Susie O’Brien: A girlfriend for Frozen’s Elsa could help promote diversity
A PUSH to give Disney princess Elsa a girlfriend is gaining momentum, so is it time for Disney to have a gay lead character, asks Susie O’Brien.
Susie O'Brien
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A GAY Elsa? Why not?
Millions of kids across the globe have gay people in their lives: mums and dads, sisters and brothers, friends and acquaintances.
So it seems like a natural step to have a gay character as part of their favourite movie.
The issue has been a topic of heated discussion recently, after the director floated the idea in an interview.
The woman who voices Queen Elsa, Idina Menzel, said she’s excited about the possibility and co-director Jennifer Lee said the writing team was having “tons of conversations about it”.
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Although Lee said she will “see where we go” and was careful not to commit, many people have taken her comments as an encouraging sign.
Having a gay lead character, if written with sensitivity, would be a smart and gentle way to introduce gay relationships to young children.
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Although many children have gay people in their lives already, most do not. Making Elsa gay would destigmatise same sex relationships and send a strong message that gay relationships matter.
Disney has been slammed for being anti LGTBQ by GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Discrimination.
Although a few gay moments have been spotted in recent movies, such as Beauty and the Beast and Finding Dory, Disney’s gay characters have been few and far between. Its most recent snapshot of movie gay characters in 2015 showed it had no characters at all in any of its films.
It’s no wonder the #giveElsaagirlfriend movement is gaining traction.
Frozen’s main message of acceptance and hope is a perfect fit for a gay lead character.
Gay or straight, bi or trans, it ultimately won’t matter.
Disney will still make eleventy gillion dollars from a Frozen sequel.
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