Disney’s 2013 animated movie Frozen has been hugely popular with critics due
to its perceived promotion of feminist ideals. In this article, I investigate this
claim of the feminist ideals portrayed in Frozen, from the perspective of visual
and cultural representation, situating my analysis within the context of feminist
and postfeminist media studies. Focusing on the signs and cultural codes used to
create 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 the
conflicts and interactions between feminist and postfeminist messages, the
analyses reveal that on the surface Frozen promotes a narrative of feminist
ideals of equality, empowerment and female agency, but conflates them with
postfeminist ideals of appearance, self-discipline and strongly gender
stereotyped depictions with regard to how the characters look and act. Far from
being ‘truly feminist’, it is concluded that despite popular sentiment to the
contrary, Disney still has a long way to go towards promoting egalitarian and
diverse representations of gender.