LIBERALS ADMIT It's Not Just Frozen: Most Disney Movies Are Pro-Gay

April 24, 2014

The culture warriors have decided: Disney's Frozen is queer. Elsa hiding her ice-powers could be read as a metaphor for the closet, the Oscar-winning "Let it Go" plays like a coming-out anthem, and a character in the film evokes the question of whether homosexuality is a choice by inquiring of Elsa's powers, "born with it or cursed?" Some liberals have praised the film for its subtext; some conservatives have denounced it.

Indeed, many Disney romances are examples of "impossible desire," a trope that is crucial to the queer experience, as gender-studies theorist Heather Love argued in Feeling Backward. It was impossible for Ariel to be with Eric unless she became human, or for Belle to be with the Beast unless he became human, or for Aladdin to be with Jasmine unless he became a prince, or for Pocahontas to be with John Smith unless she left her people.

Thus, Disney films have been both traditional and subversive, serving wholesome princess stories to a largely hetero-normative global audience while also subtly appealing to queer children. You don't need to be up on your queer theory or buy into the "It Gets Better" campaign to understand why any of this matters. Through conventional happy endings for outcasts and oddballs, Disney films let every child know that it's ok to be different.