Idina Menzel, the woman who gave voice to Queen Elsa in the blockbuster animated movie Frozen, stated that she supports a campaign to give her character a female love interest in the film's upcoming sequel.
In an article posted earlier this month on the Entertainment Weekly website, reporter Joey Nolfi asserted: “When it comes to the idea of Frozen's Elsa having a female love interest, some fans have not been able to 'let it go,'” a play on the wildly popular tune the character sang in Disney's billion-dollar blockbuster.
Following a Twitter hashtag campaign that went viral, the 44-year-old voice actress told Entertainment Tonight: “I think it's great. Disney's got to contend with that. I'll let them figure it out.”
The GiveElsaAGirlfirend social media campaign started in early May and intends to coax Disney into giving the character a same-sex partner in the upcoming Frozen 2.
Currently, a premiere date and details on the plot of the sequel have yet to emerge, but the film is already in production and set to be released before 2018.
A video discussing the subject noted that there's “still plenty of time for the folks behind Frozen to 'warm up' to the idea if they so choose.”
Menzel made her statement at the Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas “in response to a petition calling for the animated princess to have a girlfriend in future installments of the series,” Nolfi noted.
When asked if she’d support the decision if it were to happen, the voice actress responded: “No matter what” since the character “changed my life.”
Meanwhile, Kristen Bell, the actress who voiced Princess Anna in Frozen, recently commented regarding the sequel:
They’ve just written it, and they’re still doing tweaks, but I think we should be recording this month. The story is great, and they exude quality.
What I know about that whole team is that they wouldn’t just put something out to put it out. That’s why it took them so long to even announce that we were doing a second one.
While waiting for the film's big-budget sequel, fans will soon be able to literally immerse themselves in the world of the film, as a ride based on the original Frozen movie is set to open this summer inside EPCOT’s Norway pavilion at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida.
However, NewsBusters reported in early May that Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender lobbyists have seized on a report by GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) that gave Disney an “F” regarding the lack of LGBT characters in the company's movies.
According to an article on the USA Today website: Alexis Isabel, a 17-year-old “Feminist Culture” founder who launched the online petition to give Elsa a girlfriend, stated:
Growing up, I never saw a princess fall in love with another princess -- and neither have girls growing up right now.
The entertainment industry has given us girls who have fallen in love with beasts, ogres who fall for humans, and even grown women who love bees. But we’ve never been able to see the purity in a queer relationship.
Apparently, Isabel thinks fans of the movie -- including herself -- found Elsa’s internal struggles with her identity as sort of a metaphor for coming out … and by golly, what better representation than a lesbian princess finding her “queen” after learning to "let it go?"
"Giving young girls the chance to understand that a princess can love another princess the same way Cinderella loved her Prince Charming is vital to their development," Isabel wrote.
So far, Disney hasn’t commented on the campaign, but they might. After all, Sesame Street recently had to issue a statement in response to an online petition for having their famous furry Muppet roommates Bert and Ernie take part in holy matrimony.
Sadly, it appears that the climax of the movie, when “an act of true love” between sisters resolved the situation, just wasn't dramatic enough for LGBT viewers – even though that kind of plot twist is a rarity in recent Hollywood movies.
