We’re not saying Elsa is totally gay. We’re just saying that, after an online explosion where a whole bunch of people noticed that Elsa’s story matched up weirdly well with the emotional roller coaster of discovering, hiding, and then accepting your sexuality after the movie came out in 2013, the creators have been dropping vague hints that Elsa may, in fact, be about to step out of her icy closet.
The writer and co-director of Frozen, Jennifer Lee, was doing the interview rounds with HuffPo for her new film A Wrinkle in Time and gave this oh-so tempting little tidbit:
"I love everything people are saying [and] people are thinking about with our film ― that it’s creating dialogue, that Elsa is this wonderful character that speaks to so many people, it means the world to us that we’re part of these conversations.
Where we’re going with it, we have tons of conversations about it, and we’re really conscientious about these things. For me...Elsa’s every day telling me where she needs to go, and she’ll continue to tell us. I always write from character-out, and where Elsa is and what Elsa’s doing in her life, she’s telling me every day. We’ll see where we go."
Many queer fans saw themselves in the struggle to just "Let it Go," making the heroine’s coming out (of hiding her magical ice powers, of course) ballad a gay theme. The hastag #GiveElsaAGirlfriend was started not too long after the movie came out, and is still going strong:
This isn't the first time those at Disney have vaguly hinted at queer content coming up soon. Even her actress, Idina Menzel, is on board:
"Maybe at first I was a little surprised because it’s Disney, but I can say that I’m excited that the conversation is happening. I can’t promise anybody that that’s what’s gonna happen...but deep down am I really happy that it’s causing people to talk about it and have these kinds of conversations? Yeah, I am."
Of course this isn’t going over smoothly with everyone. Someone always has to be that guy, and the homophobes are already rabble rousing about how Elsa being gay would somehow unwind humanity. Will Disney risk the ire of those still stuck in the 1950s who think a Disney princess holding a girl's hand will end the world, or will they move forward with the rest of us? Right now, we have no idea (but 2019 isn’t that far off!).
Until then, you can catch Lee’s work (and support Disney continuing to push boundaries) by checking out A Wrinkle in Time, now in theaters!
