Frozen 2 – Feminism and Religion

From the Archives: Frozen 2: Can the Christian Church Hear its Gospel Song? by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir

This was originally posted on March 5, 2020

The first time I saw Frozen 2, I was impressed by the ecofeminism and the efforts to respect the Sami culture. The second time, I thoroughly enjoyed the superb music and the character development. The third time… was a religious experience.

Other contrubutors have written wonderful reviews of Frozen 2, and I agree wholeheartedly that its animation reinforces the sexist idea that females should be tiny compared to males, except for our eyes, which should be larger than our wrists. These disempowering representations saturate today’s media, and I regularly spend a whole lot of time deconstructing them with my daughters.

However, there is a lot to love about Frozen 2, and as a Christian, I found myself resonating with several of the symbolic truths the film offers. I spent some time looking into the Sami religion, to see how much of it was incorporated into portrayals of the Northumbra. I knew that Disney had consulted with Sami representatives to portray their culture with respectful accuracy. The Sami history is an all too familiar tale of violent imperial conquest allied with Fundamentalist Christian Dominionism. The wounds of Sami history certainly give me terrible grief as a white American and a Christian, and I hope that the anti-colonialist messages of the film spread awareness of such violence in my country.

This “Columbus Day,” Watch Frozen 2 (Or Watch It Again!) by Tallessyn Zawn Grenfell-Lee

(Yes, this post contains some SPOILERS. It might make you love the movie more, though, which happened to me with this article about Mad Max: Fury Road.)

When I was in high school, in the early 90s, a Methodist pastor I love preached a sermon about Christopher Columbus. She was the first ecofeminist I’d ever known, and she spent her ministry helping to heal racism, sexism, and the Earth, including building lasting community with the indigenous people where we lived. Among other things, she would invite native leaders to come speak to our churches and help the congregation understand their continuing presence and cultures. And she was the first person I knew who recycled, used inclusive language – I’d never even heard of it – or who lamented the wastefulness of convenience.

Frozen 2: Can the Christian Church Hear its Gospel Song? by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir

Let’s Talk about Frozen 2 by Anjeanette LeBoeuf

Anjeanette While facetiming my brother, I heard my two-year-old niece shout at the top of her lungs that she was “Queen Elsa” and was coming to save me. I had started writing about the Frozen films, when Sara posted on them. So let us continue on this Frozen journey.