Some subsection of the fandom has wanted Elsa to be gay since Frozen premiered in 2013. It’s all just about as gay as pure subtext gets. If you’re looking for it, “Show Yourself” absolutely reads like a coming-out anthem, especially if you consider “Let It Go” as the queer awakening where she embraces her identity, and “Into the Unknown” as Elsa weighing the risks and benefits of coming out. Ultimately, this Elsa - unbound, powerful, and with her hair fully down - is the resolution she’s been waiting for across two films. Greeting the mysterious voice with open arms (“Come my darling, homeward bound”), she’s ready to step into a new, transformative role. It’s a moment of pure vulnerability, but electrifying nonetheless: although apprehensive, Elsa is finally ready to bare her soul. The song’s sequence begins with Elsa traveling across the ocean on a water horse to a mystical river that may hold the secret to her existence. “Show Yourself” is located at the apex of that story arc. Aside from the surface-level “Elsa decides to follow a mysterious, compelling female voice” (which is already, uh, pretty gay), the underlying message and risk involved makes Elsa’s story feel like a coming-out arc from the get-go. The ethereal voice she hears throughout the film beckons her to an unknown place where she may find a community that sees her for who she is. But even more so than in the first film, her arc is strongly identity-based, dealing not only with her growing powers, but also the tension she feels as an outlier in her kingdom of Arendelle. It isn’t difficult to fathom why: with lyrics like “I have always been a fortress, cold secrets deep inside / You have secrets too, but you don’t have to hide,” and Elsa emotionally belting “I am found,” the song is overflowing with quintessentially queer themes like found community, repression, and vulnerability.Įlsa’s sexuality is still left open in Frozen 2. There was never going to truly be another “Let It Go,” which as director Chris Buck rightfully put it in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, was pure “lightning in a bottle.” But “Show Yourself” is arguably “Let It Go”’s spiritual successor: while the soundtrack’s lead single, “Into the Unknown,” was created for the charts and awards shows, “Show Yourself” is Frozen 2’s gay anthem.Īt the very least, that’s how fans heralded the song on Twitter after the soundtrack dropped prior to the film’s release. “Show Yourself,” an emotionally laden Elsa number from Frozen 2, is arguably the answer to both questions. So the fans naturally wondered if Frozen 2 would give them any more reason to hope Elsa would step out of the closet. Interest in queer Elsa was renewed in 2016, when the hashtag campaign #GiveElsaAGirlfriend had a moment in the spotlight. The first film read as queer enough that homophobic bloggers accused Disney of indoctrinating children with the gay agenda in the wake of its release, and queer fans (myself included, although I didn’t know it at the time) latched onto Elsa as the potential first queer Disney princess.
Which song from the sequel would be the equivalent to “Let it Go,” the first film’s breakout power ballad? And would Elsa be revealed as a gay character? Frozen’s sizable queer fandom had two key questions going into Frozen 2.
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