Redefining Gender and Social Stereotypes in Disney's Frozen

Home , Hans (Frozen)

FILOZOFICKÁ FAKULTA

Time to Let it Go: Redefining Gender and Social Stereotypes in Disney's Frozen

Magisterská diplomová práce

BA VERONIKA VARGOVÁ

Vedoucí práce: doc. PhDr. Tomáš Pospíšil, Ph.D.

Katedra anglistiky a amerikanistky Program Anglický jazyk a literatura

Brno 2021

TIME TO LET IT GO: REDEFINING GENDER AND SOCIAL STEREOTYPES IN DISNEY'S FROZEN

Bibliografický záznam

Autor: BA Veronika Vargová Filozofická fakulta Masarykova univerzita Katedra anglistiky a amerikanistky Název práce: Time to Let it Go: Redefining Gender and Social Stereotypes in Disney's Frozen Studijní program: Anglický jazyk a literatura Vedoucí práce: doc. PhDr. Tomáš Pospíšil, Ph.D. Rok: 2021 Počet stran: 89 Klíčová slova: genderové a sociální stereotypy, Disney, Frozen, homosexualita, archetypy, duševní zdraví, feminismus

2 TIME TO LET IT GO: REDEFINING GENDER AND SOCIAL STEREOTYPES IN DISNEY'S FROZEN

Bibliographic record

Author: BA Veronika Vargová Faculty of Arts Masaryk University Department of English and American Studies Title of Thesis: Time to Let it Go: Redefining Gender and Social Stereotypes in Disney's Frozen Degree Programme: English language and literature Supervisor: doc. PhDr. Tomáš Pospíšil, Ph.D. Year: 2021 Number of Pages: 89 Keywords: gender and social stereotypes, Disney, Frozen, queerness, archetypes, mental health, feminism

3 TIME TO LET IT GO: REDEFINING GENDER AND SOCIAL STEREOTYPES IN DISNEY'S FROZEN

Anotace

Hlavním cílem této práce je prostřednictvím řady vybraných příkladů poukázat na klí-

čové aspekty, které odlišují Frozen od předchozích Disney Princess filmů, a zároveň uznat společné podobnosti. Práce se zaměřuje na tři klíčová témata, která mají v obou filmech Frozen významné zastoupení: archetypy, feminismus a queerness. První hlavní kapitola je věnována vztahu mezi animovanými filmy a společností a zaměřuje se na témata, jako je role marketingu a zboží; reprezentace pohlaví, rasy a sexuality v animo- vaných filmech se zaměřením na Disney a reprezentace duševního zdraví ve Frozen.

4 TIME TO LET IT GO: REDEFINING GENDER AND SOCIAL STEREOTYPES IN DISNEY'S FROZEN

Abstract

The main aim of this thesis is to demonstrate on a variety of selected examples the key aspects which differentiate Frozen from previous Disney Princess films, while also acknowledging the shared similarities. The thesis is focusing on three key topics, which have a significant presence in both Frozen films: archetypes, feminism and queerness.

In addition, the first main chapter is dedicated to the relationship between animated films and society, focusing on topics such as the role of marketing and merchandise; representation of gender, race and sexuality in animated films with a focus on Disney, and mental health representation in Frozen.

TIME TO LET IT GO: REDEFINING GENDER AND SOCIAL STEREOTYPES IN DISNEY'S FROZEN

Declaration

I hereby declare that this thesis with title Time to Let it Go: Redefining Gender and Social Stereotypes in Disney's Frozen I submit for assessment is entirely my own work and has not been taken from the work of others save to the extent that such work has been cited and acknowledged within the text of my.

Brno May 15, 2021 ...... BA Veronika Vargová

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Table of Contents

1 Introduction 11 1.1 Background information about the production of Frozen ...... 12 1.2 Frozen and H.Ch.Andersen’s The Snow Queen ...... 14 1.3 The Thesis ...... 15

2 Literature review 17 2.1 Evolution of Disney Princess ...... 17 2.2 Archetypes ...... 20 2.3 Gender performativity, gender and sex ...... 23 2.4 Masculinity ...... 25 2.5 Queer readings and the issue of querbaiting ...... 28 2.6 Eve Sedgwick Kosofsky’s Epistemology of the Closet ...... 30

3 Cartoons, marketing and society 32 3.1 Marketing ...... 32 3.2 Representation of gender,race and sexuality in animated films ...... 36 3.3 Disability and autism representation in Frozen ...... 40

4 Character and plot archetypes in Frozen 46 4.1 The Disney Princess ...... 46 4.2 Analysis of selected scenes in Frozen according to Propp’s archetypes ..... 48 4.3 Elsa the Villain ...... 56

5 Feminism 59 5.1 Feminism and Disney ...... 59 5.2 Feminism in Frozen ...... 60 5.3 Nature, ecofeminism and Frozen ...... 62

6 Queer reading of Frozen 67 6.1 Why is it possible ? ...... 67 6.2 Queer metaphors in Frozen ...... 71

7 Conclusion 75

9 TABLE OF CONTENTS

7.1 Concluding remarks ...... 75 7.2 Gaps and potential for further research ...... 76

8 Bibliography 78

9 Resume CZ 86

10 Resume EN 88

10 INTRODUCTION

1 Introduction

When discussing children’s stories, it is common for adults to see the story and the characters simply as a mean to occupy the minds of their children for several precious minutes, during which the parents are able to rest and focus on themselves or on all the tasks that need to be completed that day. Many stories are clearly written specifically for this purpose. Understandably, only a few would then care to pay closer attention to the finer details, themes and most importantly, the messages of these stories.

However, in 2021, it seems that such an attitude is far too dated. Topics that were considered taboo or too sensitive for public discussion are now being discussed openly. People of all ages and backgrounds are willing to share their stories and so the boundaries between the public and the private are more blurred than ever before. A person well acquainted with contemporary Anglo-American children’s and young adult literature of the past decade will certainly realize how quickly the publishing industry responded to readers’ demands for diversity in books. In fact, ever since the paranormal /dystopian era of the early 2010s ended in 2014, it is rare that a book for young adults released in the past 6 years which does not feature at least one character who is not white, has a disability or is queer. Regarding the representation of gender, particularly noticeable is the frequent occurrence of strong and independent female characters. Furthermore, as many of the recent films and series are adaptations of these books, a similar trend can be observed in the cinema industry.

Being arguably the biggest and the most influential producer of animated films for children, it was only a matter of time until Disney also responded to these changes.

11 INTRODUCTION

And while all four of the most recent Disney Princess films – The Princess and the Frog,

Tangled, Brave and Frozen – can be considered to be Disney’s answer, the films which had the greatest impact was Frozen, the subject of the present study.

1.1 Background information about the production of Frozen

Frozen is Disney’s 53rd full-length feature film, co-directed by Jennifer Lee and Chris

Buck. It is also the first Disney film which was directed by a woman (Lester,2019). The main characters are voiced by Idina Menzel (Elsa), Kristen Bell (Anna), Jonathan Groff

(Kristoff), Josh Gad (Olaf) and Santino Fontana (Hans) (imdb,undated). From its release in 2013 until the release of The Lion King remake in July 2019, Frozen was the highest-grossing animated film of all time, earning over 1.25 billion dollars worldwide.

The Lion King remake earned 1.65 billion dollars. The sequel film, Frozen 2, which was released in November 2019 is currently the second highest-grossing animated film of all time, earning over 1.45 billion dollars worldwide (Wikipedia,undated). During the early stages of production, a number of major changes were made to the original storyline. According to James B. Stewart (2005), Elsa was initially written to be a typical

Disney evil witch who would freeze her potential suitors, until she meets an ordinary man who melts her heart. This trope is widely used in modern literature and cinema, however, it would be the first time Disney features it in one of its Princess films in this exact form. The implication here is clear – for a “wicked” woman to become “good”, the love of a man is necessary.

12 INTRODUCTION

The reason for re-writing Elsa’s character was later revealed by the creative executive officer for Walt Disney Studios John Lasseter during in the ABC special The

Story of Frozen: Making a Disney Animated Classic (2014), when he shared that his son’s recent diabetes diagnosis led him to completely re-write Elsa’s character. Lasseter realized that just like his son, Elsa was born with her powers and therefore should not be made a Villain because of them (Resene,2017). As will be argued in more detail later in this thesis, since Lasseter’s son’s diagnosis had such an impact on Elsa’s character, it may be possible to read Elsa as also having an illness or a disability.

Another major change to Elsa’s character and consequently to the whole story was the final version of “Let it Go” (Anderson Lopez and Lopez,2017). There are several memorable songs in Froze, though the most popular one is without a doubt “Let it Go”, as proven by its Oscar nomination. Known to audiences as a song symbolizing Elsa’s freedom and self-acceptance sung while building her ice castle and transforming into a new dress, the original theme of the song was a transformation into a Villain. In its official released form, the song contains elements of both a Villain and a Princess song

(Lester,2019). For example, as many Disney Villains, Elsa constantly manipulates the environment around her while singing the song, asserting her independence and agency (Bunch,2017). In most cases, the Princess sings what Bunch (2017) termed the

“I want song”, in which the Princes sings about her desires and plans. “Let it Go” however is not an “I want song”, because Elsa does not sing about what she wishes to happen – she sings about what she realized having distanced herself from Arendelle, about

13 INTRODUCTION what has already happened, or what will happen, because she is determined to make it happen.

1.2 Frozen and H.Ch.Andersen’s The Snow Queen

Frozen is Disney´s adaptation of The Snow Queen, one of the most well-known stories by Hans Christian Andersen. The Snow Queen has been adapted and the character of the Snow Queen has been re-written many times, however, Frozen is the first adaptation in which the Snow Queen is not the Villain. Apart from Frozen, recently there has been an increase in re-writings of traditional stories, particularly those which adapt the story to feature characters who challenge stereotypes from the original story

(Llompart and Brugé,2019). Though many scholars including Charania & Albertson

(2018), Crosby (2016) and Rochester (2014) have praised Frozen for its progressive themes (Llampart and Brugé,2019), Llampart and Brugé argue that The Snow Queen is more complex than Frozen in the way it portrays gender roles and relationships between the characters. In agreement, Pauline Greenhill (2015) claims that “Andersen’s

‘Snow Queen’ is rife with sexual overtones and ‘taboos such as adult-child sex (…), in- cest (between social if not biological siblings), and lesbian attraction (most obviously between the Little Robber Girl and Gerda).” (pg.111; cited in Llampart and

Brugé,2019).

Love is a major theme both in The Snow Queen and Frozen, and each film focuses on one primary form of love, while also featuring a secondary type of love. In The Snow

14 INTRODUCTION

Queen, the main “love” is between Kai and the Snow Queen. Jennifer L.Miller (2009) interprets Kai’s obsession with the Snow Queen as a desire for a motherly figure and an older woman. Therefore, it might be considered both as platonic and/or romantic.

Conversely, based on the amount of dedicated screen time, the main form of love in

Frozen is seemingly the romantic love first between Anna and Hans and later between

Anna and Kristoff. However, both stories also unconventionally focus on a love that is not romantic – love between siblings. Gerda’s and Anna’s love for their sibling is what initiates the main plot of the story. Both girls travel initially on their own and later with other characters to search for their missing sibling - Gerda to save Kai from the Snow

Queen and Anna to find Elsa and bring her back to Arendelle.

1.3 The Thesis

The main aim of this thesis is to demonstrate on a variety of selected examples the key aspects which differentiate Frozen from previous Disney Princess films, while also acknowledging the shared similarities. The thesis is focusing on three key topics, which have a significant presence in both Frozen films: archetype, feminism and queerness.

Each of the topics will be discussed in one of the three main chapters. In addition, the first main chapter is dedicated to the relationship between cartoons and society, focusing on topics such as the role of marketing and merchandise and how sales reflect the values and interest of children; representation of gender, race and sexuality in animated films with a focus on Disney, and mental health representation in Frozen. To

15 INTRODUCTION provide further explanation and reasoning, an analysis of some of the songs will be provided in the relevant section, as well as background information about the production process and the connections between Frozen and H.Ch.Andersen’s The Snow

Queen, which Frozen is loosely based on.

The second chapter is dedicated to archetypes, focusing primarily on the Disney

Princess archetype and specifically Elsa’s character as the original Villain of the story.

Furthermore, the chapter presents a brief analysis of specific scenes according to Al- exander Propp’s theory of the 31 functions of a fairy tale.

The third chapter focuses on the representation of feminism in Disney films in general, feminist elements in Frozen in particular and also the possible application of ecofeminist theory to Frozen due to the significant presence of nature in the film. The main topics addressed in this chapter include the depiction of love and the trope of transformation in Frozen as well as in previous Disney Princess films and the relationship between nature and queerness in Frozen.

Finally, the fourth chapter will discuss the potential queer reading of especially

Elsa, but the story itself too, as well as several queer metaphors which are present in the story. In this section, key theories will be Eve Sedgwick Kosofsky’s conception of the metaphor of the closet, Alexander Doty’s theory of queer reading and the concept of queerbaiting, which has recently emerged as a product of online discussions.

16 LITERATURE REVIEW

2 Literature review

2.1 Evolution of Disney Princess

Disney has always been notoriously famous for two types of characters – the Prin- cess and the Prince Charming, particularly those from the early films. In early Disney films such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, the

Princess is young, exceptionally beautiful and patiently waits for her Prince Charming to rescue her. According to Davis (2014), Snow White is the ultimate stereotype of the ideal woman in that “women are seen as domestic, focused mainly on family and personal relationships; they are considered highly emotional individuals, less competent and dependent on their male counterparts for emotional and financial support” (Gun- ter,1995:15-16; cited in Davis,2014). Aurora in Sleeping Beauty is the embodiment of the passive female, as she does very little besides sleeping throughout the majority of the film until she is woken by Prince Philip.

A positive change occurs with the production of Pocahontas, Mulan and Beauty and the Beast, where the female protagonist starts actively cooperating with the male protagonist (Davis,2014). It is important to mention though that these female protagonists are not Princesses as such. They acquire similar status at some point in the film and they are also a part of the Disney Princess franchise. Family is a major theme in all of these films, particularly the relationship between a daughter and her father, and in

Mulan and Pocahontas, also a daughter’s responsibility to her family. In addition, as noted by Davis (2014), rather than individual happiness, the stability and prosperity

17 LITERATURE REVIEW of community are important in the Middle films.

The films of the past decade finally complete the female protagonist’s transition from a passive damsel in distress to an independent woman who knows what she wants and she has the agency to achieve her goals. Tiana in The Princess and the Frog is encouraged by her father to work hard, Rapunzel in Tangled escapes from the tower where she is forced to live and in Frozen, sisterly love proves to be superior to “true love” (Davis,2014). However, it is also important to note that while the most recent films are certainly progressive in comparison with the earlier films, there are still a number of common tropes and stereotypes, such as a beautiful Princess, handsome male protagonist and – with the exception of Brave – a romantic heterosexual relationship.

Reilly’s (2016) categorization of the Disney Princess films is similar to Davis’, however, his division is a generational one, with each generation being represented by a different set of Princesses. While the films which belong to Davis’ “Early movies” and

Reilly’s “Generation One” are the same, as are the “Current movies” and “Generation

Four”, Reilly has divided the film Davis termed “Middle movies” into “Generation Two” and “Generation Three”. Generation Two Princesses - Jasmine, Ariel and Belle – are all seeking freedom and adventure. Yet despite their wish to be free and pursue adventure, they are all willing to sacrifice themselves for their love interest. Continuing the

“exotic” trend which has started with Jasmine, Generation Three Princesses – Pocahon- tas and Mulan – introduce themes such as ethnicity, cultural diversity, and duty to family (Reilly,2016).

18 LITERATURE REVIEW

The final categorization of the Disney Princess films is proposed by Garabedian

(2014). Her categorization is particularly interesting because it demonstrates how each of the categories directly corresponds to a wave of feminism. The “Pretransition” period (“Early movies” for Davis and “Generation One” for Reilly) corresponds to the first wave. The “Transition” period (“Middle movies” for Davis and “Generation Two” and “Generation Three” for Reilly) corresponds to the second wave. Finally, the “Pro- gression” period (“Current movies” for Davis and “Generation Four” for Riley) corresponds to the third wave of feminism (Garabedian,2014).

Considering all three categorizations, the position of The Princess and The Frog and Tangled seems to be quite ambivalent. Thematically, The Princess and the Frog could easily be categorized with Aladdin, Mulan and Pocahontas for featuring a protagonist of colour who seeks independence and new experiences. On the other hand, it is the first Disney Princess film of the 21st century, and if the date of production is the decisive criterion, it does belong together with Tangled, Brave and Frozen. Compared to The Princess and the Frog, Tangled is even more difficult to place thematically. Ra- punzel does want to be free from the confinement of her tower and live her own life, yet she still needs a man by her side to accomplish her goals, unlike Merida and Elsa, who have no interest in men at all, nor do they need one to find happiness.

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2.2 Archetypes

In his book Morphology of the Folktale (1968), Vladimir Propp presents 7 main character archetypes based on their sphere of action: the Villain, whose main attribute is villainy and the character is in a conflict with the Hero. The Donor, or the Provider, typically encounters the Hero at some point in the story and gifts him an object, usually one with magical properties. The Helper’s role, as the name implies, is to help the Hero accomplish his goal. The King and the Princess share a common sphere of action, in which a task is assigned, the Villain is punished and the Princess is rescued and married to the Hero. The Dispatcher has only one task – to send the Hero on his journey.

The Hero is sent on a journey to find to rescue the Princess or to retrieve an object, and as a reward, he is usually given the throne and marries the Princess. Finally, the last sphere of action is the False Hero, who at first appears to be the Hero, but their personality and actions are more similar to the Villain (Propp,1968). As will be mentioned later in this thesis, Prince Hans from Frozen is one of the recent examples of a False

Hero. Moreover, there are three possible distributions of the spheres of actions among the characters. The first and most common option is that each sphere of action directly corresponds with one character. Secondly, a character may be involved in several spheres of actions - the Donor and the Helper, in particular, are often the same character. The final option is one sphere of action being represented by multiple characters, as in the case of the Princess and the King. Within the 7 spheres of actions, the characters perform 31 consecutive functions, the final two being the punishment of the

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Villain and the marriage between the Hero and the Princess. Among all the 31 functions, the punishment of the Villain and the marriage - or at least a romantic relationship - are used in modern fairy tales the most.

While Propp’s archetypes are directly related to the specific fictional characters in the story, Jung centres his definition of an archetype around his concept of the collective unconscious. According to Jung, the collective unconscious differs from a personal unconscious by the fact that it is not formed by personal experiences of which the person, at a certain point, had been conscious. The collective unconscious has never been part of personal consciousness and is inherited. Because archetype seems to be a culturally universal concept, it also belongs to the collective unconscious (Jung,1936; cited in McGuire et al.,1969). Jung distinguishes 4 main archetypes – the Persona, the

Shadow, the Anima and the Self. However, Jung claims that archetypes are not fixed, that they evolve over time and in some cases combine, creating archetypes such as the

Child, the Wise Old Man or the Trickster (Cherry,2020).

Jung discusses the mother archetype in great detail. It is often associated with qualities such as sympathy, magic, wisdom, helpfulness and fertility, but also negative characteristics such as secrecy, seduction, darkness or death (Jung,1954; cited in

McGuire et al.,1969). Associated with the mother archetype is the mother complex, which manifests differently in daughters than in sons. In sons, the mother-complex often has two opposite consequences – either exaggerated heterosexuality or homosexuality or in some cases impotence. However, because of the difference in sex, the mother-complex in sons is not as clear as in daughters, when feminine instincts can be

21 LITERATURE REVIEW either overdeveloped by the mother or suppressed to the point where they are almost non-existent (Jung, 1954; cited in McGuire et al.,1969).

A woman whose femininity has been negatively exaggerated might have motherhood as the ultimate goal in her life. Her husband then is only a means to achieve the goal of having a child. Once the child is born and the woman has become a mother, she is suddenly overwhelmed by the need to balance motherhood, her marriage or part- nership and personal relationships. She feels inferior and unsuccessful. Consequently, she seeks the advice of her mother (Jung,1954; cited in McGuire et al.,1969). Another type of manifestation of the mother-complex in women is a complete refusal of motherhood and everything associated with it. This type of woman might not know what she wants, but she is certain of what she does not want - she does not want to be married and she does not want to be a mother. Furthermore, such a woman often has masculine traits, which make her a difficult partner for a man. Instead, because of her assertiveness and objectivity, she is more suitable for him as a friend or a sister

(Jung,1954; cited in McGuire et al.,1969).

It is important to be aware of the fact that Jung formulated his idea of the mother-complex 67 years ago, and it is clear that it reflects the values of the society of the 1950s and the times before. Indeed, it is quite difficult to imagine a woman who today would have the luxury to have being a mother as the only goal in her life, as the reality of daily life is very different. Today, women are essential contributors to both national and world economies and in most cases, their income is necessary for main- taining a household and raising a child. In addition, women who are assertive and have

22 LITERATURE REVIEW stronger personalities might actually be attractive to modern men, who seek an equal as their partner.

The final archetype Jung discusses is the Spirit. In its most basic definition, the

Spirit is the opposite of matter. Therefore, it is supernatural, or even anti-natural. Yet it is also connected with nature. The most common image of the Spirit is a constantly moving, usually shapeless being whose essence is the wind. A special form of the Spirit is an animal. In fairy tales, animals often serve the function of the Helper. They can speak, act like humans and in some cases possess superior intelligence (Jung,1948; cited in McGuire et al.,1969). The Spirit in the form of an animal is along with the Prin- cess, the Hero and the Villain arguably the most commonly found archetype in classic as well as modern fairy tales. In the case of Disney films, based on the amount of merchandise sold in toy stores and online, the animal characters are equally and occasion- ally even more popular than the Princess.

2.3 Gender performativity, gender and sex

According to Butler (1988), gender is a histo-cultural script, according to which a person is expected to assume the gender roles corresponding to the idea of a man or a woman. The ability to choose not to conform to these ideals further confirms the fact that gender is indeed a performance and that gender is not the same as biological sex

(Matte-Kaci,2019). Gender should therefore not be seen as a result of sex, nor should it be considered as permanent as sex (Butler,1990). However, the permanency of sex

23 LITERATURE REVIEW may be challenged, particularly in the present time, as there are a number of medical procedures and medications which are able to change biological sex. As Butler (1990) points out, should the permanency of sex be in fact challenged, then sex has become just as socially constructed as gender. Foucault also claims that sex is constructed, so that it enables social regulation of sexuality and simultaneously conceals and unifies unrelated sexual functions. Furthermore, for Foucault, sexuality is the point of origin and sex is its effect (Foucault,undated; cited in Butler,1990).

An alternative perspective on sex is offered by Monique Witting. Heavily influenced by Simone de Beauvoir, Witting considers gender as an attribute that is acquired.

Unlike other scholars, she does not distinguish between gender and sex. Witting consider sex already a gendered category, a socio-political representation of the body.

Therefore, according to Witting, a lesbian is not a woman, because the term “woman” itself is in direct heterosexual opposition with the term “man” and therefore cannot be applied to a lesbian. Consequently, a lesbian neither a woman nor a man (Witting,undated; cited in Butler, 1990). All of the above-mentioned scholars consider gender to be a socially constructed category, though each of the notions of gender also has its unique additional implications. In particular, considering the options available today, the idea of biological sex as being permanent should be questioned and challenged.

While it is not an easy process both physically and mentally, it is possible to change biological sex through medical procedures and treatments.

24 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.4 Masculinity

The concept of hegemonic masculinity was according to Kessler et al.(1982) proposed for the first time in reports from a field study of social inequality in Australian high schools (Connel and Messerschmidt,2005). According to Connel and Messer- schmidt (2005), on one hand, the concept was based on feminist theories concerning patriarchies (Goode,1982; Snodgrass,1977), while on the other hand it was also influenced by the gay liberation movement, which heavily criticized oppression of and by men (Altman,1972). Consequently, the violence and prejudice gay men suffered resulted in the hierarchization of various types of masculinity (Connel and Messer- schmidt,2005), one of them being hegemonic masculinity. Hegemonic masculinity is generally understood as men displaying acts of dominance over women. It is perhaps the most normative conception of masculinity, though only a small number of men actually behave in such a manner. In fact, hegemonic masculinities are created only in a specific place in a specific time and under specific circumstances, therefore they are subject to constant change (Connel and Messerschmidt,2005).

During the late 1990s, a number of criticisms of hegemonic masculinity were presented by scholars such as Øystein Gullvåg Holter and Richard Collier. Holter

(1997,2003) argued that rather than offering a reflection of how women are being sub- ordinated by the institutionalization of gender inequalities and by the relationship between gender, race and class, the concept of hegemonic masculinity is constructed based on the direct experience of women (Connel and Messerschmidt,2005). Consid- ering that experiences are personal and not every woman is guaranteed to have the

25 LITERATURE REVIEW same experiences with men, conceptualizing hegemonic masculinity on more univer- sally applicable factors such as institutions, race and class seems more objective, as it would provide a more accurate image of hegemonic masculinity.

Collier (1998) claims that hegemonic masculinity disregards the positive attributes of men, therefore depicting men with stereotypical attributes such as lack of emotions and aggressiveness. Furthermore, because the concept is based on allowing sub- ordination of women by men, whether indirectly through institutionalization or directly by a person, in many cases hegemonic masculinity does in fact entail abuse and violence (Connel and Messerschmidt,2005). Though there certainly has been positive progress, especially in the last twenty years, hegemonic masculinity is still perceived by many as the ideal form of masculinity, the one most fathers encourage their sons to adopt. To be an ideal man still implies being physically strong, expressing little emotion and of course, heterosexual and attractive to women.

The men Disney presents in its early films Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,

Cinderella and the Sleeping Beauty were noble Princes, who rescued the Princess, married them out of true love and together they lived “happily ever after”. In all three films, the male protagonists have a significant part at the end of the film, however, considering that they are one of the protagonists, their screen time until the final scene is relatively minimal. Conversely, the male protagonists of the middle films Beauty and the

Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas and Mulan have significantly more screen time, allowing them to interact with the female protagonist and to develop more distinct personalities than the previous three Princes. They are also more physically active, which reflects

26 LITERATURE REVIEW on their physique. Among the early, the middle and the recent Disney male protagonists, the middle male protagonists represent hegemonic masculinity the most, particularly Gaston from Beauty and the Beast and Shang from Mulan, both of whom continuously remind the viewers of their masculinity.

With the most recent Disney films, Michael Macaluso (2018) introduces a new type of masculinity – postfeminist masculinity – and with it a new archetype of Disney hero – a postfeminist Hero, who retains some traits of hegemonic masculinity, while also having typically feminine features such as compassion, expressiveness of emotions and lean figure. Examples of this new Hero archetype include Prince Naveen (The

Princess and the Frog) Flynn Rider (Tangled), Prince Hans and Kristoff (Frozen), though it is perhaps more accurate to label Hans as a postfeminist Villain, rather than a Hero.

However, post-feminist masculinity should not be considered as the new default representation of masculinity in all future Disney films (Macaluso,2018). As noted by Con- nel and Messerschmidt(2005), masculinity is a concept that is constantly subject to change, therefore it is possible to assume that in 30 years, or perhaps even sooner, a new type of male archetype will emerge and be adopted by a variety of cultures.

27 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.5 Queer readings and the issue of querbaiting

Fanfiction has been popular among fandom fans for many years, and after a brief search of one of the major fanfiction websites such as Wattpad, AO3 or fanfiction.net, the results will show a significant number of fanfictions featuring queer, most commonly same-sex characters as the main couple. What is interesting, however, is that the majority of these characters are not officially queer in the original story, often being well-known for being in a heterosexual relationship. This fact should not be overlooked for two reasons.

Firstly, it implies that at some point in the film or the book, there is a scene where the characters acted in a manner that could be interpreted as an indication of them being queer. Alexander Doty (1993) termed this specific type of interpretation queer reading. According to Doty, queer readings are a specific type of reading strategy in which the reader intentionally searches for potentially queer elements of the story

(Abate and Kidd, 2011). Moreover, queer readings “aren't ‘alternative’ readings, wish- ful or willful misreadings, or ‘reading too much into things’ readings. They result from the recognition and articulation of the complex range of queerness that has been in popular culture texts and their audiences all along” (Doty, 1993:16; cited in Matte-

Kaci,2019). Fanny Ambjörnsson (2006) similarly defines queer readings as one of the many alternative interpretations of reality. A different perspective on queer reading is offered by Farah Mendlesohn (2002), who maintains that queer reading can be made only by a gay or a bisexual person as a claim of the text for the gay and bisexual com- munities (Nordin,2015).

28 LITERATURE REVIEW

Secondly, as Whatling (1997) claims, films themselves are not lesbian. It is the audience who employ a specific form of queer reading strategy focusing on female queerness, which Whatling terms “to look lesbian”, and therefore through their interpretation, the film becomes lesbian (Matte-Kaci,2019). And while Whatling focuses on female queerness, the same concept can be applied to male queerness. Doty’s and

Whatling’s theories would then explain why there is such a substantial amount of fanfiction featuring queer characters, as fanfiction are entirely based on the author’s interpretation of the story.

By creating products such as fanfiction, fans are engaging with their favourite story and, in a certain way, claiming ownership of the original by creating their own version of the story. However, Andrejevic (2008) maintains that it is the original creator who is ultimately in control of the real meaning and message of the product. It is therefore not uncommon to encounter a variety of interpretations by fans which are different from the intended interpretation of the creator. An example of a contrasting interpretation of fans and creators is queerbaiting. Queerbaiting is a concept which has recently emerged from online fan discussions and as of now, there is no official dictionary definition. The most accurate definition would be fans arguing that creators are deliberately disguising or not addressing obvious queer themes in their product and using “no-homo” jokes to conceal the queer themes by asserting heterosexuality (Nor- din,2015).

A chapter of this thesis is dedicated to an analysis of potential queer reading of

Disney’s Frozen, which based on the number of sources available seems to be the most

29 LITERATURE REVIEW popular one among both scholars and journalists, despite the nature of the topic and its appropriateness considering the intended target audience of the film. In addition, the present thesis will address a specific scene from the second film which can be interpreted as queerbaiting.

2.6 Eve Sedgwick Kosofsky’s Epistemology of the Closet

The word “homosexual” as a term for the newly recognized form of sexual identity started to be used in the United States and Europe in the last decades of the 19th century and the cause of homosexuality was believed to be psychological (Katz,1983; cited in Gaard,1997). Sexuality then quickly became a label with importance equal to race or gender (Sedgwick,1990). It no longer sufficed for a person to be neatly categorized as

“white” or “a woman”, no matter that the concepts these labels actually refer to are far too complex to be neatly categorized in the first place. Similarly, the new label of sexuality is no different in terms of its complexity.

No other metaphor has been associated with queer sexuality more than the closet. The closet implies secrecy and privacy, meaning that a person who is “in” the closet does not publicly admit to their queerness. To “come out” of the closet means to announce one’s queerness to other people. The act of coming out is in itself problem- atic because it essentially forces the person to justify their non-heterosexuality, while heterosexuals are not subjected to this often traumatic experience. As Sedgwick (1990) points out, even the most openly queer people are in the closet while interacting with

30 LITERATURE REVIEW a certain person or a group of people, particularly in professional and institutional relationships. Moreover, should the other person in such a relationship change, for example, a new doctor or a new colleague, the queer person is once again in the closet even if they are already out to other people.

A major reason for men remaining in the closet is male homosexual panic, which enables men to be manipulated through fear of their homosexuality (Sedgwick,1990).

Benshoff (1997) and Warman (2016) interpret this fear as a monster and further elab- orate on Sedgwick’s closet metaphor. According to Benshoff and Warman, queerness and monstrosity are both perceived as dangerous and wrong. Queerness is dangerous and wrong because it is a threat to the “natural” heterosexual nuclear family. Should the general opinion of society change and queerness is accepted, people might choose not to marry and have children, which would result in the end of the conventional notion of family (Matte-Kaci,2019). However, while this might have been the case centuries and decades ago, with the legalization of same-sex marriages and registered part- nerships in a number of states, the ability to adopt and medical procedures offering alternative methods of conception, there is no reason why in the present time a homosexual couple should be discouraged from starting a family when given sufficient institutional support.

31 CARTOONS, MARKETING AND SOCIETY

3 Cartoons, marketing and society

3.1 Marketing

Disney is a corporation and therefore, understandably, profit is one of the main factors the executive body of the company is interested in when planning a new production and later evaluating the success of their products. Marketing is without a doubt the most essential factor of a successful film, apart from the quality of the film itself.

This is particularly true in the case of animated films for children. Producers of these films seem to be well aware of the fact that cinema tickets sales are only a fraction of the total profit a film is able to make. The rest of the profit is made through merchandise sales, especially toys and clothing. Toy shops are filled with merchandise from a variety of films, and when a new popular film is released, shops will usually have a section dedicated to toys and other merchandise related to the new film. Consequently, the amount of merchandise sold, including the rate at which it is sold out, can be considered a reliable indicator of the popularity of the film.

Based on a report by Tetrapeak, a software that generated a list in which all

Disney Princesses are ranked according to the value of merchandise sold on eBay since

May 2013. Frozen, the most recent film at the time the report was generated, has been released for only 5 months. The list is as follows:

1. Elsa (Frozen): $3,397,816

2. Cinderella (Cinderella): $2,504,259

3. Snow White (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs): $2,301,831

32 CARTOONS, MARKETING AND SOCIETY

4. Anna (Frozen): $2,165,120

5. Ariel (The Little Mermaid): $1,483,384

6. Rapunzel (Tangled): $598,056

7. Aurora (Sleeping Beauty): $215,856

8. Merida (Brave): $282,188

9. Jasmine (Aladdin): $253,102

10. Tiana (The Princess and the Frog): $84,882

11. Belle (Beauty and the Beast): $6,867

(Eggan Morissey,2014)

Taken at face value without any further context, several conclusions can be de- rived from the list. Firstly, both of the most recent Princesses are in the top rankings.

However, the two oldest Princesses – Snow White and Cinderella – are also in the top rankings. In addition, Anna and Elsa are not only from the same period but the same film as well and therefore in this sense represent the same values, while Snow White and Cinderella are also from the same period and represent the same values. Con- versely, the middle ranks 5. to 8. belong to Princesses which are from different periods and have very different personalities. Rapunzel and Merida are only two years apart, yet there are many differences between the two. Finally, with dark-skinned and dark- eyed Jasmine and Tiana and intellectual Belle at the bottom of the list, it can be assumed that buyers do not find them as appealing as the Princesses who are blond, have blue eyes, wear pink dresses or are mermaids.

33 CARTOONS, MARKETING AND SOCIETY

Apart from the high numbers Frozen achieved in the box office and merchandise sales, its success is also visible in the number of literary adaptations of The Snow Queen story, such as K. M. Shea’s Heart of Ice (2016), Daniel Paige’s Stealing Snow (2016), or

Sarah Mlynowski’s Cold As Ice (2015). In addition, Barns & Noble released in 2015 a collection of stories “The Snow Queen and Other Winter Tales”, and the glittery ice blue design with a character resembling Elsa on the cover seems to have been inspired by

Frozen (Llompart and Brugé,2019). A design which such close resemblance to Frozen is sure to increase the appeal of the book, potentially increasing its sales.

The marketing campaign of Frozen starts, as it is the norm today, with a trailer and a promotional poster. There are several observations to be made when looking at the poster. Firstly, the two non-human characters – the snowman Olaf and the reindeer

Sven – are at the centre (Wilde,2014). Secondly, Kristoff and Anna are leaning on either side of Sven in a mirroring pose, which according to Stover (2013) implies that they are equals. However, after actually having seen the film, the viewer will learn that they are not equal, or more precisely, of equal social status. Anna is a Princess, while Kristoff is an orphaned iceman. The last two characters in the poster are Hans and Elsa. Upon first look at Elsa, it is obvious that she is different from the other characters. While

Anna, Kristoff and Hans are wearing clothing of a similar style and similar colour pal- ette, the blue of Elsa’s dress is much lighter and blends with the frozen landscape in the background. Moreover, she has a snowflake floating above her hand, which is supposed to indicate her magical powers. The position of the characters also corresponds with the amount of screen time they have in the film – Anna, Kristoff, Sven and Olaf are

34 CARTOONS, MARKETING AND SOCIETY present throughout the majority of the film, while Elsa and Hans have only several specific scenes.

The trailer presents Anna as a typical Propp’s Hero – she is active and goes on a journey to bring her sister home, which she believes will save the kingdom

(Wilde,2014). On the contrary, Elsa is clearly hinted to be the Villain by the narrator’s tone of voice, giving the impression that the story will be significantly darker than it actually is. The first part of the trailer is Elsa’s “Villain origin”, showing her at her worst, freezing the kingdom of Arendelle, which is the initiating point of the story. However, it is important to notice that at no point she is shown as malicious or acting with an explicit intention to cause harm. This is a major theme in the film and it will be discussed in more depth later in this thesis.

Frozen is a Disney Princess film, therefore it is expected that the target audience is young girls. But the numbers Frozen managed to achieve in ticket and merchandise sales are simply too high to be credited to girls only. Boys seem to enjoy the film as well. Payton E. Butler (2016) considers focused advertising, action scenes, relatable humour and the high number of male characters as the key factors why boys enjoy

Frozen, even though it is a Princess film. The gender-neutral title also makes the film more marketable to boys, similarly to Brave or Tangled. Furthermore, even though the film features exceptionally strong female characters, the plot is not focused on typically feminine topics. Therefore, boys are able to enjoy a story full of adventure, humour and action. Aubrey and Harisson (2004) claim that humour is particularly significant, as it is considered a masculine feature and men usually do not enjoy watching a film unless

35 CARTOONS, MARKETING AND SOCIETY it features humour they can relate to (Butler,2016).

In addition to humour, according to Kline (1993), children need to be able to see their gender represented in a story to be able to relate to it and enjoy it. There are two female main characters and three male main characters in Frozen, all with different personalities and character archetypes. Combined with the gender-neutral marketing strategy Disney chose for Frozen, the film is accessible to both girls and boys, and when one disregards the fact that the intended target group are children, adult audiences can fully enjoy the film and its more mature themes as well. In fact, considering the characters’ age – according to Jennifer Lee, Elsa and Kristoff are both 21, Anna is 18 and Hans is 23 in the first film and the sequel takes place 3 years after - they are all young adults and therefore have the potential to be popular with viewers of similar age.

3.2 Representation of gender,race and sexuality in animated films

With recent feminist movements such as the #MeToo movement, gender representation in media has become a very sensitive topic. Producers and marketing companies are pressured to carefully consider how gender is represented in their product, especially when the target group are children (Smith et al., 2019). In a study in which 26

Disney films were analyzed, Towbin et al.(2008) found out several patterns of representation of male and female characters in Disney films. The results of the study show that all of the patterns correspond with stereotypical notions of masculinity and

36 CARTOONS, MARKETING AND SOCIETY femininity. Men are strong and heroic, they have proper employment, they express their feelings and emotions physically and without a fail fall in love with the female protagonist. The defining attributes of the female protagonist are beauty and domesti- city. She finds herself in a situation from which she needs to be rescued by the male protagonist and once she is rescued, they will marry (Towbin et al., 2008). Based on this study, it is possible to conclude that in the films produced until 2008, Disney’s characters were quite stereotypical and formulaic. It is important to be aware of the year this particular study was conducted since 2009 is the year when The Princess and the Frog - the first of the most recent and most progressive Disney Princess films – was released. In the films produced after 2009, several of these stereotypes are still present, however, they are often altered to be more acceptable for the current audiences.

In the earlier films, characters who demonstrate behaviour commonly associated with the opposite sex are depicted both negatively and positively. Most noticeably, affection between two men is seen as negative. For instance, in Beauty and the Beast, a male clock is kissed by a male candle on the cheek and the clock is disgusted, similarly to Kuzsco in Emperor’s New Groove, who is disgusted after his male friend Pacha resus- citates him. On the other hand, Aladdin is not criticized for not being muscular and or significantly taller than Jasmine. Tarzan, though muscular and tall, freely expresses his emotions. Finally, Peter Pan is small and lean (Towbin et al., 2008), which has proven to be an advantage to him on several occasions. Nonetheless, in this particular case, it can be argued whether Peter being small could even be seen as a negative trait, considering that he is technically still a child and notoriously refused to grow up. Making

37 CARTOONS, MARKETING AND SOCIETY him look older than he actually is by depicting him as muscular and tall when he is only approximately 13 years old would then present an entirely different set of issues.

In the recent films, Disney has clearly reconsidered several of the above-mentioned stereotypes, including the negative portrayal of affection between two males, as

Kristoff and Sven are shown hugging several times and Kristoff seems to have no issue sharing food with Sven. This may be attributed to the fact that they were raised together since early childhood, which enabled them to form a strong and affectionate friendship. Furthermore, the new Disney male protagonists are compassionate and openly express their emotions (Macaluso,2018), which has been acknowledged as a positive representation of typically female characteristics by men. Similarly, the independence and assertiveness of the new Disney female protagonists have been praised as a progressive and positive representation of typically male characteristics by women.

In addition to a gradual elimination of stereotypes, it is also important to diversify the type of love which is being presented by companies with such an impact on children as Disney. Including queer characters in a story for children though still seems to be controversial, even more so if these queer characters are in a relationship (Schiele et al., 2020). Whether it is controversial or not, in an age where many children as young as 3 or 4 years can be seen with tablets in their hands and considering that they will most probably have a computer and access to the Internet once they start elementary school, it is possible that they will encounter some form of queer representation without even deliberately searching for it. It is therefore questionable whether not

38 CARTOONS, MARKETING AND SOCIETY including queer characters will “preserve the child’s innocence” if that is the justification.

Regarding the representation of race in the cinema, according to Hurley (2005), children are constantly being presented with the idea of white as “good” and black as

“bad”. As confirmed by the results of a study by Yeoman (1999), children of colour have a tendency to imagine good characters as white (Rogers,2019). And while there has been an increase in casting actors of colour (Nelson,1998), their characters do not por- tray the culture they are supposed to represent accurately (Towbin et al.,2008). Disney attempted a more diverse representation in Aladdin, Pocahontas, Mulan and later in

The Princess and the Frog and Moana, however, the cultural representation is not accurate and it is mostly based on stereotypes.

According to Scarangella (2010), the cultural aspects represented in Pocahontas were not researched properly, which resulted in yet another instance of stereotypical representation of Native American people and their culture while not challenging Eu- ropean colonialism. In the case of Mulan, the eponymous protagonist has many expectations placed on her from the very beginning. She is expected to be beautiful according to Chinese beauty standards, to be an obedient wife to her husband and an obedient daughter to her father, marry well and uphold the family’s honour. In other words, she is expected to fulfil her duty as a wife, same as her father is expected to fulfil his duty as the man of the household by enlisting into the military. All of these characteristics are stereotypically associated with Asian cultures, which makes Mulan hardly more progressive than Pocahontas. It is therefore possible to conclude that while there

39 CARTOONS, MARKETING AND SOCIETY have been attempts to diversify how gender, sexuality, race and culture are represented in media, the representation still relies on stereotypes, generalizations and inac- curacies.

3.3 Disability and autism representation in Frozen

The diabetes diagnosis of the son of Disney’s creative executive officer fundamentally influenced the decision of the production team to re-write Elsa’s character from a classical Villain to an unconventional Hero. It is therefore plausible to assume that Elsa herself has some form of illness or disability. According to Resene (2017), the unconventional plot featuring two female protagonists instead of one male and one female protagonist - as is the norm in Disney films - was a clever and strategic decision to cater to the audiences expecting a traditional Disney Princess story, while also presenting a character with concealed mental health issues. “Conceal, don’t feel” are words that have been deeply engraved into Elsa’s mind from early childhood when she acci- dentally hit Anna with her powers. Instead of being encouraged to embrace her powers and safely learn to control them, Elsa is immediately locked in her room, isolated from everyone and everything she once knew. From that moment, she develops clear symp- toms of depression and anxiety.

Through Elsa’s isolation, Disney demonstrates how people with disability are often institutionally marginalized. Moreover, by showing Elsa’s parents mishandling everything that makes her different, parents of children watching the film are provided

40 CARTOONS, MARKETING AND SOCIETY with an example situation in which a child who is not behaving in an expected way is either forced to conform or is isolated (Resene,2017). Either alternative results in the child’s unhappiness, as can be seen in Elsa’s case. Elsa was not even given the option to conform and learn to live a normal life with her powers. Instead, her parents immediately locked her in her room, too afraid she might again hurt someone. According to

Margaret Price “it is a common misbelief that "mental illness…goes hand in hand with violent behaviour," (cited in Resene,2017:13). Yet Elsa never demonstrated violent behaviour nor intentions to cause harm. Her parents constantly reminding her of how dangerous her powers are and how she needs to conceal them at all cost made her believe that she is dangerous and as Resene (2017) points out, even after their death, she remains isolated, unable to break the one rule she was forced to obey most of her life.

It has been suggested on several occasions that Elsa’s behaviour strongly indicates that she might suffer from a mental illness. For instance, according to Aurelia

(2016), Elsa being forced to hide her powers and not allowed to feel strong emotions is familiar particularly to people with depression, who are also pressured to hide their condition (Resene,2017). Another suggestion was made by Tager-Flusberg (2015), who claims that Elsa’s behaviour indicates she might be on the autistic spectrum.

After their parents die, only Anna can be seen at their funeral, while Elsa is locked in her room which is completely frozen, sitting on the floor, crying and tightly hugging herself, ignoring Anna’s questions and request to open the door. Furthermore, when Elsa gives the order to open the palace gates on the day of her coronation, she is

41 CARTOONS, MARKETING AND SOCIETY very anxious and clearly wants to avoid being among people. During the coronation,

Elsa experiences one sensory overload after another, which ultimately leads to her running out of the palace and freezing the kingdom (Tager-Flusberg,2015). This particular scene can be interpreted as Elsa having a meltdown, which is very common in autistic people who experience sensory or emotional overload.

According to the National Autistic Society of the UK (2020), a meltdown is an intense response to an overwhelming situation, which happens when a person is overwhelmed to a point when they are unable to control their actions. This is precisely what

Elsa experiences – she is gradually being overwhelmed until she can no longer sup- press her emotions. The release of her suppressed emotions manifests in form of rapidly spreading ice, which freezes the kingdom. The only other instance where Elsa completely freezes her surroundings when she is overwhelmed is the scene of her in her room after the funeral. In both cases, Elsa has lost the most important part of her childhood – her parents and her home.

Through the above-mentioned scenes, Disney presents parents with yet another example of how not to behave in case they are in the same situation. In order to make the meltdown as minimal and comfortable as possible, the person needs to be given space. They should not be forced to respond to any additional stimuli, as that may overwhelm them even more (NAS,2020). In addition, other people who are present should remain calm and at a safe distance, not touching the person having a meltdown (Bennie,2016). What happens in Frozen is the exact opposite of how a meltdown should be managed. First, Anna approaches Elsa when she is trying to increase the

42 CARTOONS, MARKETING AND SOCIETY distance between them. Then she removes Elsa’s glove, which seems to help Elsa to be in control of her emotions by eliminating direct touch. Everyone in the ballroom is suddenly looking at her and they all speak and argue over each other. Finally, instead of allowing Elsa to leave while she was still able to do so relatively calm, she is surrounded by many people, leaving her with no other choice but to literary create a wall of icicles to separate herself from everyone else.

In connection with the theory of Elsa being autistic, it is important to point out a major plot point from the sequel Frozen 2, which seems to be overlooked in the academic sources available. At the end of the second film, Elsa decides to live with her mother’s family – the Northuldra people - in the forest and passes her title as the

Queen of Arendelle to Anna. By doing so, Elsa chose to trade a life with great responsibility and many expectations for a peaceful life where she is able to be herself, free of society’s expectations and stress from not being able to fulfil them. Most importantly, in the forest, she seems to have the personal space she needs, while also being in contact with other people when she desires to do so. In the forest among her mother’s people, she finally found a place where she belongs. According to Georgia (2020), this message is significant, as many autistic people have difficulty finding people who have a similar mindset and are able to understand them.

Mental health is a topic that has in recent years been discussed more than ever before, and through Frozen, Disney seems to be attempting to introduce the topic to children as well as their parents by presenting several examples of incorrect treatment of a neurodivergent person. Because adults so often watch animated films with their

43 CARTOONS, MARKETING AND SOCIETY children, they can bond over them and use them to initiate meaningful conversation, such as explaining why it is important to be accommodating to the needs of people with mental health issues and not dismissive. Furthermore, animated films are also a valu- able resource for child psychotherapy, as they provide therapists with means to help children through a medium familiar to them (Towbin et al., 2008). According to Bettle- heim (1976), fairy tales are capable of influencing not only human consciousness but also the unconscious, foregrounding the most complex psychological concepts and internal conflicts. Once the issue is identified, the fairy tale may also provide a possible solution (Kowalski and Bhalla, 2015).

As a teaching material for aspiring therapists, Frozen is especially suitable due to the variety and the high number of psychodynamic concepts which are present, such as attachment and loss, defence mechanisms and catharsis. Attachment as a concept has been introduced by Bowlby (1944) to describe the form of relationship infants form with a parental figure (Hickey, 2018). At the beginning of the film the two main characters - Anna and Elsa - are shown to be loved by their parents, who also care for their wellbeing and seem to be actively present in the girls’ lives, despite being the King and the Queen. It is therefore plausible to assume that the girls are emotionally at- tached to their parents and when the King and the Queen die, their loss is traumatic for both of them.

There are several different definitions of catharsis, however, a release of repressed emotions seems to be the common concept all definitions refer to in some form. For instance, Schultz and Schultz (2004) described catharsis as “the process of

44 CARTOONS, MARKETING AND SOCIETY reducing or eliminating a complex by recalling it to conscious awareness and allowing it to be expressed” (cited in Hickey,2018:8). Similarly, The American Psychological As- sociation defined catharsis as “the discharge of affects connected to traumatic events that had previously been repressed by bringing these events back into consciousness and re-experiencing them” (cited in Hickey,2018:8). If understood as a release of suppressed emotions, the catharsis in Frozen then is one of the most important scenes in the film and it is also the scene viewers seem to remember the best – the scene in which

Elsa sings “Let it Go”. In this scene, Elsa intentionally completely releases her powers for the first time, creates a castle of ice and changes her dark dress into a much lighter one, fully changing her physical appearance.

45 CHARACTER AND PLOT ARCHETYPES IN FROZEN

4 Character and plot archetypes in Frozen

4.1 The Disney Princess

Since the production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 85 years ago, the Disney

Princess has become one of the most iconic character archetypes, familiar to both children and adults all over the world. However, the character it represents has changed substantially over the years, or perhaps more accurately, it exists in two forms as of the previous decade. The original Disney Princess is beautiful above all, she does not try to change her life even though she is not satisfied and she is always saved by a

Prince whom she has never met before, yet falls in love with him at first sight. The archetype in its original form remained unchanged until 1989, when The Little Mer- maid was released, followed by Beauty and the Beast 3 years later. No longer willing to accept living a life they were not satisfied with and eager for new experiences, Ariel and Belle wish for more and they are courageous enough to leave their homes – Ariel to search for Ursula so that she can acquire human legs and Bell to rescue her father from the Beast.

With the issue of passivity and lack of agency eliminated, it was time for Disney to address another major issue – race. All Princesses so far were white. And so in 1992, a year after Beauty and the Beast, Disney introduced Jasmine, its first Princess of colour.

From that point until 2010, all the following Princesses were of a different race. The production of Tangled in 2010 marks several important changes to the Disney Princess archetype. First, and most importantly, Rapunzel does not fall in love with Flynn

46 CHARACTER AND PLOT ARCHETYPES IN FROZEN immediately. Even though they spend the majority of the film together, neither of them seems to consider the other as a potential love interest until the final third of the film.

Romance is therefore not a major plotline. In Tangled, Disney at last seems to acknowledge the impossibility of love at first sight and moves towards a more realistic idea of romance, one which develops gradually as the characters become more familiar with each other.

As a direct consequence of the first change, the second change to the Disney

Princess archetype is what appears to be a new no-romance approach to relationships.

Though it has so far been present only in Brave and Frozen, the two latest Princess films, it is plausible to assume that this is the direction Disney plans to proceed in for its future productions. Instead of a conventional heterosexual romance, familial relationships and friendships can be expected to be among the main themes of future Dis- ney Princess films.

Finally, Rapunzel and the three following Princesses – Merida, Elsa and Anna – are all yet again white. Moreover, they are all visually very similar – they are slim, with long, light-coloured hair and big blue or green eyes. Consequently, scholars such as

Charania and Albertson (2018), Rochester (2014) and Dundes and Streiff (2017) have criticised Frozen for lack of diversity, stereotypical gender representation and fear of independent single women (Matte-Kaci,2019), regardless of the acknowledgements and praises the film has received for its progressiveness.

47 CHARACTER AND PLOT ARCHETYPES IN FROZEN

4.2 Analysis of selected scenes in Frozen according to Propp’s archetypes

In spite of its many original elements and themes, Frozen also contains elements of a traditional fairy tale. A significant number of Alexander Propp’s functions are therefore applicable. However, apart from the first function, the order in which these functions appear in Frozen is not the same as the order originally presented by Propp. This may be due to the fact that Frozen is an authored fairy tale inspired by another authored fairy tale, while Propp’s order of the 31 functions is based on a folk tale.

1. One of the members of a family absents himself from home

There are two separate scenes in the film which can be considered as fulfilling this function. The first scene occurs at the beginning of the film when the King and the

Queen leave Arendelle and die during a storm on the sea. The second scene focuses on

Elsa. She has been isolated in her room since before her parents left and she remained in her room even after their death. Then, after the coronation, she runs to the Northern mountain, where she builds her ice castle and lives there alone. As a result, Anna is left with no family members actively present in her life and for a brief moment after Elsa has run from Arendelle, she is also responsible for a frozen kingdom.

2. An interdiction is addressed to the Hero

Interdiction is a prominent theme in Frozen. First, Elsa is prohibited from using her powers and feeling strong emotions. Simultaneously, she is also prohibited from

48 CHARACTER AND PLOT ARCHETYPES IN FROZEN leaving her room and interacting with anyone but her parents. The consequence of

Elsa’s interdiction – the freezing of Arendelle – is what initiates the main plot of the film.

3. The interdiction is violated

According to Propp (1969), the form of violation of an interdiction corresponds with the interdiction itself. If the interdiction in Frozen is Elsa’s isolation, the violation then would be her opening the gates to the castle and interacting with people. This is also the point where the Villain is introduced (Propp, 1969), and indeed, Hans is among the people who came to Elsa’s coronation. However, at this point in the story, it is not clear yet that he is the Villain.

6. The Villain attempts to deceive his victim in order to take possession of him or of his belongings

Deceit is another major plotline in Frozen. At first, Hans appears to be the archetypical

Prince Charming – handsome, kind and falls in love with the Princess at first sight. His disguise is not physical, unlike the traditional Propp’s Villain. Hans’ whole personality is a disguise, making him even more dangerous because his villainy is not immediately recognizable. He takes advantage of Anna’s naiveness and tricks her into marrying him with the ulterior motive to kill Elsa and become the King once Anna replaces Elsa as the Queen.

49 CHARACTER AND PLOT ARCHETYPES IN FROZEN

7. The victim submits to deception and thereby unwittingly helps his enemy

Anna falls in love with Hans immediately and agrees to marry him. When Elsa runs from Arendelle, Anna announces that she will bring Elsa back and meanwhile, Hans is to be the de-facto ruler of Arendelle. What is interesting about this situation is that

Anna herself is well aware of how irrational her engagement is, which suggests that while she may be naïve, she is not clueless. Nonetheless, she is still determined to marry Hans and trusts him enough to leave Arendelle in his care while she is away.

8. The Villain causes harm or injury to a member of a family

This particular function happens on several occasions. First, Hans harms Elsa verbally, when he calls her a monster during their confrontation in Elsa’s castle on the Northern mountain. When she loses consciousness, he moves her to Arendelle while still unconscious. In Arendelle, he puts her into a prison cell, shackling her with shackles that nul- lify her powers. Then he reveals his true intentions to Anna, and the viewers learn that he is the Villain of the story. Finally, he eventually aims to kill both sisters – Anna by leaving her to freeze to death and Elsa by stabbing her with a sword.

8a. One member of a family either lacks something or desires to have something

Lack and desire are also some of the most prominent themes in Frozen. Anna and Elsa both desire the same – freedom, acceptance and a place where they belong. However, each desires them in a different form. Anna wants to be able to leave the castle and interact with the people of Arendelle and be part of the community. On the other hand,

50 CHARACTER AND PLOT ARCHETYPES IN FROZEN freedom for Elsa means solitude, but not the one her parents imposed on her. As she sings in “Let it Go”, freedom for her is not to abide by the rules and standards of society.

Most importantly, once alone and free, Elsa learns that first and foremost, she needs to accept herself before seeking acceptance from other people. Furthermore, by showing

Elsa at her happiest in her castle on the Northern mountain and in the forest where her mother’s people live, Disney implies that not all Princesses belong to a traditional castle, similarly as not all people are suitable for a life in the city, or conversely, in the countryside. This premise will be addressed in more depth in a later chapter of the present thesis.

9. Misfortune or lack is made known; the Hero is approached with a request or com-

mand; he is allowed to go or he is dispatched

The lack which initiates the main plot of the story is Elsa’s lack of control over her powers, both as a child when playing with Anna and also when she becomes overwhelmed during her coronation. However, there is another perspective that should be considered in relation to Elsa’s assumed lack of control over her powers. The first instance when she “lost control” was when she was playing with Anna at the beginning of the film. Anna was jumping from one snow pillar to another as Elsa was creating them. Elsa has warned Anna to slow down, but Anna did not listen and continued jumping, which required Elsa to create the pillars at a faster pace, which resulted in Anna being hit by Elsa’s magic. Similarly, during the coronation, Elsa told Anna to let her go and asked her to stay away, but again Anna did not listen. She removes Elsa’s glove -

51 CHARACTER AND PLOT ARCHETYPES IN FROZEN which was clearly important for Elsa to have covering her hands – and she pressures her into answering questions instead of respecting Elsa’s request and allowing her to leave. And finally, when Anna enters Elsa’s ice castle, Elsa asks her several times to leave, but as usual, she did not listen and pressured Elsa yet again. Taking into consideration that all three incidents could have been prevented had Anna listened to Elsa, the concluding message Disney seems to be presenting is the following – listen, respect personal space and privacy and respect “no” for an answer.

Regarding the dispatch element of the function, according to Propp (1969) in a story such as Frozen where the Princess is forced to run away or is kidnapped, there are no seeker heroes, because the story focuses more on the Princess and she is the victim Hero. In Frozen, however, there is a seeker Hero. Anna leaves Arendelle to find

Elsa and bring her back. In addition, there are several more differences in Frozen in comparison with Propp’s conceptualization of this particular function. The seeker

Hero in Frozen is not dispatched but leaves of her own volition, despite being asked by everyone to stay. The victim Hero – Elsa – is not transported, nor is she condemned to death and secretly saved by another character. Instead, she runs from Arendelle without any transportation and when she is imprisoned, she frees herself.

11. The Hero leaves home

At this point, a new character – the Donor or the Provider – is introduced (Propp,1969).

Indeed, soon after her departure, Anna meets Olaf, Sven and Kristoff, who collectively can be considered to be the Donor of the story.

52 CHARACTER AND PLOT ARCHETYPES IN FROZEN

15. The Hero is transferred, delivered, or led to the whereabouts of an object of search

Olaf leads Anna, Kristoff and Sven to Elsa’s castle on the Northern mountain.

16. The Hero and the villain join in direct combat

There is a confrontation scene between Hans and Elsa in Elsa’s ice castle and in front of the castle in Arendelle, however, on neither occasion do they directly engage in combat.

17. The Hero is branded

Anna has a white strand in her hair as well as an ice fragment in her heart from the accident when Elsa hit her with her powers.

18. The Villain is defeated

Hans is not successful in killing Elsa nor Anna and he is banished from Arendelle.

19. The initial misfortune or lack is liquidated

This entirely depends on what is determined as the misfortune or the lack in the story.

If the lacking element is a love interest for Elsa, then it is still missing. If the misfortune is the freezing of Arendelle, that is liquidated. If the lacking element is love as an emotion in general without the context of either gender or sexuality, then it is acquired in form of Elsa realizing how important her sister is to her.

53 CHARACTER AND PLOT ARCHETYPES IN FROZEN

23. The Hero, unrecognized, arrives home or in another country

In Frozen, both Anna and Elsa return to Arendelle without any disguise and they do not attempt to conceal their identity. However, at the time of their return, Hans has not revealed himself as the Villain yet and he is still expected to kiss Anna and save her.

Therefore, if any character is to be considered as “unrecognized” at this point, it would be Hans.

25. A difficult task is proposed to the Hero

This function is done particularly differently in Frozen and it is also the point where the main message of the story is revealed. In traditional fairy tales, the Hero is a Prince who is usually required in some form to rescue the Princess and in the process, he is typically given tasks to accomplish. However, the Prince in Frozen is the Villain and the

Hero are two Heroines, a Princess and a Queen. Nonetheless, the Princess - in this case

Anna - needs to be rescued from becoming a frozen statue and when Hans fails to kiss her with “true love’s kiss”, she becomes a frozen statue. What eventually saves Anna is her act of sisterly love. Anna protects Elsa by stepping in front of her just as Hans is about to strike and kill her with a sword. Therefore, Anna saves herself on her own, and by helping Elsa realize how to end the eternal winter in Arendelle, she saves the kingdom along with its people.

54 CHARACTER AND PLOT ARCHETYPES IN FROZEN

28. The False Hero or Villain is exposed

The False Hero or Villain’s true identity is revealed either as an explanation of all events of the story until the moment of reveal, or it is done in a form of a short story

(Propp,1969). In Frozen, Hans reveals his identity as the Villain utilizing both methods simultaneously. Moreover, during his speech, he repeatedly mocks Anna and implies that she was naive for willing to marry him so soon after they have met. This is in fact one of the most innovative elements of Frozen, through which Disney shows how ridic- ulous are some of the stereotypes featured in its previous Princess films.

29. The Hero is given a new appearance

Elsa’s transformation during “Let it Go” is one of the most iconic and memorable moments in the film. It is important to note that unlike previous Disney Princesses such as Cinderella or Arielle, Elsa is not given her new appearance by another, more powerful character. She transforms herself with her own powers (Lester,2019). In addition to the different clothing, Propp (1969) also classifies under this function the moment when the Hero builds a palace, which in Frozen happens simultaneously with the change of clothing.

30. The Villain is punished

Hans does not become the King of Arendelle and he is sent home to the Kingdom of the

Southern Isles to face his many brothers.

55 CHARACTER AND PLOT ARCHETYPES IN FROZEN

31. The Hero is married and ascends the throne

In Frozen, Disney offers yet another twist on its “happily ever after” trope, when at the end of the story the Prince and the Princess marry and the Prince becomes the King.

Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, one of the Princesses becomes the Queen at the beginning of the story. Secondly, she does not marry the Prince, nor does her sister, who also does not marry her love interest, though they do become engaged in the sequel. Finally, the Prince does not become the King.

4.3 Elsa the Villain

Because the story is based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen, it may be assumed that Elsa, who is Disney’s version of the Snow Queen, is the Villain of the story.

And in fact, during the initial stages of the production, she was designed as a typical

Disney Villain – not attractive, with dark hair and dark clothing. Idina Menzel, the voice-actress of Elsa, is also known for her Villain characters from Broadway productions such as Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz, which further confirms

Elsa’s potential as the Villain of the story (Lester,2019). However, Elsa’s physical appearance is that of a typical Disney Princess, rather than of a Villain. Furthermore, unlike previous Villains in Disney films, Elsa is introduced as a child (Lester,2019). This provides the viewer with the opportunity to watch her grow, learn her story and see her as a real person, rather than a film character introduced in the middle of the story about whom very little is known.

56 CHARACTER AND PLOT ARCHETYPES IN FROZEN

Elsa’s character is a mix of both Villain and Princess traits. Apart from being the daughter of the King and the Queen of Arendelle, with long blond hair, light skin, bright blue eyes and a slim figure, visually she is a typical Disney Princess. Yet unlike the previous Princesses who seem to prefer the warmer seasons of spring and summer and befriend animals, Elsa’s power is ice and instead of animals, she surrounds herself with snow creatures of her own creation. The creative capability of her powers is also man- ifested both positively and negatively (Steinhoff,2017). Her ice castle, Olaf and the ice rink she creates at the end of the first film or the barrier she creates to protect Aren- delle castle at the end of the second film are examples of Elsa using her powers in a positive way. On the other hand, she also creates the snow monster Marshmallow to prevent people from entering her ice castle, she creates icicle barriers several times and she uses her powers to protect herself when attacked. However, it is questionable whether these moments of self-defence should be considered negative forms of manifestation of Elsa’s powers.

Providing that Elsa would be the same age even as a Villain, she would have been the youngest Disney Villain so far. According to Tatar (2003), in the early films, the Villain is usually an evil stepmother or a witch who is jealous of the female protagonist’s youth and beauty. Rowe (1979) argues that women are the usual Villains in stories due to fear of female sexuality and middle-aged women. However, at 21, Elsa is neither a mother nor a middle-aged woman. She is young and beautiful. Her villainy would then have to originate elsewhere. In the original storyline which presented Elsa as the Villain, the cause of Elsa’s villainy was a broken heart. She had been abandoned

57 CHARACTER AND PLOT ARCHETYPES IN FROZEN by her fiancé on their wedding day and froze her heart so that she would never love again (Hibberd,2017). Had the film been released with the original storyline, Elsa’s character arc would be heavily dependent on a romantic relationship with a man – los- ing the love of a man made her freeze her heart and the love of another man melts it.

The decision to change the original storyline proved to be correct, as Elsa’s independence eventually became one of the most appealing and praised aspects of the film.

58 FEMINISM

5 Feminism

5.1 Feminism and Disney

In the past decade, Disney has fundamentally changed how femininity is conceptu- alized in its films in order to still be recognizable as a part of the traditional Disney

Princess archetype, while also reflecting the current societal values and standards. Ac- cording to Schiele et al. (2020), the latest Disney Princesses no longer simply wish and wait for their wish to be fulfilled. They know what they want, and they are willing to face difficulties when working towards their goals. Modern Disney encourages young girls to realize that they are individuals with a personality that is more than a set of prescribed stereotypical traits and that having traits typically associated with the opposite gender is alright.

Moreover, true love as shown in the latest Disney Princess films is not only the romantic love between a man and a woman. True love is also the love between a mother and her daughter, as in Brave. It is also the love between two sisters, who could not be more different yet they still love each other, as in Frozen. In Frozen, an additional, different kind of love is also present – self-love. Because of her powers, Elsa is shown to be despising herself throughout the majority of the first film, and while she seems to be much better at the beginning of the second film, she soon starts blaming herself for her parents’ death and, hating herself once again. The whole story is therefore also a story of a person learning to love and accept herself with all her strengths and flaws.

59 FEMINISM

Overall, what Disney seems to be attempting especially with the most recent films is to challenge the mindset that a woman is guaranteed to eventually become a wife and a mother, which is still very much prevalent in contemporary society and being drilled into the minds of young girls since early childhood. A woman is still – as if by default – expected to want to get married, have children and be financially dependent on a man (taking a mortgage together, owning property together, joint accounts etc.). However, it should be questioned to what extent it is the woman’s genuine desire, or whether she “wants” it only because that is what is expected of her and it is simply how the life of women has always been. Through Merida and Elsa, Disney challenges this notion of femininity. Merida is very vocal about being against the idea of marriage and having her independence taken by a man. Frozen goes even further. Elsa is the

Queen, yet she not pressured to marry or to have children. Furthermore, she does not even express her opinion on the matter, as if it is so insignificant to her that it does not merit to be addressed.

5.2 Feminism in Frozen

From the moment of the premiere, Frozen has been praised for its many feminist themes by scholars, critics as well as the general public, particularly the scene of Elsa singing “Let it Go” while creating her ice castle and changing her appearance, which has been subjected to a variety of analyses and interpretations. For instance, while

Elsa’s transformation may be understood as an act of liberation and self-expression,

60 FEMINISM according to Steinhoff (2017), it also follows the current “glow up” trend of changing appearance to look more attractive and to feel empowered and confident. Moreover, though it is not the only transformation in which the Princess acquires stunning new dress, the type of dress worn by Elsa is nothing like the modest ballgowns of earlier

Disney Princesses. It is tight, revealing and seductive - a dress one would not expect in a film for children.

According to Gill (2007), these transformations can also serve as a “deeper form of exploitation than objectification— one in which the objectifying male gaze is internalized to form a new disciplinary regime” that asks girls and women to still construct themselves “as a subject closely resembling the heterosexual fantasy that is found in pornography” (pg.152; cited in Steinhoff,2017). In other words, while women like Elsa might initially change their appearance with the intention to feel more self-confident and please themselves, ultimately they also become more attractive to men and therefore subjected to sexual objectification. However, Elsa is not objectified after her transformation and there are no shots which would deliberately focus on a specific part of her body and encourage the viewer to look more closely (Matte-Kaci,2019).

In addition, when discussing all the possible interpretations of Elsa’s transformation, it is important to be aware of her background. She is beautiful, slim, white and a Queen (Steinhoff,2017). In theory, there are no better predispositions for her to be eventually accepted by her people. She is therefore spared from the usual differences based on which people are marginalized in reality – race, class and appearance. On the contrary, Elsa presents a new type of character, one who is not different visually, but

61 FEMINISM mentally. Her powers and lack of contact with people make her a mystery and people of Arendelle, much like real people, are afraid of what they do not know.

Related to the characters’ backgrounds and archetypes is the mocking of several classic Disney tropes, which is one of the characteristic features of Frozen (Stein- hoff,2017). These tropes include the beautiful and graceful Princess, the chivalrous

Prince Charming and the Evil Witch - Anna is not graceful, Hans is not the Prince

Charming but the Villain and Elsa is neither evil nor a witch. Particularly mocked is the trope of “love at first sight”, which is addressed at least three times throughout the story. The first time is during Elsa’s coronation when Anna and Hans announce their engagement to Elsa, who at first struggles to process the information and then outright tells Anna that she cannot possibly marry a man she just met. The second time is during

Anna’s travel with Kristoff. While Anna is rapidly trying to explain her situation, Kris- toff interrupts her multiple times, questioning whether she actually agreed to marry a man she has known for only a couple of hours. The final time is by Hans himself after he refuses to kiss Anna, revealing himself to be the Villain of the story.

5.3 Nature, ecofeminism and Frozen

Throughout both Frozen films, nature has a significant impact on the plot and is present in some form in the majority of scenes. For example, Elsa’s magic is nature-based.

In the second film, it is revealed that the former Queen of Arendelle was a Northuldra

- a tribal nation living in the forest near Arendelle, which later has a major part in the

62 FEMINISM story. Furthermore, in both films, Anna and Elsa leave Arendelle to search for a place that is in nature and to find it they travel through nature, where eventually Elsa remains while Anna returns to Arendelle to replace Elsa on the throne. As a Queen with magical powers and a Princess, Elsa and Anna are in a unique position of having political power as well as power over nature.

According to Crosby (2016), by allowing the female protagonist to assert their personal and political powers in both private and public spheres, the gendered spaces become distorted. Typically, nature is associated with femininity, while the city and culture are associated with masculinity. Consequently, women are marginalised and separated from the cultured society of the patriarchal city (Crosby,2016). Daphne

Spain (1992) states, “gendered spaces separate women from knowledge used by men to produce and reproduce power and privilege,” (pg.3; cited in Crosby,2016). In Frozen,

Elsa is a character who has power in both spheres. She is a woman, yet she has been crowned the Queen and she grew up in the castle in Arendelle – a place which is usually associated with the King. In addition, she built the ice castle on the Northern mountain and in the second film, she ultimately seceded the throne to Anna and remained living in the woods with her mother’s people.

The fact that she left the castle in Arendelle twice and both times she found a new home in nature is especially significant. Crosby (2016) considers the castle a manifestation of patriarchy – it belonged to Elsa’s father, the King, and it is also the place where he virtually imprisoned Elsa since her early childhood. So when she left her father’s castle - although it theoretically was supposed to belong to her when she became

63 FEMINISM the Queen - she built her own ice castle on the remote Northern mountain. In a way,

Elsa’s building her castle by herself may be considered as a continuation of the message of achieving your goals by yourself from The Princess and the Frog, when Tiana’s father told her that she needs to work hard if she wants to be independent and open her res- taurant: “Yes, you wish and you dream with all your little heart. But you remember,

Tiana, that old star can only take you part of the way. You got to help him with some hard work of your own. And then… yeah, you can do anything you set your mind to…”(05:25-05:40). The “old star” Tiana’s father is talking about can be interpreted as a metaphor for parents, or family in general. Taking into consideration the message as a whole, Disney thus implies that it is important to live independently from other people and be responsible for achieving important milestones such as buying a house or starting a business and not entirely rely on help from family.

Apart from Elsa, there is also another character who seems to have left the city to live in nature. During the scene when Anna and Kristoff meet in Oaken’s trading shop, Oaken waves to his family in the sauna, and there is an adult male with the children. Oaken addresses them as “family”, but he does not introduce them, nor does he state his relationship to the male or the children explicitly. Greydanus (2014) explains this as producers allowing the audience to interpret the relationship on their own and form their own opinion on the matter. Oaken’s queerness is further confirmed by his accent and connection to nature. Apart from several visitors from foreign kingdoms who have a British, Irish or French accent, all main characters have an American accent. Oaken however has a Scandinavian accent, despite supposedly being a local and

64 FEMINISM therefore he should speak with the same accent as the main characters. And similarly to Elsa leaving the castle to live in nature in order to not hide her powers - which has been read as an act of queerness - it is possible that Oaken has also left the city and opened his shop in the woods because he is queer too (Geal,2016). For both Elsa and

Oaken then nature represents a form of escapism, a place where they do not have to worry about failing to conform to patriarchal standards and expectations. It is a safe place where Elsa is free to explore the full extent of her powers in comfortable solitude and where Oaken can live with his partner and their children, while also running a business, which might have been significantly more difficult, if not impossible, in Ar- endelle.

However, while nature in Frozen seems to provide an opportunity for freedom for characters who are not comfortable living in society, according to Gaard (1997), nature has been used in Western cultures also as justification for social norms which are oppressive for women, queers and nature itself. Since heterosexuality is considered to be the norm – the natural – queerness is then positioned as being against nature. By considering only one form of sexuality as natural and “appropriate”, the other forms are inherently subjected to homophobia and erotophobia (Gaard,1997). As a form of erotophobic homophobia can be considered the lack of queer representation in children’s media, and one of the reasons why producers are reluctant to include queer representation in their products intended for children may be precisely because of the erotophobia associated with it, as argued by Gaard (1997)“… the erotic (a particularly perverse erotic) is projected onto queer sexuality to such a degree that this

65 FEMINISM quality is seen as the only salient feature of queer identities" (pg.118). Therefore, to encourage more diverse representation in children’s media by including queer characters and themes, it is necessary to change the general public’s primary perception of queerness as erotic and perverse.

The dualisms of culture/nature, male/female and public/private mentioned in the previous paragraphs are part of a list of some of the key topics addressed by ecofeminist critics, which was compiled and termed “the master model” by Val Plumwood

(1993). The list also includes dualisms of reason/emotion, freedom/necessity and self/other, all of which are easily identifiable in Frozen. Therefore, it is possible to consider Frozen from an ecofeminist perspective. The culture/nature and public/private dualisms are represented by the two main settings – Arendelle and Elsa’s ice castle on the Northern mountain and in the second film the forest where the Northuldra people live. The reason/emotion, freedom/necessity and self/other dualisms are all mostly represented through Elsa - her internal struggle to control her emotions, discovering the full extent of her abilities once she is free to do so after distancing herself from society, and the conflict between the “good girl” she had to present to the people of

Arendelle and the person she really is.

66 QUEER READING OF FROZEN

6 Queer reading of Frozen

6.1 Why is it possible ?

Applying queer reading to a story for children is often a difficult task, as queerness is not a theme typically featured in content intended for children. However, based on the available research, queer reading seems to be one of, if not the most applied reading of Frozen. The reason why Frozen can so easily be read as queer is due to Elsa not being married by the end of the first film, or even by the end of the second film. More- over, she has no romantic interest in any of the male characters in the story, and unlike

Anna, she has never openly expressed a desire to fall in love. In reality, not falling in love when one has such a limited choice as Elsa would not be surprising. It is only log- ical that a person who has spent the majority of her life in her room with no contact with other people would hardly fall in love the moment she decides to open the gates and allow people into the castle. Yet this is precisely what Disney typically does in its films – there is always suddenly a moment which is the right moment for the Prince to enter the story and meet the Princess. And in a way, it did happen in Frozen. The moment the gates open, Hans meets Anna and they immediately fall in love.

Two conclusions can be made at this point. First, as pointed out by Streiff and

Dundes (2017), Elsa remains without a male love interest to confirm that a woman cannot at the same time be in a position of power – in Elsa’s case to be the Queen – and be in a romantic relationship. Secondly, Elsa is not interested in men because she is not heterosexual. However, she also does not seem to be interested in women either.

67 QUEER READING OF FROZEN

Therefore, should Elsa’s sexuality be labelled, it may be assumed that she is most probably an aromantic asexual. According to Pugh (2008): "Queerness bears a double meaning in studies of children’s literature, in that these fictions often depict a world where oddness—which can be understood as asexual queerness—is embraced as a chief narrative value. In other usages, queerness carries a sexual denotation referring to sexual identities resistant to ideological normativity" (pg.218; cited in Llompart and

Burgué,2019). Elsa’s asexual queerness, therefore, has two meanings – as a sexual identity due to her lack of interest in a sexual or a romantic relationship and difference from the norm because of her powers.

The theory of Elsa being queer is further supported by her appearance in the popular TV series Once Upon a Time. In her thesis focused on queer reading and queerbaiting, Emma Nordin selected two scenes from Once Upon a Time as an example of queerbaiting, of which the producers of the series have been accused multiple times

(Nordin,2015). The following conversation takes place in the 5th episode of the 4th season between Elsa, who is the main character of the fourth season and Emma, the main character of the series:

Elsa: “So why did you let Regina just walk away?”

Emma: “You heard her, she wants nothing to do with me”

Elsa: “Maybe you shouldn’t give up on her so soon”

Emma: “Like I said, once you screw someone over, there is no going back”

68 QUEER READING OF FROZEN

Elsa: “I don’t believe that […] if someone’s important to you, don’t give up on them, even if they say hurtful things or send a giant snow monster to chase you away” (34:56-

35:26; cited in Nordin,2015)

Immediately after Emma’s conversation with Elsa, Emma goes to see Regina and tells her: “I’m an idiot. I’m an idiot because I’ve been down this road before. No, when I was a kid, someone came into my life for a while and I thought we were going to be . . . best friends. But this girl lied to me and I pushed her away because of that lie and she asked me to forgive her but I never did. It took some time, but I realized that that was a mis- take and I regretted the decision, but by then it was too late. The damage was already done. […] They don’t know what it feels like to be rejected and misunderstood, not the way I do, not the way you do, and somehow that makes us, I don’t know, unique, or maybe even special[…].” (35:39-36:38; cited in Nordin,2015).

As pointed out by Lily Sparks (2014; cited in Nordim,2015), it would indeed be difficult not to see how easily these two scenes can be read as implying that Emma is queer and most probably considers Regina as more than a friend. Emma pauses before saying “best friends”, hesitating before saying the most obvious and appropriate choice of words. Yet by simple substitution for “more” or “something”, Emma’s speech would unquestionably be a confession of her feelings for another girl. Moreover, it should also not be overlooked that among all of the characters in the series, it was Elsa with whom

Emma had such a conversation. As the Disney Princess who has been associated with queerness and progressivity the most, Elsa would be the obvious choice of an

69 QUEER READING OF FROZEN interlocutor should in fact the producers intend to make implications about Emma potentially being queer.

Another reason why queer reading may be applied to Frozen is its source material, Andersen’s The Snow Queen. According to Greenhill (2015), Andersen had an ambivalent attitude towards sexuality. He referred to himself as “semi-woman” and he wore female costumes on stage. Therefore, it is possible that Andersen’s stories bear traces of his own queerness. For example, the relationship between Gerda and the Rob- ber Girl shows signs of attraction and potentially might have developed into a romantic one, had it not been a story for children. A character similar to the Robber Girl as well as other female characters are not included in Frozen, eliminating the possibility of romance between women (Llompart and Burgué,2019). Even though Elsa and Anna are certainly strong female protagonists, they are sisters and also the only two female characters in the story with proper character arcs and speech lines.

Moreover, the original Snow Queen is the Villain of the story and as Elsa’s character is based on the Snow Queen, she was also supposed to be the Villain. According to Baker (2010), villains in fairy tales are usually transgressive – they do not adhere to societal standards or gender norms. In other words, they are different from the other characters, and their difference - their transgressiveness - is typically what makes them villains. Since the Villain’s role in the story is to prevent the Hero from finding happiness in a marriage with the Princess (Propp,1969), they are a threat to the heterosexual relationship and to the concept of the nuclear family, which may be understood as an indication of queerness (Matte-Kaci,2019). Though the Villain usually kidnaps

70 QUEER READING OF FROZEN the Princess or otherwise separates her from the Hero, according to Weiss (1992),

Elsa’s refusal to approve of Anna marrying Hans fulfils the same function. Considering all the above-mentioned points together as well as the other traits which differentiate

Elsa from the previous Disney Princesses, it is possible to conclude that Elsa can be read as queer.

6.2 Queer metaphors in Frozen

There are several scenes in Frozen that could be interpreted as metaphors for coming out or otherwise associated with queerness. “Let it Go” has been labelled a “coming out anthem” by fans as well as scholars (Lester,2019; Matte-Kaci,2019; Re- sene,2017; Dundes,2020), and there are several scenes that heavily focus on the act of opening and closing doors, including one of the first songs in the film “Love is an Open

Door.” According to Matte-Kaci (2019), the song represents Anna’s and Elsa’s opposite attitudes towards relationships and sexuality – Anna, wearing a dress that reveals much of her upper body, is excited to be among people and have the gates opened. She believes that she will meet “the one”, finally experiencing the romance she has been dreaming about. On the contrary, Elsa’s reaction is the complete opposite. She is wearing a dark dress with long sleeves and a high neckline and unlike Anna who rushes outside, she hesitates at every step, continuously reminding herself to “conceal, don’t feel” (Matte-Kaci,2019). It is important to point out that Elsa has always been against opening the gates, even after her parents’ death, when she theoretically had the au- thority to have them opened. Until the day of the coronation, when she had no choice

71 QUEER READING OF FROZEN and was pressured into opening the gates by the expectation of her people to see her, their new Queen. After the gates are opened, Elsa literary comes out multiple times in the subsequent scenes – she comes out of her room, out to the balcony and finally, outside of the castle. Elsa’s coronation can therefore also be interpreted as a metaphor for a forced coming out of the closet, despite not being ready to do so.

Furthermore, Elsa is repeatedly called a monster, which as an archetype has been according to Benshoff (1997) and Warman (2016) read as queer and same as monstrosity, queerness is dangerous. Since early childhood, Elsa is told how dangerous her powers are, that she needs to control them and under no circumstances people can know about them. To ensure that nobody learns about her powers – the secret which makes her different from all the other characters - she is kept in isolation and so this premise can be considered a metaphor for queerness (Matte-Kaci,2019). Indeed, Elsa’s situation reflects the experience of most queer people, who are told to be ashamed of their queerness and hide it at all cost because it is wrong and it is not normal, same as

Elsa’s powers. Consequently, rather than featuring an openly queer character, what

Frozen provides instead is a number of very accurate metaphors to present the issue to large audiences, utilizing a character that is relatable and guaranteed to be popular, because she is a Disney Princess.

However, by using only metaphors and not addressing the monster’s queerness explicitly only further marginalizes those who are queer. If she is queer, Elsa cannot openly admit to it, because she would not be accepted by society (Benshoff,1997;

Doty,1993) and she might not be respected as the Queen. Moreover, as a film character,

72 QUEER READING OF FROZEN she needs to gain acceptance not only of the fictional society in the film but also of the young children watching the film as well as their parents. Perhaps, not giving Elsa a female love interest is Disney’s way of making a compromise. On one hand, it ensures parents who might have issues with allowing their children to watch a film with two women in a romantic relationship will not be given reason to be concerned and, as it is common today, to start extensive online discussions filled with complaints. On the other hand, the number of scholarly articles dedicated to queer reading as well as popular articles discussing the possibility of Elsa having a female partner in future instal- ments and requesting that she is given a girlfriend is a clear indication that in 2013,

Frozen is as close as a film for children dares to represent queerness.

It should have come as no surprise then that 6 years later, Disney did include

Honeymaren in the sequel. Honeymaren is a young Northuldra woman and the only female character who could potentially be Elsa’s much-requested love interest. They instantly become friends, despite Elsa having virtually no previous experience with so- cializing and forming relationships with women her age. Moreover, there is a scene in which Elsa and Honeymaren have a private conversation by the fire, far from the rest of the characters. The whole scene is very intimate and reminiscent of similar scenes from other films and even books, which are usually the starting point of a romantic relationship between the two characters.

Overall, this scene - including Honeymaren herself - can be interpreted as a form of queerbaiting, since had Honeymaren been a man, she would almost certainly be the character who will eventually become Elsa’s partner. This is further confirmed by later

73 QUEER READING OF FROZEN having Elsa bond with a male horse Nokk shortly after meeting Honeymaren as if attempting to divert attention from the potentially romantic homosexual relationship to a relationship that is unquestionably platonic and heterosexual. In addition, according to Dundes (2020), Elsa’s bond with the male horse Nokk instead of falling in love with a man in the second film is also Disney’s way of avoiding potential controversies such as Elsa having a relationship with a woman or being more powerful than any male partner she would have, since unless he is also able to use magic, Elsa would always be stronger than him.

Considering that Frozen is a Disney Princess film, 2013 had perhaps still been too soon for a powerful Queen with an ordinary man by her side who would support her and accept her being more powerful than him. However, the second film was released 6 years later at the end of 2019, and that could have been the moment Disney finally presented a female character that is not only equal but more powerful and of higher social status than her male partner. Apart from her magical powers, when considered in the most stereotypical context in which members of the upper class typically entered marriages of convenience, no man from Arendelle would be a suitable match for Elsa, because there is no real gain for her from that marriage. She is a Queen, meaning she already has the highest status she could have achieved and therefore has access to Arendelle’s royal fortune. She is able to create life, although not human, and could be considered a mother to her creations, such as Olaf or Marshmallow. Consequently, she can form her identity as a woman entirely on her own, without needing a man to become a Queen or a mother.

74 CONCLUSION

7 Conclusion

7.1 Concluding remarks

This thesis discussed Disney’s highest-grossing Princess film Frozen, focusing mainly on the differences in comparison with other Disney Princess films within three main contexts – archetypes, feminism and queerness.

The results of the present study suggest that rather than considering Frozen as progressive, perhaps it is more accurate to see the film as reflecting the current under- standing of concepts such as gender, gender roles, sexuality, stereotypes and appropriateness of certain topics for public discussion. And in comparison to how these were perceived in the past, the current notions themselves can be considered progressive.

Particularly significant are the important messages about love, self-acceptance, respect, gender roles and mental health Frozen presents to its young audiences as well as their parents. It is a film almost everyone can enjoy and relate to, regardless of their age, gender or culture.

Nonetheless, it is also important to be aware of the many stereotypes that are still present in the story. Firstly, there is no racial diversity in the first film. All characters are white. However, considering that the story is set in Scandinavia in the late

1860s and early 1870s (Irfan,2020), the all-white cast of characters may be more a historical accuracy rather than a deliberately chosen stereotype. In the second film, the

Northuldra tribe and several other characters with darker skin have been introduced, which is probably due to the fact that the pressure for diversity was significantly

75 CONCLUSION stronger in 2019 than in 2013 when the first was released. Secondly, although they all have certain “imperfections” which make them seem more real, all the main characters are conventionally attractive and they are members of the royal family, either by birth or through marriage. And finally, Anna and Kristoff are given the ever-present “happily ever after” as they get engaged and return together to the Arendelle castle.

7.2 Gaps and potential for further research

The most noticeable gap in resources found during research for this thesis was the lack of academic publications addressing queer representation in children’s media.

This is also the most frequently pointed out issue by several scholars whose work is referenced in this thesis. As argued in Chapter 5, the reason for lacking queer representation in children’s media is most probably due to the erotophobia associated with queerness. However, as the general attitude towards queerness is changing and society is gradually becoming more accepting of queer representation, it is possible that more producers will feature queer characters in their products, including animated films for children. Consequently, there will be more material available for scholars to analyse and an increase in academic publications dedicated to queer representation in children’s media can be expected in the future. Furthermore, by exposing children to queerness and diversity of gender roles from a young age, they will be gradually learning about the variety which exists within these concepts and as a result, they will be able to accept it more easily than for example an adult with already internalized values

76 CONCLUSION and beliefs.

Similarly to queerness, mental health is a topic that has only recently been deemed to be acceptable for public discussion. The number of academic publications addressing mental health representation in media is therefore still relatively limited, even more so publications focusing on children’s media. While there have been “crazy” and “mad” characters in literature for centuries and in films for decades, usually no further elaboration on their mental state is provided. Only recently authors and producers started to label and explicitly address the particular mental health issues and mental health representation in media thus became a subject of interest for scholars.

Due to the sensitivity of the topic, mental health representation in children’s media is perhaps even more of a risk than queer representation for producers as well as scholars. However, they are both undeniably present in the everyday lives of millions of people including children and so it is important to educate children to prevent phobia of queerness and ableism as much as possible.

77 BIBLIOGRAPHY

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85 RESUME CZ

9 Resume CZ

Hlavním cílem této práce je formou komplexní analýzy poukázat prostřednictvím vybraných příkladú na hlavní aspekty, které odlišují Frozen od předchozích Disney filmů, zejména pokud jde o znázornění sociálních a genderových stereotypů. Tato studie se zaměřuje na tři klíčová témata, která mají významné zastoupení v obou Fro- zen filmech: archetypy, feminismus a homosexualita (queerness).

První z hlavních kapitol je věnována vztahu mezi animovanými filmy a společností, se zaměřením na témata jako je pozice marketing a jak prodej produktů souvisejících s animovaným filmem odráží hodnoty a zájem dětí; reprezentace rodu, rasy a sexuality v animovaných filmech, především těch od Disney, a zobrazení duševního zdraví ve filmu Frozen.

Druhá kapitola je věnována archetypem a to hlavně archetypu Disney Princezny a konkrétně na postavu Elsy jako původního zlosyna příběhu. Kapitola dále před- stavuje stručnou analýzu konkrétních scén podle teorie 31 funkcí pohádky, kterou představil Alexander Propp.

Třetí kapitola se zaměřuje na feministické zastoupení ve filmech Disney obecně, obzvláště na feministické prvky ve filmu Frozen a také na možné uplatnění ekofemi- nistickej teorie na film Frozen kvůli výrazné přítomnosti přírody ve filmu.

Nakonec čtvrtá kapitola pojednává o možném homosexuálním (queer) výkladu zejména Elsy, ale i samotného příběhu, jakož i o několika metaforách souvisejících s homosexualitou (queerness), které jsou ve filmu přítomny. Cílem této konkrétní

86 RESUME CZ kapitoly je představit konkrétní scény a prvky, které potvrzují tvrzení, že Frozen obsa- huje reprezentaci homosexuality (queerness).

Závěrem této práce je, že Frozen redefinuje mnohé společenské a gendero- véstereotypy, které se běžně vyskytují ve filmech, zejména ve filmech produkovaných společností Disney jako součást franšízu Princess. Výsledky však také ukazují, že je zá- roveň nezbytné uznat stereotypy, které ve filmu Frozen stále přetrvávají, například konvenční standard ženské krásy, převážně bílé postavy a heterosexuální vztah mezi mužskou a ženskou hlavní postavou.

87 RESUME EN

10 Resume EN

The main aim of this thesis is by complex analysis to demonstrate on a variety of selected examples the main aspects which differentiate Frozen from previous Disney

Princess films, particularly in regard to the representation of social and gender stereotypes. The present study focuses on three key topics, which have a significant presence in both Frozen films: archetypes, feminism and queerness.

The first main chapter is dedicated to the relationship between cartoons and society, focusing on topics such as the role of marketing and merchandise and how sales reflect the values and interest of children; representation of gender, race and sexuality in animated films with a focus on Disney, and mental health representation in

Frozen.

The second chapter is dedicated to archetypes focusing primarily on the Disney

Princess archetype and specifically Elsa’s character as the original Villain of the story.

Furthermore, the chapter presents a brief analysis of specific scenes according to Al- exander Propp’s theory of the 31 functions of a fairy tale. The third chapter focuses on feminist representation in Disney films in general, feminist elements in Frozen in particular and also the possible application of ecofeminist theory to Frozen due to the significant presence of nature in the film.

Finally, the fourth chapter discusses the potential queer reading of especially

Elsa, but the story itself too, as well as several queer metaphors which are present in the story. The aim of this particular chapter is to present specific scenes and elements which support the claim that Frozen can be read as queer.

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The conclusion of this thesis is that Frozen does redefine many social and gender stereotypes which are commonly present in films, particularly those produced by

Disney as part of its Princess franchise. However, the results also show that it is also essential to acknowledge the stereotypes which are still featured in Frozen, such as the conventional standard of feminine beauty, predominantly white cast of characters and a heterosexual relationship between the male and the female protagonist.