TY - JOUR

T1 - (Post)feminist paradoxes

T2 - The sensibilities of gender representation in Disney’s Frozen

AU - Rudloff, Maja

PY - 2016/11

Y1 - 2016/11

N2 - Disney’s 2013 animated movie Frozen has been hugely popular with critics dueto its perceived promotion of feminist ideals. In this article, I investigate thisclaim of the feminist ideals portrayed in Frozen, from the perspective of visualand cultural representation, situating my analysis within the context of feministand postfeminist media studies. Focusing on the signs and cultural codes used tocreate meanings associated with the movie’s main female and male characters,the article is structured around four themes: signs of gender difference,heteronormative romance and female agency, empowerment and sexualisation,and disparities in male/female representations and role models. Emphasising theconflicts and interactions between feminist and postfeminist messages, theanalyses reveal that on the surface Frozen promotes a narrative of feministideals of equality, empowerment and female agency, but conflates them withpostfeminist ideals of appearance, self-discipline and strongly genderstereotyped depictions with regard to how the characters look and act. Far frombeing ‘truly feminist’, it is concluded that despite popular sentiment to thecontrary, Disney still has a long way to go towards promoting egalitarian anddiverse representations of gender.

AB - Disney’s 2013 animated movie Frozen has been hugely popular with critics dueto its perceived promotion of feminist ideals. In this article, I investigate thisclaim of the feminist ideals portrayed in Frozen, from the perspective of visualand cultural representation, situating my analysis within the context of feministand postfeminist media studies. Focusing on the signs and cultural codes used tocreate meanings associated with the movie’s main female and male characters,the article is structured around four themes: signs of gender difference,heteronormative romance and female agency, empowerment and sexualisation,and disparities in male/female representations and role models. Emphasising theconflicts and interactions between feminist and postfeminist messages, theanalyses reveal that on the surface Frozen promotes a narrative of feministideals of equality, empowerment and female agency, but conflates them withpostfeminist ideals of appearance, self-discipline and strongly genderstereotyped depictions with regard to how the characters look and act. Far frombeing ‘truly feminist’, it is concluded that despite popular sentiment to thecontrary, Disney still has a long way to go towards promoting egalitarian anddiverse representations of gender.

M3 - Journal article

VL - 35

SP - 1

EP - 20

JO - Outskirts (Online)

JF - Outskirts (Online)

SN - 1445-0445

ER -