Tasha

my brain to this day:

With Frozen 2 we got a villain unlike anything we‘ve seen in the past 25 years, and only once before in the history of Disney animation: a direct blood-relative of the main character.

From 1994 to 2019, the Lion King’s Scar was the first and only time a villain’s role was filled by a family member, because Hamlet. Unlike the Lion King, however, Frozen 2 was the sequel to a movie that spent 109 minutes showcasing the importance of family ties to its audience.

We came close with Tangled, as Gothel represented herself as Rapunzel’s mother, but Frozen 2 took Frozen’s point of the importance of family, and then asked “But what if?”

Personally, I find this excellent.

Aside from bringing some balance to fairy tales as a whole (that have always been more willing to vilify female family members), the movie acknowledges that every family has skeletons in the closet: a racist aunt, a sexist cousin, a violent father. We have all heard, repeatedly, that blood is thicker than water. But being related to someone does not make them a good person, and it does not mean you have to condone their actions, no matter how awful.

As an indigenous woman I need to talk about Frozen 2.

Elsa has been an extremely important character for me since I saw the concept art for frozen 1, months before its release when I was 14 years old. I’ve had the pleasure of working as Elsa since I was 15 years old.

I’m a white-coded indigneous woman. I was born looking exactly like how young Elsa was depicted. Pale skin, icy blonde hair (my natural colour has since darkened), and light blue eyes. Before I go further, I’m not Sàmi, I’m Anishinaabekwe and indigneous to Turtle Island. At the time of Frozens initial release I was struggling a lot with my indigenous identity. I was rejecting it greatly and a symptom was bleaching my hair as light as I could get it. And so when I saw Elsa I immediately saw a physical resemblance. And then discovered she was isolated, lonely, afraid of herself. And as a 15 year old struggling with her identity and depression I resonated. And my lifelong best friend who is a year younger than me and who I’ve always referred to as my little sister looked and behaved exactly like Anna. We dressed as them. Eventually began working as them. When I finally went back to my natural hair colour I would always make the joke that I looked more like Elsa’s mother than I did Elsa due to the dark hair and light eyes.

This year has been a huge deal for me in reclaiming my indigneous identity, and will undoubtedly go down as one of the most important years of my life due to this. When I dusted off my crown and brushed out my icy blonde wig to do a meet and greet as Queen Elsa before watching Frozen 2 boy did I not expect what I saw.

When it was confirmed that Iduna and Elsa, were indigneous I sobbed in my chair. Dresssed in my full Elsa costume I was sobbing in that dark theatre chair. I felt seen. The destruction of the colonial structure. Elsa claiming her identity. When Elsa made the decision to stay in the forest and learn the ways of the Northuldra people my best friend (who plays Anna) leaned over and whispered to me “just like you” because of the work I’ve been doing within my own indigneous community especially as a Land Defender. And especially since a lot of my struggle with my indigneous identity is due to the death of my indigneous father.

I’ve seen a lot of non-indigneous people critiqueing Frozen 2, specifically Iduna for not “looking native”. But these are probably the same people who would dismiss me as an indigneous woman for not “looking native” when their only reference is “Pocahontas”. That being said there is room for critique. I felt seen sure. And it is important to acknowledge that indigneous people come in many shades. But I’ve been physically represented my entire life. I want my brown cousins to feel seen. I want black-passing natives to feel seen. I don’t want my story to seem as if I’m saying there isn’t an issue with the fact that the three main characters of frozen are indigneous and yet white-coded. And that the darker toned characters are supporting roles because thats a story that’s been told far too many times. I’m also not saying there’s not a lot of other issues that may need to be discussed in regards to the film and it’s indigneous representation. But I wanted to share my personal emotional experience.