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If they do go with making Elsa a lesbian it would feel less like an eye rolling “oh they’re just cashing in on Frozen” situation to me. If they saw this particular character as the perfect opportunity for them to finally explore a queer relationship, which they’ve been putting off and probably wanted to do next season anyway because they should do it sooner rather than later by this point, (no guarantees of a S5, so it may be S4 or never and imagine the fandom outcry if they never got around to it). So then up pops Elsa, who is widely believed to be a lesbian, so it’s like they were handed the perfect opportunity on a silver platter and jumped on it.
If she just ends up being another straight chick, then it really does smack of simply cashing in on the current hot thing, which is what has so many rolling our eyes and thinking “RLY?” at her introduction.
[adrotate group="5"]I think that’s a really good point @Phee. So far, one of the biggest criticisms I’ve read about doing Frozen for S4A is that it screams gimmicky and is an obvious ratings ploy. If they were to mix it up with Elsa being a lesbian, that might take some of the gimmicky quality out of it.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"I hope A and E read this interview/ watch OITNB
Laverne Cox (OITNB) on being Transgender
She also looks stunning
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"I love some of the points made in this blog post. I’ll post selected snippets of it here, but will also post the link;
Elsa’s escape from the palace and her “Let It Go” sequence, which empowered and inspired so many young viewers who watched the movie, is an effective coming out sequence in that she comes to accept who she is despite societal pressure, and appreciates and celebrates her own unique identity. What resonated most powerfully with audiences, however, is Anna’s acceptance of her sister.
Finally, the film’s answer to thawing Elsa’s frozen catastrophe, in which her fear leads to the endangerment of her kingdom, is love. The same approach has been used to fight ignorance and homophobia – if love, between lesbian and gay partners, between LGBT and straight allies, between human beings, can bring understanding and acceptance, then the issue will cease to be.
Because of all this, it is possible for LGBT audience members to finally connect to a princess who went through the same experience. Even so, Disney still has a long way to go – the best LGBT representation on-screen, of course, would be one that finally allows a romance between two princesses. However, the LGBT community is no longer simply defined by their sexuality, but – now – by their experience, one that Queen Elsa so strongly encapsulates for this century.
"so there’s this new show….."
"there’s lesbians in it"There’s also this (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-echochambers-26759342), which made me lol;
To Kevin Swanson, a pastor and host of a right-wing Christian-themed radio show, it does. Swanson slammed Disney’s award-winning animated film Frozen, calling it the work of the devil.
“Friends, this is evil, just evil,” he said. Swanson contends the film indoctrinates young women to be lesbians and convinces people that homosexuality and bestiality are acceptable in society.
While Swanson doesn’t specifically cite what parts of the film he sees as promoting homosexuality, others have drawn parallels between the kingdom’s rejection of the magical powers of one of the main characters, Elsa, and society’s rejection of homosexuality.
Many equate film’s most recognisable song, Let it Go, with the experience of coming out and accepting one’s sexual orientation.
“Disney has a long history of fielding accusations of using its children’s movies to advance one liberal agenda or another – whether it’s gay rights, environmentalism or socialism,” writes the Daily Beast’s Caitlin Dickson.
“However, there seems to be something about Frozen that has attracted more than the usual amount of controversy for a kids’ cartoon.”
Kathryn Skaggs, a Mormon blogger, identifies what she sees as the film’s attempt to normalise homosexuality.
She writes:
When mainstream society comes to the point where it celebrates that which is contrary to the commandments, taught in a movie presumably made for children, by awarding it the highest accolades within its culture, and good parents don’t perceive it, but rather endorse it unwittingly, we are in serious trouble.
She targets much of her fire on Let It Go, which she says hides a “subversive” message beneath a catchy tune:
The words to Let it Go are clearly not Christian-values friendly, by any stretch of the imagination, when understood and heard. This is not an innocent song, with a catchy tune. It is rebellious. It mocks moral absolutes. It is careless. It is unaccountable. It is anti-obedience. It is regardless. It is selfish. And if you still disagree, then by all means, feel free to show me how I’ve misinterpreted the lyrics.
Mark Saal, another Mormon blogger, disagrees with Skaggs’ comments.
“Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar,” he says. If you look hard enough, he says, you can find a hidden homosexual agenda in almost any song, movie or any other work of art.
Meanwhile, some members and allies to the LGBT community are claiming Elsa as their own.
Ryan C Robert, writing for Qodda, argues that the film has given LGBT youth a character with which to empathise. He says the movie portrays unconditional sisterly love, and many LGBT kids need to understand that people will love them regardless of what happens.
“Disney’s Frozen may not have intended for one of the main characters, Elsa, to have a story that is such an easy parallel to the world of growing up in the closet, but it happened,” he writes. “It happened, and now we’re gonna celebrate.”
There isn’t consensus in the LGBT community as to what the movie means, however.
“It’s time for a reality check,” writes the Daily Dot’s Rob Price. “I don’t wish to dismiss anyone’s interpretation, or tell someone they’re watching a film ‘the wrong way’ – but for me at least, these claims just don’t add up.”
While he says he would love Frozen to be a movie about coming out, it’s not, he says. Frozen is a timid step in the right direction, but still sticks to plenty of societal standards.
“Praising the film studio for the meagre animated scraps they’re currently throwing to the LGBTQ community will only breed complacency on their part; it’s about time they ‘let it go’ and come out the celluloid closet for good,” he says.
It seems like just about everyone wants a piece of Elsa. Perhaps the best thing to do is to act like the movie’s lovable snowman, Olaf, and go looking for some warm hugs until the storm blows over.
(By Kierran Petersen)
"so there’s this new show….."
"there’s lesbians in it"Just one more, I swear;
Be the good girl you always have to be: Is Frozen’s Elsa the queer heroine we need, but not the one we deserve?
Another Disney film and another wave of reviews, reading, and critisisms are beginning to hit the internet. Amid discussions of Disney’s ongoing race problems, feminist-friendly trope subversions, and the eternal question of “why the hell is that Reindeer acting like a dog?” one question stands out to me: Is Queen Elsa, well, queer?
There certainly is a compelling case for it. On the obvious level, Elsa has no love interest in the piece (her sister, Anna, gets two!) Hans himself says that “no one was making progress” with Elsa in a romantic sense. Now, I’m not about to argue that any young woman about to take control of a country who isn’t interested in a boyfriend is a lesbian. Similar comments were made about Brave’s Merida, and honestly, that in itself isn’t enough for a decent queer reading.
But with Elsa there is more. So much more.
Effectively, her ice powers are a convenient LGBTQIAP+ metaphor (much in the same vein as the X-Men’s mutant powers.)
Elsa has been born with these powers (she’s literally born that way). They are an integral part of who she is as a person, but she is forced by her parents to keep that part of her hidden. If people know, they would reject her, she would be in danger, made into a pariah by her own people. So she is made a self-exile instead. Full of fear of experiencing the isolation and discrimination that LGBTQIAP+ people know so well, Elsa hides away from everyone, even her sister.
Watching Elsa struggle to keep up her mask or normalcy is heart breaking. She wears gloves all the time, constantly afraid to touch other people. Her father’s words- her mantra is- “Conceal, Don’t Feel.” Hide who you are. Don’t follow your heart. Don’t feel your feelings. “Be the good girl you always have to be.” She is, rather obviously and metaphorically, in the closet about her true inner self.
But on the day when she comes of age- her Coronation day, when she is finally a young woman and no longer a girl- her secret is revealed.
Elsa’s “Let It Go” is an epic ballad. Transitioning from a lament, to self-acceptance, all the way to self-celebration, Elsa literally strips away her confinements (hair pieces, crowns, gloves, cloaks, sleeves) and transforms into a sparkling, confidant woman. She says “That perfect girl is gone / Here I stand in the light of day /Let the storm rage on /The cold never bothered me anyway” To deny that it sounds like a bit of a coming out ballad for those of us who have gone through the same struggle is putting it mildly.
To read Elsa as a queer heroine, to read her struggle as a queer struggle, and to see the ending where Anna proves that she loves her sister no matter what and she is able to go back home as she truly is, adds such a level of depth to an already lovely film.
Now, let me be clear: a queer reading for Elsa is easy and, for me, compelling. She may very well be the queer icon that many of us NEED right now- high profile, sparkling, with a karaoke worthy ballad.
But ultimately, Elsa isn’t the queer icon we DESERVE. Her queerness is simply an interpretation, a reading built on metaphor and subtext. She is not canonly queer. she does not give visibility and representation to the LGBTQIAP+ community.
What we DESERVE is a queer heroine who’s queerness is more than subtext. I’m talking Girl meets girl, big sweeping love ballads, true love’s first kiss, all of it. And someday, we WILL get it. Elsa just isn’t that.
(Perhaps she could be an outcon (out icon) in Storeybrooke?)
"so there’s this new show….."
"there’s lesbians in it"Okay, now that I’ve seen Frozen finally – I feel like I can now really contribute to the discussion here. I understand how the LGBT theme is interpreted here but at the heart of the story it’s about sisters and their unconditional love for each other.
So I can see where Adam and Eddie can go with introducing Elsa to the Once universe. I think the heart of her story will still be her relationship with her sister and like the movie, she may not have a love interest on the show.
But I don’t think that’s an “open door” to make the character of Elsa a lesbian. She didn’t have a love interest in the movie but also remember how her parents locked her away so she never really had a chance for any kind of romantic relationship with either sex.
She grew up in fear of hurting people around her because of her parents decision to lock her away.
I am however very interested to see how Elsa got her ice powers and how Adam and Eddie will deal with that. Frozen I feel didn’t really deal with aspect of her character too much.
It’s not just the open door concept. It’s the “conceal don’t feel, don’t let it show..put on a show…make one wrong move and everyone will know.” And that when your “outted” you’re considered a monster (the Duke of Wessleton)
Is she strictly a lesbian? No. But there a lot of subtext that the LGBT community feels is applicable to them, and with good reason. If there was every a time to introduce a proud lesbian into ONCE, it’s now. But I agree that the heart of Elsa’s story is her sister
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"
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