“Show Yourself is literally the most powerful gay anthem ever created.”
Six years after the first animated feature won over audiences and broke box office records around the world, Frozen 2 has arrived in cinemas. It may not have given Elsa a girlfriend, but it has given fans a queer ‘coming out’ anthem.
While the jubilant Into The Unknown is getting most of the attention, queer fans have zoned in on Show Yourself, with many dubbing it a sequel to Let It Go – the iconic song from the first movie that LGBTQ fans embraced.
“I’ve never felt so certain, all my life I’ve been torn, but I’m here for a reason, could it be the reason I was born?” the lyrics read. “I have always been so different, normal rules did not apply, is this the day, are you the way, I finally find out why?”
Unsurprisingly, fans who have long found queer subtext in the Frozen franchise have adopted the song as a new LGBTQ anthem.
“You’re not born gay. You watch Frozen 2 and see Elsa riding across the seas on a water horse with her hair down singing Show Yourself and it just happens,” wrote one Twitter user.
Another added: “Show Yourself is literally the most powerful gay anthem ever created.”
Fans have been campaigning for Elsa to have a same-sex romance ever since #GiveElsaAGirlfriend went viral. The hashtag sent the internet into meltdown mode, with fans calling on Disney to make Elsa a queer role model.
Even Idina Menzel – who voices Elsa – gave it her blessing. “I think it’s a wonderful idea. It’s a wonderful conversation that we should all have about whether a Disney princess or queen could be gay,” she said.
But according to Frozen 2 songwriter Kristen Anderson-Lopez, the writers didn’t want Elsa to be defined by a love interest. “There’s so many movies that define a woman by her romantic interest,” she told IGN. “That’s not a story that we wanted to tell.”
Frozen 2 sees the return of Kristen Bell (Anna), Adele Dazeem/Idina Menzel (Elsa), Jonathan Groff (Kristoff) and Josh Gad (Olaf), with newcomers Evan Rachel Wood as Elsa and Anna’s mother and Sterling Brown as Lieutenant Matthias.
The first film received widespread acclaim from critics when it was released back in 2013, and grossed 1.3 billion worldwide, becoming the highest grossing animated film (it has since been surpassed by the live-action remake of The Lion King).
It won two Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song for the Idina Menzel penned anthem, Let It Go.
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