own internalized negativity, when she is con-fronted by Hans statement, she actually has to

consider whether she is a monster, resulting in a

moment painful for even non-queer viewers to

experience.

However, Elsa, as one of the films two main

protagonists, cannot remain constructed as a

monster through the films end, and the disman-tling of this construction is accomplished in an

inherently queer way. After Elsa creates a giant

snowstorm to free herself from captivity (anoth-er act of self-defense), the winds only stop after

Hans falsely reports that Anna is dead because

Elsa struck her in the heart with ice. Elsa is still

constructed as a monster by Hans here, but the

information is obviously false to the viewer, who

now understands that Elsa cannot be the antag-onist of the story. Hans lie constructs him (in

the viewers eyes) as the monster and removes

this burden from Elsa. Once he lies to Elsa about

Annas death, the snowstorm stops entirely, and

Elsa doesnt even try to fight back when Hans

draws his sword in preparation to kill her. Quite

simply, Elsa has given up and doesnt even have

the will to repress her power anymore.

Elsa has become the victim of anothers con-struction of her, a plot point that is queer in its

nature, as many queer people, especially queer

youth, are either killed or take their own lives

due to the false and highly damaging perceptions

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of others. Elsa has accepted her fate and is will-ing to die because she has internalized the idea of

herself as a monster, making her a tragic hero that

is willing to punish herself with death for a crime

she didnt actually commit. Elsas acceptance en-tirely reverses her construction as a monster for

both the audience and for Anna, who steps in at

the last moment to save her sister, thus sacrific-ing herself. This act of true love serves as the

turning point that allows Elsa to see clearly and

bring back summer in Arendelle, and it shows

how Hans and the Duke of Weselton, not Elsa,

are the real monsters of the story.

DUALITY AND FANTASY WORLDS IN FROZENFrozens opening scene has the viewer looking out into the world from underwater. From this

moment on, the idea of inside and outside

worlds is repeatedly demonstrated in the film.

As Ryan and Hermann-Wilmarth discuss, queer

identity as shown through queer readings of

popular texts is often about creating a queered

hybrid world, where aspects of traditional soci-ety and queer society can coexist (154). A good

example of this is Laura Sells discussion of The Little Mermaid. Sells says, In this dualistic and hierarchical construction, the human world can

be aligned with the white male system and the

water world situated outside [the patriarchy]

(177). Rather than existing underwater and on

land as in The Little Mermaid, these two worlds exist in the case of Frozen as the so-called mag-ic and reality worlds that are constructed

around Elsa and her powers, with reality repre-

senting the hetero-patriarchy and magic becom-ing representative of anyone outside the norm.

This division of worlds manifests in a con-crete way when Elsa is locked in her room and,

in a larger sense, when both sisters are locked in

the palace. Anna has the entire palace to roam,

but she longs for both the outside world (repre-sentative of reality) and entrance to Elsas room

(the mini-world that has been created around

Elsa to maintain her powers). Elsa is trapped

in a small world inundated with her magic, and

despite how she may long to enter the reality of

normal society, she must remain where her

parents and society have placed her, supposedly

for the good of both Elsa and those around her.

Even once the gates to the palace are opened and

Elsa must come out of her room, she has a clear

conflict between her desires and what she be-lieves is necessary. In response to Annas probing

about why the gates cant be open all the time,

Elsa merely responds, [They] just cant, never

providing a clearer explanation. Here, the viewer

can distinctly see how Elsa is seeking to combine

her real and magical worlds. She enjoys being in

the reality world of the castle with open gates;

however, she believes the only place she can exist

is in her room, the magical world of ice that

has been built around her, teaching her to feel

shame about her powers.

When Elsa escapes to the North Mountain

later in the film, she literally creates her own

world, a palace made of ice. This castle, in con-trast to the one in Arendelle, is made from and

by her ice powers, creating another magic

world that she uses to escape the pressures of the

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hetero-patriarchy. However, Elsa cannot exist in

an isolated state and is confronted again with re-ality when Anna comes looking for her. In For

the First Time in Forever (Reprise), Elsa pleads

with Anna, trying to convince her to return to

Arendelle. Elsa sings, You mean well, but leave

me be/Yes, Im alone but Im alone and free/

Just stay away and youll be safe from me. The

song demonstrates both Elsas desire for a world

of her own and her recognition of the problems

of living an isolated life. Though she wants to

have a meaningful relationship with Anna, she

still maintains that her loneliness is justified be-cause she is free to use her powers as she wishes,

without harming anyone else or being harmed

by society. The solution to this problem would

be the combination of Elsas reality and magic

worlds, resulting in a place where she can have

love and acceptance but also feel free to express

her identity without judgment or anger from

those around her.

The film goes on, however, to reveal that

Elsa isnt yet ready to gain her power within An-nas system (the very system that oppressed her),

and the sudden confrontation between the real

and magical worlds is distressing, resulting in her

shooting Anna in the heart with ice. The con-flict between reality and magic is also demon-strated when Elsas confrontation with Anna

during the ball escalates, culminating in Anna

pulling off Elsas glove. Anna here functions as

a clear representative of the real world where

people function properly in society through con-ventions like heterosexual marriage, making this

literal outing of Elsas hand, the vehicle of her

powers, even more dramatic. The removal of El-sas glove creates the tension that causes her to

shoot ice spikes in a circle around her, further

revealing her powers to everyone. Being out-ed creates the turning point where Elsa can no

longer pass as non-magical (or straight) and so is

no longer safe inside the hetero-patriarchy. Her

various outbursts show the tension between re-ality and the magic world Elsa constructs (or has

constructed around her), demonstrating a queer

narrative where rejection from mainstream soci-ety necessitates the building of ones own exter-nal fantasy world.

By the end of the film, Elsas magic and real

worlds have finally become one. She resides in the

Arendelle palace, where the gates have opened,

rejecting the isolation that characterized earlier

moments in the movie. Additionally, Elsas pow-ers are widely known and, as far as the audience

sees, widely accepted. Annas role as the vehicle

of reality has also diminished, with the notion

of marriage (earlier shown to create the tension

that facilitated Elsas outburst) abandoned. Ad-ditionally, Anna is talked into skating on the ice

that Elsa created. Even Olaf, a snowman brought

to life by Elsa, has a place in Arendelle. Though

summer, and thus normality, has been restored,

Elsa creates a snow cloud to follow Olaf around,

ensuring he doesnt melt. These examples of the

magic and real worlds blending together demon-strate the perfect conclusion of a queer narrative:

the comforts of mainstream society intertwined

with the magical aspects that have served as the

vehicle for Elsas queerness throughout the film.

Sells writes that in The Little Mermaid, Ariels

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ascent into the human world is sanitized by

Disney, changing her desire for knowledge and

power with desire for love (180). In this way,

Ariel is stripped of her autonomy, and the film

sends the message that she has succeeded with-in the white patriarchy by mutilating her body

and losing her voice. However, Frozen eschews this sanitization. Elsas desire to be accepted for

who she is isnt diluted by a love interest. She

wants acceptance from her friends, subjects, and

family, particularly Anna. Elsas achievement of

this goal on her own terms sends a dramatically

different message than The Little Mermaid. Rather than succeeding within the realm of heteronor-mativity, Elsa queers the system and makes her

individuality an inherent part of Arendelle. She

isnt content with living outside society, but she

also isnt content with giving up a part of herself

to live in it, as Ariel does. To resolve this, she

combines the two worlds, creating an ideal fan-tasy for many queer individualsa world where

they can live a normal life but also have their

queerness be visible and accepted.

CONCLUSIONFrozen is important to read queerly because of its high visibility and popularity, in addition to

its unique plot devices and subversion of many

norms of its genre. Queer readings such as this

one, particularly of popular Disney films and

childrens films, serve an important cultural

role. They generate important conversations,

as they illuminate identities and ideas that are

often obscured by mainstream media. Every-one deserves to see their identity represented in

their media, and childrens media in particular

are lacking in positive portrayal of queer char-acters. Though queer readings of texts such as

this one are a strong beginning, they cannot be the end. Representations of openly queer char-acters in childrens media need to exist as role

models and guides for children struggling with

their identities in a world that is often uninviting

and intimidating. But for now, Frozen fans of all ages can look to Elsa and see something beyond

a side character or a one-dimensional stereotype.

Elsa is a queen: powerful, beautiful, and queer.

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