1

ABSTRACT

This paper is entitled, ―GENDER STEREOTYPES AND

PERFORMATIVITY IN FROZEN MOVIE‖. The writer has deeply interest to do

this research based on what she has known regarding to gender issue, and/or

performativity by various theorists. This paper is made with the chronic curiosity

of implicit messages mentioned through children‘s all-time favorite Disney

movie, Frozen, which triggers some issues after its launch. According to the title

of this paper, the writer thinks the movie can be criticized using Performativity,

Judith Butler‘s theory and some other supportive theories, too like political

unconscious and destruction. This study uses qualitative method, while the writer

uses those theories mentioned earlier to support the analysis. Based on the data

that has been collected and connected to the theories above, the writer concludes

that there are some misconstrued performances in Frozen movie. The

misconstrued of performances from the two-main characters, Anna and Elsa right

at the beginning of the movie until the very end of it, the queerness that the writer

has found in the movie, misconstrue the Let It Go song as the soundtrack of this

movie, and so on. The data found in the movie then can explain the danger this

movie may bring to the children. Wrapping it in a cute, colorful animation, this

movie is contained with implicit message that may be deconstructing children‘s

mind about Disney movies.

Keywords: Performativity, Queerness, Gender Stereotypes

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Assalamualaikum Wr. Wb.

First of all, all praised and gratitude belongs to Allah SWT, the almighty

and merciful of the world. Thanks for all of the grace to myself, for the chance to

have a breath in every second and also for giving me great affection and guidance

in finishing this paper entitled “Gender Stereotypes and Performativity In Frozen

Movie”.

First of all, my sincere gratitude extends to:

1. Mrs. Ruiz Sukarno, SS, M.I.Kom, as the lecturer of Children Literature‘s

class who has motivated the writer whenever she needs.

2. My parents, especially my mother for letting me stay in front of PC all the

time and also for supporting me when I feel there is a thick wall in front of

me, forbidding me to come through to it.

3. All the classmates and special thanks goes to Tutik, Amir, Susan, and Lita

for supporting me to do what I always do without being distracted to

unworthy kind of business.

Furthermore, I realize that this paper still needs the constructive, critics

and suggestions from the readers in order to make it perfect. So, please bear the

minus.

Thursday, August 28, 2014

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

I. ABOUT FROZEN MOVIE

Frozen is one of Disney

movies which feature Princess in

it. Released in 2013, at

Thanksgiving celebration for that

record, this movie is worth

waiting for almost all of children

in the world. This American 3D

computer-animated musical

fantasy-comedy film produced by

Walt Disney Animation Studios

and released by Walt Disney

Pictures, of course. Frozen movie

which features the hero from

female side, which is also

surprising is the 53rd animated

feature in the Walt Disney

Animated Classics series. This

movie is inspired by Hans

Christian Andersen's fairy tale

The Snow Queen, though the one

who is saved here has been

switched. Generally, this movie tells the story of a fearless princess who sets off

on an epic journey alongside a rugged iceman, his loyal pet reindeer, and a

hapless snowman to find her estranged sister, whose icy powers have

inadvertently trapped the kingdom in eternal winter. For some people out there,

this movie is full of queerness and misconstrued performances, the same reason

why the writer analyzed deeply through this paper.

This movie shares a new perspective, yet surprising theme of a Disney

movie. It doesn‘t merely talk about the Prince kissing the Princess like other

classic animated movies in Disney. Rather than telling about sisterhood

relationship. It can also be analyzed as deconstruction of common plot from most

of Disney movies. Basically, it tells about two princesses: Anna (voiced by

Kristen Bell) and her older sister Elsa (Idina Menzel). Elsa has a curse (not very

4

well explained) that lets her manipulate snow and ice, but she isn‘t good at

controlling it. The conflict begins on the night of Elsa‘s coronation. Elsa has

struggled during the coronation as she relies on her gloves in order to not freeze

everything out (the coronation needs her to take off her gloves). When the

coronation went successfully, in the other hand, Anna, meets the charming prince

Hans (Santino Fontana). She believes that is true love and they come asking

Elsa‘s bless to get engaged. It may be the first thing that would make people who

watch this movie share hatred to Anna as being so clumsy. She just met Hans, so,

how come? So, when Anna asks Elsa for her blessing, Elsa refuses and Anna

fights back, Elsa loses her control and accidentally freezes the land into eternal

winter. Elsa then runs away so that she doesn‘t hurt anyone else and Anna heads

out on a quest to find her. Along the way, she meets Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), an

ice seller who becomes another love interest for her. In her escape, Elsa doesn‘t

know that she also freezes the whole city of Arendelle.

Although Frozen is based on a Hans Christian Anderson fairytale where a

girl rescues her male friend, but the film writers changed the story to make main

character, Anna needs a man‘s help, Kristoff. It's also disappointing to see a story

that was originally about a deeply independent and brave young woman on a

rescue mission turned into a romance, as it inevitably will be. The writer thinks

that it is useless to add the short-romantic story in the end. People might not

notice that a romantic relationship between Anna and Kristoff will be part of the

movie. Though romantic love is central to almost every Disney princess's story—

and besides, why else add the character of Kristoff in the first place? The sudden

existence of Kristoff, who is actually the first protagonist character man after

Anna and Elsa appears right after Hans, who is the evil one is kind of surprising in

disappointing way. It is also kind of ruining the common plot Disney has used for

a long time (destructive). Even if Anna and Kristoff don't fall in love, and he

merely acts as Anna's guide, the fact that she needs one at all reproduces

stereotypes about female weakness and the need for a strong male helper that the

original narrative of "The Snow Queen" bucks. That is what feminist has

concerned towards this movie.

II. PLOT

The movie starts with some ice harvesters collecting ice out from a Frozen

lake in the cold regions of the Scandinavia (frozen Heart). There is an 8-year-old

boy among them, named Kristoff with his reindeer calf, Sven. He comes along

with the ice harvesters and gets a small size of cubed ice. They all depart to the

kingdom of Arendelle late at night after collecting enough ice.

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Figure 1. Some ice harvesters and a kiddo (little Kristoff) harvested the ice

Figure 2. The ice harvesters are ready to set off to Arendelle

At the same time in a grand castle, 5-year-old Princess Anna wakes her

elder 8-year-old sister Elsa to play. She is kind of forcing her sister until it was

suggested that they build a snowman, to which Elsa delightfully agrees. Then the

sisters head into the castle's throne room and create a winter field of snow using

Elsa's snow magic, enjoying their time with plenty of merriment. Elsa builds a

snowman, Olaf, and he likes warm hugs.

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Figure 3. The castle of Arendelle

They are so happy playing

with snow until Elsa, hits Anna

with her powers in an attempt to

save her little sister from falling,

the royal family journeys to the

legendary Valley of the Living

Rock to seek the help of trolls

who remove the magic from Anna

along with her memory of her

sister's magic ability.

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Elsa is then ostracized from everyone, including Anna, in order to protect

her from the world until she can learn to control her powers, leaving both sisters

distraught and lonely. Despite Anna's best attempts, she is unable to rouse Elsa

from her room. Their despair only escalates when their parents die years later,

after they go on a ship that capsizes when a storm erupts and their ship is

swallowed by a huge monstrous wave.

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Three years later, it is the day of Elsa's coronation ceremony. Dignitaries

from around the world are coming to visit, including the Duke of Weselton, who

wants to run Arendelle's profits dry. Nobody is more excited than Anna, as they

are finally opening the gates to the kingdom. She is happy to see other people, and

hopes for the possibility of meeting that special someone, but Elsa is still

concerned about trying to control her powers. As she strolls out onto the streets,

she bumps into a horse that happens to belong to the charming and handsome

Prince Hans of the Southern Isles. Though angered at first by the clumsiness of

the stranger, Anna is attracted by Hans's appearance and looks once she lays his

eyes on him. The coronation goes off without a hitch despite Elsa's fears of

exposing her powers, and she even makes time to connect with her sister at the

party.

Anna's interaction with her sister brings quite the delightful feeling to the

princess, flustered at first, as well as seeing Elsa so happy instead of serious and

preserved boosts Anna's confidence, prompting her to continue on with the

conversation. They're interrupted afterwards by their steward Kai introducing the

snide Duke of Weselton, who offers Elsa her first dance as queen. Elsa politely

declines the offer but instead playfully volunteers Anna, much to the Duke's

delight nonetheless, and the two head off into a comical dance scene. Elsa couldn't

hold back a chuckle in during which she sees Anna innocently flustered by the

Duke's over-the-top dancing skills. This causes Anna to feel just as whimsical

about the entire matter, for seeing Elsa in such a state hasn't been a sight for years.

Anna returns by Elsa's side afterwards, commenting on how well things have been

going through the day, and expresses her wishes to have things the way they were

that night all the time. Elsa's smile unfortunately fades away, and she reluctantly

denies Anna's wishes all at once despite failing to explain why so.

Anna and Hans then sneak off to spend the evening together, quickly

realizing the mutual attraction between them. The romantic dance eventually leads

to an entire date ("Love is an Open Door"), with the entire night of the young

couple being spent bonding. Hans, during their time together, learns of Anna's

longing of having someone special in her life, with her sister apparently

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developing a dislike of being around her by suddenly shutting Anna out one day

when they were kids. Hans openly relates to this, only furthering Anna's

connection with him. Hans then promises to never shut Anna out unlike Elsa,

much to the princess' absolute joy. By the end of their tour throughout the

kingdom, Hans proposes right on the spot to which Anna immediately accepts.

The two head back the ballroom, where Anna asks for Elsa's blessing on the

marriage. Elsa's baffled by the shocking news, but Anna and Hans couldn't appear

more excited going on to ramble about the wedding arrangements. Elsa ceases the

sudden rambling by denying the marriage, much to Anna's dismay. The queen

asks to speak to Anna alone in private, likely to finally confess her abilities and

why it's not wise to marry someone she just met without causing a scene that

would surely get her magical nature exposed, but the younger princess refuses any

private conversation, stating whatever Elsa has to say can be said to both her and

Hans. Elsa, becoming frustrated, outright forbids Anna of marrying a total

stranger, indirectly telling the princess she knows nothing about true love. This

causes Anna to his back, telling Elsa all she knows is how to shut people out.

Although Elsa is

visibly hurt by this,

she continues to

refuse with the

argument only

worsening when she

orders the guards to

end the party and

close the gates. Elsa

refuses to grant her

blessing on the

marriage, setting off

an argument between

the sisters and

culminating in Elsa's

abilities being

exposed to the party

guests.

Panicking, Elsa flees with Anna in hot pursuit. As she becomes more

stressed and panicked, the weather starts turning colder: snow begins to fall, and

Elsa races across the fjord, freezing it with each step but turning the whole body

of water into ice and trapping all the ships before spreading throughout the rest of

the kingdom. Having fail to retrieve her, Anna and Hans return to the castle

courtyard where the guests have gathered. The Duke of Weselton begins to panic

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as it eerily begins snowing, declaring

they must take action and put an end to

Elsa's curse. Anna, however, refuses

and volunteers to seek out Elsa herself

and make things right, feeling that it's

her fault for pushing her. With Hans

being left in charge of the kingdom,

Anna heads off on her horse to begin

her search for her sister. Elsa makes it

to the North Mountain where she

laments her failure at keeping the

powers contained but quickly becomes

more and more at ease and relaxed, free to use her powers as she pleases (singing

the song "Let It Go", creating a snowman (the same one she and Anna built when

they were young), an ice castle and ice dress).

While searching for Elsa, Anna loses her horse in the process. She travels

on foot until nightfall, where she finds herself at Wandering Oaken's Trading Post

and Sauna. She asks the shop owner Oaken for winter boots and dresses. She

makes small talk with him, and then meets Kristoff. Anna convinces Kristoff to

take her to the North Mountain, where the source of the winter is coming from.

Along the way, they get attacked by wolves on their journey, causing Kristoff to

lose his sled. As they continue on foot, they meet Olaf, the snowman Elsa created,

who seems to be alive. Olaf shares his dreams of experiencing summer ("In

Summer"), and agrees to lead them to Elsa's castle.

The gang makes it to Elsa's castle, where Anna and Elsa reunite. While

both are happy to see each other, Elsa still harbors fears of wounding Anna once

again. Despite Anna's promising to stand by her sister's side and help her, Elsa

only grows more agitated and nervous resulting in her magic flaring. This time, it

strikes Anna in the heart. Elsa, in desperation to get her sister to safety, creates a

giant snow creature (that Olaf calls "Marshmallow") to throw them out. As

revenge, Anna balls up a snowball and throws it at the giant beast. Though it left

literally no damage whatsoever, the lack of respect was enough to infuriate

Marshmallow and cause him to chase Anna, Kristoff and Olaf down the North

Mountain and most likely eliminate them.

Marshmallow manages to corner them at the edge of a cliff, though

Kristoff immediately begins digging a snow anchor by using a rope to safely

guide him-self and Anna down the mountain to safety. Marshmallow, however,

catches up to them, though Olaf tries to stop him. Marshmallow, annoyed, kicks

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Olaf over the cliff, and continues his chase for Anna and Kristoff. He pulls them

up to his face by the rope, and orders them once more to never return. Just after,

Anna grabs Kristoff's knife and cuts the rope. This sends the duo plummeting

down, though they survive. With his mission to drive them away complete,

Marshmallow returns to the ice palace. After they escaped the snow monster,

Kristoff notices that Anna's hair is turning white. He takes them to seek help, to

which he leads Anna (who is slowly freezing) to the trolls. A mix-up occurs, and

the trolls insist Anna and Kristoff to get married ("Fixer Upper"). Anna collapses

before the two can be awed by Gothi the Troll Priest, and Grand Pabbie appears.

According to him, only an act of true love can thaw a frozen heart or else Anna

will freeze solid. Kristoff races back to Arendelle to get Anna to Hans, believing

true love's kiss will save her.

Meanwhile, Hans, on a search for Anna after her horse returns to the

kingdom without her, and the guards find the ice castle. Shortly after they arrive,

Hans orders that no one is allowed to harm Elsa. While everyone agrees, the

Duke's thugs disagree, agreeing to follow the Duke's orders to kill her. The

moment they come close enough, Marshmallow reveals himself from the form of

snowy boulders in case more unwanted guests were to arrive, and jumps right into

battle. The soldiers immediately attack the beast with their arrows, infuriating

Marshmallow and causing his ultimate form to be unleashed. Marshmallow is able

to hold most of the guards off. Hans, however, proves to be a fierce warrior

himself, avoiding each of Marshmallow's attacks and eventually using his sword

to slice the snow monster's leg off and cause him to lose balance and begin

tumbling over to a large gorge. With Marshmallow wounded, Hans begins

heading inside Elsa's castle. Marshmallow, however, doesn't give up, giving one

last swing in attempt to drag Hans down with him. Marshmallow unfortunately

fails plummets down into the chasm below, apparently to his death. While Hans

battles Marshmallow, the Duke's men attack Elsa. She fights back, nearly killing

them both much to her own horror. Just as Elsa was about to murder the two,

Hans appears and stops her to say not to prove she's the monster they believe she

is. Elsa settles down a bit at Hans' words, realizing the demon she was becoming

and halts her magic. One of the soldiers, however, aims his arrow at Elsa, still

following the Duke's orders. Hans intervenes just as the soldier is about to shoot

her, causing the arrow to cut through Elsa's chandelier which then plummets

towards the ground. Elsa tries to escape the collision, but is knocked out in the

process. Hans and the soldiers then capture her and head back to the kingdom. She

wakes up shackled in a cell back in Arendelle Castle. Hans pleads with her to

undo the winter, but Elsa replies that she can't due to the fact that she is unable to

control her powers.

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Anna is returned to Hans, freezing and growing colder by the second. She

tells Hans everything that has happened and hopes he will kiss her and break the

curse. But he instead cruelly reveals that he had been pretending to love her the

whole time, as part of a fiendish plan to seize control of Arendelle's throne,

because he is the youngest of thirteen brothers and will never reach the throne in

his own kingdom. Anna tries to stop him, but she is far too weak. He puts the fire

out to prevent Anna from getting any heat and warmth, and leaves Anna to freeze

to death. Then he tells the Duke and the kingdom's officials what Anna told him,

in addition of lying that he was too late to save her. He also pretends to grieve for

her, and sentences Elsa to death as part of his plan.

Elsa escapes from prison just as the guards were about come in, and heads

out into the blizzard on the fjord. Meanwhile, Anna's curse becomes stronger with

her death process nearly complete. When Olaf arrives, he finds Anna in the library

on the ground and quickly dying. Olaf comes to Anna's rescue, and starts a fire to

keep the princess warm. Olaf then asks what happened with the true love's kiss

from Hans, to which Anna reveals his treachery and Hans never loved her.

Fearing he'll melt, Anna tells Olaf to leave. Not wanting to abandon his friend, the

snowman stays by her side and nearly melts during this time. Anna

brokenheartedly tells Olaf that she doesn't even know what love is anymore. Olaf

replies by telling Anna that love is putting someone else before yourself, using

Kristoff as an example. This reveals Kristoff's true feelings to Anna, much to the

princess's surprise. Suddenly, the library's window bursts open due to the strong

winter winds. Olaf rushes to close it, but he then notices Kristoff and Sven rushing

back to the castle. Knowing Kristoff is truly the one that loves Anna, the two try

to head out to meet him. Olaf then aids the dying princess out of the castle and

into the fjords. The two then travel together out on the fjord to find him, where he

is racing back to the kingdom. With a sword at hand, Hans is prepared to slay the

queen. Hans eventually stumbles upon her, telling her that she can't escape all the

horrible things she's already done. Elsa pleads for mercy, still believing Hans to

be a benevolent prince, and asks him to take care of her sister for her. Hans cuts

Elsa off, and tells her that Anna is dead because of her. Devastated by the horrific

news, Elsa breaks down in tears.

In Elsa's despair, the storm immediately stops. This then gives Kristoff and

Anna the chance to reach each other. But at that moment, Anna hears a sword

being drawn a short distance away. In horror, Anna sees that Hans is about to kill

her sister. Anna must choose to save herself or her sister, which is only seconds

away. After one last look at Kristoff, she makes her decision to save Elsa and

throw herself between Elsa and Hans; she freezes solid just as Hans' sword hits

her instead of Elsa, causing the sword to shatter and also causing Hans to be

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brutally knocked out unconscious in the process. Elsa, after a few moments of

despair, sees that her sister has thawed and come back to life because she

sacrificed herself to save her sister, constituting an act of true love which Olaf

first realizes.

Elsa realizes that love is the key to controlling her powers, and thaws the

kingdom. Olaf, overjoyed, smiles with glee, but quickly melts due to the summer

heat. Elsa restores him and gives him a small flurry cloud to hover over his body

and keep him completely cool, finally allowing the snowman to live his dream of

experiencing summer and all its wonders. When Hans awakens several moments

later, he finds Arendelle thawed and peace restored. When Kristoff attempted to

confront Hans for trying to kill the two sisters, Elsa seems touched by Kristoff's

protectiveness over her and Anna. Anna, however, decides to confront him

instead. Anna then approaches the manipulative prince, which the sight of Anna

alive and well confuses Hans and prompts him to ask how she'd survive the frozen

heart curse as her heart was frozen. Eventually, Anna berates Hans by telling him

he's the only one around here with the frozen heart and turns her back at him

much to Hans's disbelief. Out of fury, the princess turns around and punches him

in the face off the ship they were aboard and into the water a few seconds later.

Anna and Elsa then hug, with their friendship restored stronger than ever. As the

sisters hug, Anna looks lovingly towards Kristoff, showing that she reciprocated

his love. Once again, Arendelle is restored to peace. Elsa is once again accepted

as queen, with everyone finally understanding that she is no monster, but a creator

of beautiful magic. Exposed as the manipulating liar he is, Hans is then arrested

and deported back to his own kingdom to face punishment from his twelve older

brothers for his deeds. Elsa additionally cuts off all trade with Weselton. The

Duke tries to claim that he was innocent and a victim of fear. But to no avail, he

and his thugs are sent back to Weselton.

He is then heard insisting that the town is not named "Weasel Town" after

being mispronounced once again, though purposely by Kai to annoy him.

Sometime later, Anna leads a blindfolded Kristoff to the docks, though briefly

leads him to a pole. She removes the blindfold, and gives Kristoff a new sled and

reveals that Elsa has named him the Official Ice Master for the kingdom and so he

can be with Anna. He attempts to decline both the sled and the title, too modest to

accept, but Anna points out that this is a direct order from the queen. When she

asks what his thoughts on the sled are, Kristoff picks up Anna and twirls her

around in his arms, exclaiming he loves it, and that he could kiss her. Realizing

what he said, Kristoff immediately puts her down, and stammers awkwardly that

he'd like to, among several sentences of nonsense, leaving him embarrassingly

flustered before Anna kisses his cheek, saying to Kristoff, "We may," and the two

14

share a kiss. Elsa creates an ice rink in one of the castle courtyards and promises

to never shut the castle gates again, while gifting Anna with a pair of ice skates

(made out of ice).

Anna is delighted, but tells Elsa that she can't skate. Elsa helps her, and

she is later joined by Olaf. The movie ends with everyone in the village skating,

making the most of Elsa's ice rink. It is revealed after the credits that

Marshmallow had survived and (to some degree) attached his leg. He is seen

limping back into the castle, where all he finds is Elsa's old crown. The monster

looks around for a moment, and smiles. Then, pleasing his inner princess,

Marshmallow happily crowns himself ruler of the castle while going back to his

neutral and peaceful form smiling and letting out a happy sigh, happily continuing

his life in the North Mountain.

III. PERFORMATIVITY THEORY BY JUDITH BUTLER

Judith Butler was born on February

24, 1956. She is an American continental

philosopher and gender theorist. Some of

her works have influenced political

philosophy, ethics and the fields of

feminist, queer and literary theory as well.

Her books, Gender Trouble: Feminism and

the Subversion of Identity and Bodies That

Matter: On the Discursive Limits of "Sex"

challenges notions of gender and develops her theory of gender performativity.

So, what‘s the big screaming deal actually? It is

Performativity. She argues that there is no ―prior truth.‖

She thinks prior truth is only the repeated performance of

gender which actually constructs the physical condition

of sex while simultaneously hiding that construction.

Butler also thinks gender and sex is not equal, that both

of them shouldn‘t be positioned on the same level. Rather

than she thinks, between gender and sex are binary

opposite just like pretty versus ugly, bad versus nice, and

so on. But to start, the writer has provided the basics by

extending the definitions of both brand new binary

opposite invented by Butler, as follows;

SEX: it is actually the reproductive, chromosomal and hormonal organs and

processes that place a body in the categories of male, female or intersex.

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GENDER: it is actually the set of processes

and practices that shape our understanding

of sexed bodies; this is the way a sexed

body becomes socially comprehensible, that

is, a ―man‖ or a ―woman,‖ ―masculine‖ or

―feminine.‖ Gender is something that is

worth-fighting during its acceptance in

society.

Butler also argues that gender structures and creates the notion of

biological sex, but how does it do this, exactly? Gender only creates the notion of

biological sex through ‗a

process‘ that Butler calls

―performativity―. It is a repeated

series of acts, words, and

discourses that create and define

the notions of masculinity and

femininity. For example, if

people walk like a lady since

they were a kid or even toddler,

when they grow up, they will be

women. Butler said that; gender is not something you are, it is something you do.

The way people do something repeatedly defines the gender of their sex. This

repetition that actually constructs the idea that gender is something you are: I am a

woman; therefore I walk a

certain way. So Butler wants

you to turn that on its head: I

walk a certain way, therefore I

am a woman.

Gender is the way sex

gains social meaning – the

behaviors and processes that define someone as a man or a woman or somewhere

in between. Butler‘s work clearly has significant implications for children‘s

literature, which can be seen as part of the cultural ―regulatory frame‖ that

determines what sorts of gendered beings appear to be natural.

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CHAPTER II

ANALYSIS

The writer analyzes Frozen movie by focusing only one theory;

performativity from Judith Butler. In order to not broaden it into some theories

that may be found in the plot, the writer thinks the misconstrued-performances of

the main characters, Anna and Elsa are easily seen and become vast majority start

from the beginning until the very end of the movie. But it doesn‘t mean other

theories are forgotten. Something that the writer immediately thought about when

finishing the movie was that Frozen is perhaps the queerest animated film ever

produced by Disney–queer as being a theoretical practice centered on the

deconstruction of binaristic thinking (i.e. visualizing gray areas in between the

black and the white), a rethinking of what constitutes and upholds performativity

(especially in terms of identity), and even more so, and the disruption of

unnecessary regulations that prevent people from achieving a livable life. The

writer is not the only one who approaches this film as queer. There are a lot of

discussions which deeply discuss this interpretation actually.

The exploration used by the writer;

Visit a library or watch a movie and browse through the collection of

picture books intended for very young children. Can you evidence of a repeated

interest in the “stylization of the body” in this books/movie?

1. GENDER STEREOTYPES

It is believed that once children know a story very well, they can stop

reading just for plot and start doing some deeper thinking work. It goes exactly

the same as the writer who thinks the same thing can be true of films too. Children

can start going beyond their first impressions once they have seen a film once or

10 times, since kids like repetition. As for this movie, it is actually the first Disney

animated feature directed by a woman — Jennifer Lee. Perhaps some of people

were a little nervous about seeing this movie as there are some speculative articles

which weren‘t encouraging. Some people on internet even utter some

disappointment in seeing a giant cardboard Snowman in a grass skirt playing a

ukulele. As it can be seen from the trailer too, it features a goofy guy and his

goofy moose. Some people, including the writer feel nothing about the marketing

appealed to them, at all.

But the movie is exciting, adventurous, and nearly flawlessly feminist.

Disney was no longer frozen in antiquated gender stereotypes (anti-feminist, e.g.

Aurora). Ultimately, it is the feminist fairy-tale some people have been waiting

17

for. It centralizes around sisterly love and not idolatry infatuation with a man, like

its predecessors. Elsa also learns to trust in her own gifts and is brave enough to

let them define her, even though they do not conform to the docile and meek

perception of women held by the realm. The characters also mock the ―Romeo

and Juliet‖ perception of love at first sight, when Anna becomes engaged mere

hours after meeting a suitor. Furthermore, there was no Prince Charming in sight!

In his stead, was an unwashed manual-laborer with a reindeer as a perpetual

buddy? Though the most fundamental feminist moment is when Anna delivers a

fine right-swing punch to knock out the villain (Hans)! From start to finish, this

movie broke Disney gender preconceptions. Yet the time-old ―true love‖ is not

missed, as the movie still smashed box office records. Frozen is definitely a win

for the feminists.

Much has been made from the role of the two main characters, Princess

Elsa and Princess Anna. Some praise Disney for finally breaking out of the

traditional helpless-princess-waiting-for-her-prince stereotype, whereas others

blast the film for teaching children (girls in particular) that heroines are always

beautiful, helpless without a man, and mostly just out to find their prince. But it

doesn‘t happen to Anna! There are some mistakenly-taken Performativity. As for

the Elsa, it has been said her gender is ambiguous. And yes, it is seen clearly

enough in the movie. She is the only Princess without a Prince. While the love

triangle between Hans, Anna and Kristoff, Elsa looks so cool that she doesn‘t

think about mingling with some guys. Some people might also notice the coolness

she brought and the sparkle eyes of admiring towards Elsa from Anna when they

reunited in the ball after Elsa‘s coronation. The controversy makes this a great

film to both look at how women are stereotyped (or not) and for children to form

and defend their own opinions based on evidence. To get clearer understanding,

here is the story with a clear gender disparity--say, Cinderella. Cinderella suggests

some pretty crazy ideas about women, such as:

- women's role is domestic--cleaning, cooking, caring for the house

- the goal of a woman is to marry well (a prince if you can!)

- it takes an enchanted dress to catch said prince

- ugly on the outside = ugly on the inside (stepsisters and stepmother) and

vice versa

Cinderella is about as anti-feminist a fairy tale as you can get. Then we look at

a film that is one of the most feminist of the cartoons Disney has made—Mulan

and later on followed by Merida from Brave. Here we have a heroine who:

- fights a war in disguise to save her father

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- saves the hero, and leads the fight to take back the palace and save the

emperor

- rejects the traditional role of subservient daughter whose main goal is to

make a match

- Merida refuses Queen‘s order, which is her mother, to get married young

- Merida rides a horse, climbs the waterfall, befriends with arrows and is

good at archery.

- Merida defends her beliefs to be an independent woman who thinks she is

not ready yet to have kids and get busy at kitchen

After using these three tales as models, let‘s take a look at Frozen. There are

some clips from the film and can be discussed whether these clips promoted

gender stereotypes or subverted them.

Clips that promote stereotypes could be:

- Where Elsa sings "Let it Go and changes from a buttoned up, repressed

princess to a sexy siren. Seriously--why does "letting go" involved

sashaying hips, whipping free your long blond hair, and a slit up to the

thigh on a sexy sparkling dress?

19

- Anna and Hans‘ meeting and first song about true love. Sure, this is

ultimately sort of a parody on Disney princess and love at first sight, but it

doesn't negate the fact that one of Anna's main goals in life is to meet a

man and get married. In these clips, Hans get mingled with Anna out of

blue, all of sudden. Who would have thought that unconsciously Hans had

hidden mission towards Anna. In the end he betrays and Anna becomes

the puppet he used to get the throne of Arendelle. Anna shows the

stereotype of a teenage girl, who is innocent and all she thinks is always

about finding ―the one‖.

Clips that might support the idea that Frozen is a feminist film:

- when Anna goes in

search of her sister

alone, leaving the male

(Hans) to watch the

castle

-

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- When Anna chooses to save her sister rather than run to her man (Kristoff)

ultimately saving herself.

- Elsa saves Anna with true love's kiss-the love of a sister, not a man, being

the important distinction.

It can be seen the elements that run through the whole movie--how this is a film

where the two main characters are both female (pro-feminist) and how those

female characters are both drawn in exaggerated proportions, where their eyes are

bigger than their wrists and the fact that they're tiny compared to the men (pro-

stereotype.) The important idea isn't whether or not Frozen is actually a feminist

21

movie or promoting stereotypes, it's the idea that children can be noticing how the

sexes are portrayed in films and then forming (and defending) their opinion.

II. PERFORMATIVITY EVIDENCES

Here are the evidences related to Performativity found in Frozen movie;

Anna

1. Anna is found running wildly,

jumping here and there, and is

quirky, playful, and a little bit

awkward, in the most

charming way. This is not, at

any point, a story about a frail

girl being saved by a noble

man. Her attitudes and

manners break traditional,

antiquated female and princess

gender role of Disney movies,

after Merida. She also has no

fear, which necessarily

possessed by men. She is

okay by jumping into a cliff,

even jumps right before the

male character (Kristoff).

2. Anna is found being so

aggressive when asking for

Elsa‘s blessing. It is one of the

examples of feminist, but it

sure gives a new perceptive

about gender role of females.

3. Anna is found cutting the rope

when there is Kristoff at there.

That is something that should

be done by the man.

4. Anna has guts to go to the

snowy mountain to search of

Elsa and instead, leaves the

castle on the hand of male

(Hans). She is being so

responsible and the male

22

character seems don‘t care about Anna‘s safety. A snowy mountain, man,

please act like one. Isn‘t she afraid of wolves?

5. Anna is found buying stuff for Kristoff; rope, a sled, carrots and tools.

Men buy women stuff (in reality).

6. Anna is found as double standard as she isn‘t as reserved as people expect

her to be. She really shows some masculinity through the way she thinks,

her body language, and so on. It triggers misogyny towards her because of

her clumsy, smartass-like-but-actually-don‘t, reckless, careless, unlike

other Princesses who are loveable and innocent. It is kind of destructive

too, from the common plot used in other classic Disney movies like Snow

White and Aurora.

7. Anna acts like a prince who needs to save his Princess (Elsa). She is

bravely facing the sword swung by Hans in order to save Elsa.

8. Anna knows how to deal with wolves when she and Kristoff encountered

some wolves during their sled-trip. She hits one of wolves with a bundle of

fire. She also knows how to deal with rope (throwing the axe tied with

rope to save Kristoff). It is so weird recalling to how she has been shut all

the time.

Elsa

1. Elsa has the unexplained-power in

the movie and seems loving it. It

can be seen from the beginning of

the story. She eagerly wakes up

when Anna mentioned about

23

building a snowman so that she can use her power. It can be seen as

hegemony perspective too, as she is controlled by the power.

2. Elsa has ambiguous sexuality. She seems don‘t have any interest towards

men. This thing questions about the gender of Elsa.

3. Queen Elsa is approached by some viewers as a queer or gay character, not

only because she doesn‘t engage in a romantic relationship in the film, but

also because she is forced by her parents to suppress and hide the powers

that she is born with. Although the movie implies that her parents

desperately try to conceal Elsa‘s powers because of the danger that they

impose to herself and to others, this does not justify the degree to which

they prevent Elsa from having any human contact whatsoever.

Furthermore, the fact that Elsa‘s parents view suppression and isolation as

solutions further emphasizes notions of the infamous queer closet–rather

than assisting Elsa in learning how to hone her powers, they teach her how

to “conceal, not feel.” The writer thinks it‘s also worthy to point out that

Elsa‘s treatment is also creepily reminiscent of practices that take place

during the process of gay conversion therapy, in which subjects are

conditioned through meditative and repetitive processes to suppress certain

urges and desires that occur naturally.

4. After Elsa‘s parents die, Elsa is expected to take over the crown. Although

she tries to conceal her powers during her coronation ceremony–Anna‘s

provocation leads her to create ice in front of all the guests at the

ceremony, inadvertently leading her to ―come out‖ in front of the entire

kingdom.

5. Elsa‘s so-called failure to suppress her powers may have been a catalyst

for many negative events; however, this failure influences her to escape

the confines of the castle to let her non-normative identity thrive. Some

argue that breaking away from family and forgetting family lineage

becomes a way of starting fresh even though it entails a failure. Thus,

although Elsa‘s escape from the castle and her creation of an ice-queen-

castle up in the mountains can be approached as a renunciation of her

expectations as a ruler and as an upholder of the domestic sphere, it also

becomes an opportunity for Elsa to realize not only who she is, but just

how much she is capable of doing and creating.

6. After Elsa discovers and unleashes her ―queer‖ identity, she is able to

collapse the binaries that have regulated and haunted her life. Notice that

once she returns to Arendelle after embracing her powers, she declares that

the gates of the castle shall stay open to the entire community, thus

obliterating the divide that was being upheld between the domesticity of

the castle and the queerness of the outside world.

24

A queer presence is ultimately what facilitates a more open and cooperative

living situation to manifest–a living situation that allows all identities to exist

without restrictions or unnecessary regulations. This echoes Judith Butler‘s views

on what she considers to be the goal of queer theory: rather than simply being a

practice for obliterating performativity, it is a practice that should be aimed in

opposition to ―the unwanted legislation of identity‖. Thus, queer theory does not

aim to show non-performativity as a superior choice, but rather, it aims to show

how performativity should not restrict what a person can or can‘t be.

What about other characters in Frozen collapse binaristic divides? Nearly

every character in this film challenges a dichotomous view or the world, or they

deviate immensely from the stereotypical expectations that we have of certain

characters. For instance, Olaf the snowman collapses the distinction between the

living and the non-living; Prince Hans destroys cultural associations that exist

between beauty and goodness; even Kristoff deviates immensely from the

expectations that we have of Disney‘s male heroes: he is clumsy, smelly, he talks

with his reindeer Sven, and he was raised by trolls. Plus, Kristoff has a ―thing‖

with Sven, his reindeer, more like a strong relationship. If Frozen movie is

marking the beginning of a queer future for Disney, then it is a bright future

indeed, as Queen Elsa affirms in the song Let It Go: ―Let the storm rage on.‖

25

CHAPTER III

CONCLUSION

It can be concluded that several mistakenly performances conducted by the

main characters in this movie may bring the perspective into queerness kind of

movie. Is Elsa gay? There‘s certainly a valid queer reading to be found in the film.

It isn‘t like she has a girlfriend - or any romance at all - but the idea that she was

born different (it‘s explicitly specified that she was born this way, not cursed) and

that her difference makes her not a ‗good girl‘ (a phrase repeated) lends itself to

that interpretation. It is the interpretation that leads to the same port as being a

gay. If it can be read that Elsa as a gay, Anna‘s quest to show her that she is loved

and accepted becomes all the more profound.

Even without that reading, Frozen‘s themes are deep and beautiful. It

reclaims the concept of true love saving the day, recasting it for the 21st century

in a way that makes the caring heart of a woman as powerful as the sword of her

prince. The movie completely shares nice sceneries for some feminists, that the

main characters act bravely, make a decision, and don‘t want to be held back by

the male characters. It is then can be thrown back to the producer, who is a

woman. Although the movie offers sly commentary on its own genre, with lots of

fun being poked at Anna‘s immediate engagement to handsome prince Hans and

Kristoff being slightly sarcastic, but it never reaches such a disaster. Frozen is, at

heart, a straight arrow version of the classic Disney cartoon musical. It‘s just an

exceptionally excellent version of that.

If there‘s one thing keeping Frozen from being absolutely perfect it‘s that

it‘s missing a song. Too many of the numbers are in the first half, and the writer

would have liked to see one more song from Kristoff towards the end. He

certainly has a big emotional moment that lends itself to a number. All of people

watch this movie could quibble about the action finale, but Frozen wraps that up

in an inspired way that touched everyone deeply. In the end, it is a wonderfully

girl-powered story which melted the heart of even a Disney cynic like the writer.

26

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