When Ken announced that we would all write responses to the crazy pearl-clutching Frozen lady this week, my heart started to race. I thought I had sort of weathered this storm last week by doing what I do best in times of controversy: staying the crap out of it. But now I felt charged to lampoon conspiracy theories and self-righteous harridans who find secret agendas in everything. And I didn't know what to do. "Ken!" I texted him, "I agree with that lady!"
It's at this point that I should provide the obligatory "I love the gays!" or "I have tons of gay friends" or "I'm not like most Mormons" speech so you don't think I'm some judgy wingnut. But I don't feel like I have to. I work in Theatre. 'Nuff said. If you don't think I'm cool with the gays, you've never met me or anyone of my ilk. It's just not much of an issue with me. But....you guys....that lady's right! She may have written that blog from her perch on the eagle forum, and she may have used insensitive and ridiculous language, but she's right. There's a hidden agenda in Frozen. And it's probably about gay people.
The thing is, I kind of don't care. It was a cute movie, and I liked a lot of the songs. That business about the snowman dreaming of summer was genius. I had a good time.
But I'm not going to pretend like there wasn't a hidden message about characters' shameful secrets, and the desire to "let it go" and be who they really are. The truth is that Disney is a major factor, possibly the major factor, in the entertainment industry and several of the executives, writers, artists, and performers are openly gay. If you controlled Disney, wouldn't you use it to spread your message? If the LDS church owned Disney (and we'll get to that) wouldn't they get as much "follow the prophet" and "I will go, I will do" as they can in there? Yeah, they would. I'm Mormon. I know how we work. I don't think Disney is inherently evil. Greedy, yes. But I also believe they have an agenda, just like every human being on this planet, and they aren't afraid to push it.
I don't mind my kids seeing Elsa (or whichever one) come out as a lesbian. Even metaphorically. I feel sad she felt she couldn't talk about her struggles. I hope that if any of my kids have same-sex attraction that they will know they have a mother and father to talk to. Maybe the movie will help them realize that they need to reach out and talk about this stuff.
What really concerns me, friends, is the Disney-ification of Mormondom. Somehow we've decided that Disney is on par with doctrine, and we fill our houses with so much Disney that there's no room to breathe. How many of us can quote song after song of Disney but only know a handful of church hymns? We may not know many scriptures off hand, but we sure can sing every word of "Poor Unfortunate Souls!" I love me some Disneyland, but I'm not going to worship it. It's fun, it's diverting, it's entertaining, but I'm not going to wear it all over my clothes. It's just cartoons. It's ninety minutes of your life. I'm not going to freak out if they want me to see a lesbian build an ice castle. Can I still have a temple recommend?
