Title & abstract:
The Arctic Snow Queen: Elsa as a Decolonizing Ecofeminist in Frozen I and II
Disney’s Frozen I (2013) and Frozen II (2019) are loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen (1845). In this talk I will show how Andersen’s text exposes an interest in indigenous peoples, minorities and ecofeminism that would seemingly require a contemporary Disney adaptation to become truly manifest. I will trace how the plot relates to Norwegian-Sapmi history and I will discuss Elsa as a figure of ecofeminist decolonialization based partly on Andersen’s tale and partly on a contemporary interest in ecology, indigenous peoples, and feminism. Using the term ecofeminism, I draw on the philosophy that feminism and ecocriticism are interconnected as both women’s oppression and ecological catastrophes are caused by patriarchal power and values. Finally, I will consider Elsa in terms of what Greta Gaard calls “EcoMasculinities”, “EcoGenders”, and “EcoSexualities”.
Contact:
Melanie Duckworth (melanie.duckworth@hiof.no) & Natalia Igl (natalia.igl@hiof.no)