By Kaydee Donohoo
Staff Writer
At 10:47p.m., on April 30, Alexis Isabel, or “@lexi4prez,” tweeted “Dear @Disney, #GiveElsaAGirlfriend,” and the internet has gone wild with it since. There have been hundreds of tweets using the hashtag, and several online articles have been highlighting those tweets, and summarizing the reasons that is a great idea.
If the thought of two princesses running off together makes your heart happy, I encourage you to find those articles for yourself. For now I can give some reasons that I haven’t seen yet.
Think of how popular “Frozen” was. There are tons of young fans who are jumping up and down, and pulling out their parents’ wallets to see the sequel. Some of these kids, statistically speaking, must have homophobic parents. These kids are really going to hold their ground and ask their parents to explain the invalid argument of why they won’t be seeing “Frozen 2.”
“Why can’t I see Elsa have a girlfriend?” “Uh…well, because…” I want to know that those parents will be sweating. I hope that they will cave and watch gay princesses. If the parents don’t cave their kids will still see it, even if it’s when they’re older, or at a friend’s house. The movie will be magical and they will resent homophobia even more.
Do we picture in the distant future having gay/bisexual/pansexual/all sorts of spectrum cartoon characters seen as mainstream? If this future is possible, bear in mind Disney’s power to start trends. Because Disney owns other companies, it’s virtually impossible for them to have a flop. They have a lot of space to advertise each film as the next greatest one since “The Lion King.”
A movie with gay Elsa? That would be amazingly successful regardless of any bigot’s boycott. What happens after a successful film? Other companies and studios take note.
We need Elsa to fall in love with a heroine. We need it after so many modern gay characters have died that it has become a stereotype. We need a strong and powerful symbol to undo this for the next generation. Because you know that Elsa gets a girlfriend, and she is not going to die.
These are terrifying times, with many hateful people with loud voices. Disney, you have already given a powerful voice to Queen Elsa. Please consider using this force for extreme good.
