In the history of the movie industry, there are few characters quite as iconic as the Disney Princess. The characters have made new fans as each ensuing generation has discovered them and fallen in love with them all over again. So many Disney fans have found something inspiring in different aspects of the characters, like the strength of Mulan or the independence of Merida. However, many fans are now asking for one particular Disney princess to become more relatable to a particular group. They’d like to see Frozen’s Elsa get a girlfriend.
The hashtag #GiveElsaAGirlfriend started on Twitter over the weekend and has gone viral since then. Entertainment Weekly spoke with Alexis Isabel Moncada whose initial tweet has now been retweeted over 1800 times, in addition to the many other people who have picked it up on their own. She spoke about how many in the LGBT saw Frozen as a metaphor for their own struggles with coming to terms with who they were, which is why making this particular princess gay would be so iconic.
While much has changed about Disney Princesses from the days of Snow White, one thing that has remained pretty much the same is that they all end up with the handsome prince. Elsa was already an outlier as far as that goes. Not only does she not end up in any sort of relationship at the end of Frozen, there isn’t even a subplot dedicated to her relationship status. This fact is one of the reasons that Disney could make Elsa gay if they wanted to, they wouldn’t be changing anything about the character, as exactly who she might find attractive has never been discussed.
While Disney as an organization is generally viewed as being very inclusive, that hasn’t always been reflected in their movies. GLAAD recently called them out as being one of two studios whose movies had zero gay characters in 2015. They specifically called for gay characters to be included in Star Wars: Episode VIII. While there’s been no indication that will happen, J.J. Abrams has implied that gay characters will appear in the Star Wars universe at some point. If such a thing is possible there, maybe a gay Disney princess isn’t too far off either.
With Frozen 2 planned for some time down the line, Disney may be trying to decide where Elsa is headed right now. Will a relationship of some kind be part of her character’s story, or will Disney decide to keep her as unique because she’s the one for whom romance simply is not an issue? Do you think Elsa should get a girlfriend in Frozen 2? Do you think we’ll see a gay Disney princess at some point down the line?
