The review ahead is dark and full of spoilers, so turn back now all ye who would rather see the movie first!
Frozen 2 sets out to be a story about finding yourself and where you’re meant to be, but it’s really a story about colonisation.
There are a lot of things I loved about this movie. The relationship between the sisters, including an excellent section of dialogue where Anna reminds Elsa of what she has achieved without any magic when Elsa suggests a journey is too dangerous for Anna; the humour (Olaf explaining the plot of Frozen is an absolute highlight); and some powerful songs. I honestly enjoyed the movie and recommend it. What I want to focus on in this review, however, is the colonisation narrative. To be fair, I think the movie tries very hard to approach this topic sensitively and the fact that it approaches it at all is fairly radical for Disney, but the way it was handled struck a few sour notes.
From the outset it should be fairly clear to the audience (at least the adult audience!) that the dam built 34 years before the events of the film is going to be the central contention of the story. There is no suggestion that Arendelle’s neighbours, the nomadic Sámi – sorry, Northuldra – people, wanted the dam. Arendelle building it in the middle of their lands smacks immediately of colonialism, ignoring indigenous knowledge and imposing potentially inappropriate land management practices.
For obvious reasons, we get a very Arendellian perspective throughout the film, which is a shame because we both miss an opportunity to have stories about colonisation told from an indigenous perspective and because a Northuldra perspective could immediately make sense of the events of the film without the need for a large part of the plot. For example, the unexpected Northuldra attack on the Arendellians is only unexpected if no one considers the Northuldra perspective.
Following this attack, the Northuldra’s elemental spirits shroud the forest in an impenetrable mist. This is supposedly a punishment for the fighting, but it’s a punishment that disproportionately impacts the Northuldra people, whose land the mist covers, while Arendelle continues to prosper – and apparently teach children a very one-sided view of the past, adding to our colonisation narrative.
In the present day, after Elsa accidentally wakes the Northuldra elemental spirits, she, Anna, Kristof, Sven and Olaf discover that the Northuldra people and those Arendellians who survived the fighting have been trapped inside the mist for 34 years. Some Northuldra have never seen the sun or sky. Still, it’s a Disney movie, so they’re all remarkably cheerful about it and quickly accept Anna and Elsa, particularly once the women have a moment and realise that their mother was Northuldra.
Unfortunately, Elsa and Anna were never given the opportunity to learn about their cultural heritage and have nothing except a song and a scarf to connect them to this culture. One has to wonder about the prevalence of racism in Arendelle if the King and Queen felt they could never reveal the Queen’s heritage to her own children, never mind the general population.
Their shared heritage is enough to bring the Northuldra and remaining Arendellians together, but it’s apparently not enough to inspire Elsa and Anna to actually have a chat to their Northuldra kin about what happened 34 years ago. Instead of asking why the Northuldra attacked the Arendellians or whether they have any theories about the mist, Elsa decides to travel to a mystical river in a far-off land to get some answers. The answers are right there Elsa! Why do we need a magical solution? Probably because the alternative would deny the colonisers a redemption narrative that involves coming to an independent realisation that what they did was wrong.
Because, of course, the problem is the dam, which the Arendellians built with the express intent of weakening the Northuldra. We also find out that Elsa and Anna’s grandfather murdered the Northuldra leader in cold blood, precipitating the previously unexplained Northuldra attack on the Arendellians.
This realisation makes Elsa’s decision to seek the ‘truth’ at a mystical river instead of just asking the Northuldra even more uncomfortable. When are the indigenous people impacted by the colonial actions of the Arendellians allowed to tell their own stories and be believed? There is a disconnect between the way the main characters appreciate the wisdom of the Northuldra elder and the friendship of the younger generation, but don’t seek a Northuldra perspective of events. The Northuldra are used as a plot device but are never given a voice.
At this point we should also be asking why the spirits imposed a punishment that disproportionately impacted the Northuldra, who were clearly acting in self-defence. A friend suggested that it’s not my place to question how another culture’s deities decide to mete out justice, but remember that this was a plot choice of the Disney writers who felt that punishing the victims in this scenario was appropriate. The strength of the continuing Northuldra culture in the face of this adversity is never really acknowledged.
The destruction of the dam is positioned as the resolution of the story and here we do get a slightly more powerful plot point, with Anna having to choose whether to destroy the dam (and provide some kind of reparation to the Northuldra) knowing that if she does, it will also destroy Arendelle (which has been evacuated and is just an empty city at this point). This is a bit drastic for Disney however, and is toned down by Elsa saving the day at the last moment with a wall of ice that prevents the dam waters from destroying the city.
The Northuldra do not take part in destroying the dam, denying them an opportunity for symbolic justice or control over their lives and lands. Resolving the story by destroying the dam also means we don’t have to ask any difficult questions about Arendelle’s attitudes towards the Northuldra and whether these have changed in the last 34 years, or what justice for past wrongs might actually look like to the Northuldra.
Everyone lives happily ever after, presumably especially the Northuldra, who only had to wait through 34 years and one Arendellian Queen’s journey of self-discovery to get their land, water and sky back.
As a side note, there is a lovely folklore link in the movie with Elsa taming a water horse, called Nokk. Nokken are shapeshifting water spirits from Scandinavian folklore, similar to the Kelpie from Celtic folklore. I’ve included below a few of my favourite Nokken illustrations from Theodor Kittelsen (1857 – 1914), a brilliant Norwegian illustrator.
