Show yourself’: Indigenous ethics, Sámi cosmologies and decolonial queer pedagogies of Frozen 2

• Main Authors: Huuki, T, Kyrölä, K
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Informa UK Limited 2022
• Subjects: Queer; Indigenous ethics; Sámi; Disney; children’s film; posthuman; trauma; North Sámi
• Online Access: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10142379/1/Frozen%20Huuki%20Kyrola%202022%20published.pdf; https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10142379/

In this article, we examine the immensely popular animated Disney film Frozen 2 (2019) through its potential as decolonial queer pedagogy. Drawing on Indigenous educational studies, queer and feminist Indigenous theories, and research on affect and trauma, we ask how the film popularizes Sámi nature-based cosmologies, addresses and attempts to repair the cross-generational transmission of settler colonial trauma, and presents a complex view of gender and human and non-human relations. Unlike in its predecessor Frozen (2013), in Frozen 2 Disney involved Sámi consultants in the production process, and the film was dubbed in North Sámi language. We interrogate Frozen 2's production process as well as its narrative and aesthetics, proposing that it allows its viewers – children and adults, Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike – to engage with and learn about Indigenous ethics, Sámi cosmologies, and more-than-human understandings of gender and sexuality in respectful and easily approachable ways.