Last week I saw Disney's Frozen. My initial reaction: it could have been worse. As a Sociologist that studies gender, particularly gender representation in media ( even more specifically in film and TV). I have had a problem with Disney's "girl" problem. Consistently, Disney's representation of women (especially during their "Renaissance" in the late 1980's early 1990's) and the gendered messages they present to little girls have reinforced gender stereotypes and promoted dangerous relationship behavior; whether that be the promotion of body modification (i.e. plastic surgery), encouraging girls to stay with emotionally abusive kidnappers (because they'll be able to change them), being sexually passive, having no sexual agency, elitism, sexualization (the exotic stereotype), Masculinization (reinforcement of the binary) and superficiality. Disney has been the source of gender stereotypes and maintenance of polarizing gendered expectations for over half a century. Every so often, they (Disney) would subtly and artfully repackaging these messages to fit the current target of potential consumers. Recently however, with films like Brave, Wreck-It-Ralph, and Frozen it seems Disney is attempting to present girls ( and girl's stories) with the depth and complexity that they deserve. While this is a step in the right direction (Brave and Frozen being the most divergent from the "classic" Disney model), Frozen still falls into a few of the old traps and also creates new ones that set a dangerous precedent moving forward.
SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!
Trying to Right the Ship.
The central relationship in Frozen is between two sisters. As with the mother/daughter relationship in Brave, this film eliminates the necessity to have a love interest (that is always male) which usually culminates into the tired princess trope of "damsel in distress". While there is a potential romantic partner for one of the sisters in Frozen, that is not the main focus of the film. In fact,throughout the film, Disney seems to be poking fun at itself as it challenges the" love at first sight" trope meanwhile, cashing in on the audiences expectation that "true love" comes only in the form of romantic heterosexual monogamy.The "true love" in Frozen is platonic sisterly love; a welcomed change of pace for Disney.
With Frozen, Brave (and to a lesser extent Wreck-it Ralph) we are finally getting a handful of Disney female protagonists that do not have to be in a relationship or be married in order to be considered complete or live "happily ever after". These changes are necessary in order to display the female characters (in Disney films) as far more three dimensional than its predecessors as well as represent the cultural shift that gives and maintains female social agency. While it is important to encourage Disney to maintain this current trajectory, it is important to understand context. Female autonomy and agency in Disney animated films is in its infancy (beginning only in 2012) while award-winning animation directors like Hayao Miyazaki have pioneered and championed such ideals since 1974. I don't think Disney should be praised for being late to the party (nearly 40 years late). Quite the contrary, their prolonged reluctance to embrace egalitarian ideals should change the outlook on the aforementioned films as outliers, exceptions, rather than the new rule.
New (old) Traps
As structurally progressive as Frozen's story might seem, it still falls into a few old gender traps. The main gender trap that Frozen falls into is female representation; both in the way that female character's are drawn and how they are portrayed. Firstly, the women in Frozen are drawn out of proportion. The eyes of the characters are bigger than their wrist. Drawing female characters with big eyes has been used in other types of animation (typically anime) to represent youth and innocence that borders on child-like ignorance. In fact, if you look at the newer films like Brave, Frozen and Wreck-It Ralph the majority of female characters have larger eyes than their male counterparts, repackaging the idea that women are more innocent and childlike.
Secondly, the character of the Ice Queen and her powers is an allegory to how women are treated and controlled in our culture. As a child, she is portrayed as being out of control (with her powers) a label that is often applied to women in our culture who are different or speak out or speak up. She is then locked away from the outside world, seen as a danger to herself and to others. Women constantly get this message that the world outside is a scary place and they need to be protected from it (usually by men) or protect themselves through isolation (not going to bars and club, changing their behaviors) because, if not, they are often blamed for their own victimization.
Finally, once the Ice Queen in Frozen is starting to control her powers and gain confidence in her self and her abilities she is almost immediately given a new (more sexy) dress and is drawn moving in a more sensual manner with long strides and swaying hips. While this could be an analogy to the direct and positive correlation between sexual agency and confidence, it comes off as an unnecessary sexualization, that now a woman has power, she must be objectified. This is a common tactic by the media, controlling women's bodies and controlling women through their bodies.
About half way though my viewing of the film I tested the films "progressiveness" by gender swapping the roles. I asked myself, if the sisters were two brothers, would they be treated the same? The answer...NO. If the Ice Queen was a boy, he would have been trained to hone is powers and his skills (most likely through the typical "hero's journey) and in the end he would have redeemed himself in the eyes of his people by defeating a snow wizard or beast etc). However, not only does this film fall into some old gender traps, it also adds to a growing problem in gender representation that can have disastrous consequences.
A Dangerous Precedent
Frozen, along with Brave are a part of a growing subtle form of sexism that is going undetected by both the casual observer and the scholar.
"Have it all" Sexism is a term that refers to a new type of sexist female representation in the media that requires female characters that are shown to have careers (with varying degrees of power), agency and autonomy or who are being portrayed as physically strong, and strong willed, must also identify (or in some cases learn to identify) with traditional female gender norms and scripts. The message is that it is OK for girls to have agency and social power in our society as long as they don't forget that they also have to be wives and mothers (i.e. sex objects and reproductive vessels.) This maintains the value of women to be in their body, and their representation as full and complete human beings is a distant second. One of the best examples of this is in Brave where Marida is allowed to be a warrior as long as she is also a lady. This "noble lady" motif is also used in Frozen. Being a lady, is usually translated in these films as maintaining cis (traditional, binary specific) gender norms. Therefore, you see Marida in Brave and the sisters in Frozen doing a lot of action and adventuring while still wearing a dress, heels and make-up...emphasizing that even though they may be engaging in typically masculine activities, they haven't lost their femininity. We see this with Superheros all of the time: from Catwoman's heels in The Dark Knight Rises to Katniss Everdeen's Wedding dress in Catching Fire. "Have it all" sexism makes sure that we don't forget that "strong women" are also "ladies". This creates a frustrating double bind for women that is paralleled in what Arline Hochschild calls "the second shift": the idea that while women can have careers, they are still primarily responsible for all child care and domestic work...Thus women can be complex and diverse as long as they maintain societal cultural stereotypes.
We are starting to see more and more evidence of "have it all" sexism and its effects. From a manufactured crisis of women losing domestic skills, to more professional women feeling the desire to maintain domestic activities (cooking baking and sewing) to cope with the stress of their careers; the validation of women is still only through one particular lens...their value to others rather than the value to themselves.
A much more scary outcome of this "have it all" Sexism is how it relates to sexual violence. Because women are gaining more power and agency it is being framed in our culture as taking that power away from boys and men. The most mild response to this ( female agency) is a manufactured boy crisis where boys and men become the only demographic that matters. This is perfectly illustrated by the titles of films like Tangled (the story of Rapunzel) and Frozen ( the story of the Ice Queen). The titles of the films were changed from the source material because Disney didn't want to alienate their "boy market" with a story that was so blatantly about girls. The most extreme response to this (female agency) is the use of sexual violence and humiliation (revenge porn, street harassment, rape etc.) as a way for boys to "take back the power" from these women who have emasculated them. Thus, in this context, rape and sexual violence is rationalized and justified as a pathway to regaining masculinity.
More needs to be written about "have-it all" sexism and we need to be more vigilant in identifying the examples and the sources of this growing problem.
