When Frozen came out in 2013, I did not understand the hype. I watched the movie and thoroughly enjoyed it, but I still did not understand why everyone was obsessed with it. Here we are, June 2021, and I rewatched the movie as an adult, and it is one of the best movies i have ever seen.

Frozen is heavily queer coded. Nothing is explicitly stated in the film, but the way Elsa talks about her experiences mirrors the experiences of many LGBTQ people. From a young age, she was taught that her powers were bad, and she needed to conceal and not feel and hide away from the world to protect others. She also lost a relationship with her sister because of this.

Fearless optimist Anna teams up with rugged mountain man Kristoff in a race to find Anna’s sister Elsa, whose icy powers have trapped the kingdom of Arendelle in eternal winter. – Summary from Disney+

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This is mirroring what many LGBTQ people go through. Some LGBTQ people have childhood memories of  being told that anything relating to homosexuality is bad and should not be discussed. Therefore they shut themselves off and did not feel those feelings. They concealed.

When the residents of Arendelle found out her secret, she ran. She is hiding because she is ashamed. This can be related to LGBTQ kids being kicked out of home or leaving home because they are different and no longer welcomed there and are considered monsters by their families. 

Prince Hans finds Elsa and immediately imprisons her because he sees her as a threat. This may be a stretch, but I can connect this to people sending their gay children away to be “fixed” at conversion therapy. Hans almost kills Elsa because she is different right before her sister Anna saves her. 

Interestingly, we all thought that the true love’s kiss would be from Hans, then Kristoff, but her true love was her sister. This was such a sweet twist to the movie. Not all true love is romantic; platonic love can be just as strong or even stronger than romantic love. 

Watch Frozen on Disney+