Twitter campaign calls on Disney’s Frozen to #GiveElsaAGirlfriend
A HASH TAG campaign calling on Disney to introduce a lesbian princess in one of its films went viral on Twitter earlier this week.
Twitter user Alexis Isabel Moncada sparked the movement when she tweeted to her 80,000 followers: “Dear @Disney, #GiveElsaAGirlfriend”.
https://twitter.com/lexi4prez/status/726602035936780289?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/lexi4prez/status/726603926221541376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The hash tag referenced the 2013 blockbuster film Frozen, calling on its writers to create an LGBTI-inclusive narrative for the film’s sequel.
The sentiment then spread across the social media platform, with many young queer women expressing the importance of including LGBTI characters in family films.
https://twitter.com/bivanessaives/status/726709428200820736
https://twitter.com/McDebnam/status/726719676076662784
#GiveElsaAGirlfriend so little kids will know that girls loving girls is normal even when their parents teach them otherwise.
— ✨ (@feminizza) May 1, 2016
In an interview with TV station NBC 12, Moncada highlighted the monotony in many Disney films.
“Frozen has made a huge impact on the LGBT community, as a lot of us see it as a metaphor for coming out and accepting who you are,” she said.
“The fact that Elsa hasn’t been cast a love interest yet leaves room for one.
“To see the same story over and over about a girl and her prince charming is repetitive, and it leaves so many people out and makes so many people feel alone… there is more than just one kind of person.”
FWIW, my daughter says Elsa's girlfriend should be Princess Leia. #GiveElsaAGirlfriend pic.twitter.com/qTNMmtZEKo
— Man vs. Pink (@ManVsPink) May 2, 2016
The GLAAD Studio Responsibility Index was recently released as well, which maps the quantity, quality, and diversity of LGBT people in films released by the seven major motion picture studios during 2015.
The report found that among the 126 releases analysed by GLAAD, only 22 included characters that identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender.
It also found that of the films that were inclusive, 77 per cent of them featured gay males.
According to IMDB the sequel to Frozen is currently in pre-production.
Sounds like a sterling idea. High time Disney stopped presenting merely boy-meets-girl love stories.
We live in an age where even kids know that boy-meets-girl ain’t necessarily the way it goes. They know (and are quite likely friends with) other kids who have two mums, or two dads. So why shouldn’t kid’s films demonstrate that?
If Disney doesn’t feel that they’re ready to do that with a lead character, then I’d say this: how about with a non-lead character? Because that’s got to be better than ignoring the fact that gay couples and families exist.