People are freaking out about the movie Frozen.
They are saying that it is a sneaky way to tell children not to hate themselves for being gay.
They are angry about this.
As though teaching a gay person that finding peace within over something they never asked for and cannot control is a reprehensible message.
As though we should be teaching gay people to hide who they are, ignore their feelings, pretend they don't exist, be ashamed that they do, and spend their life living differently than everyone else.
As though any message that runs contrary to that one and tells people to not be afraid of how they are different somehow represents the moral erosion of modern society.
I have no idea what the intentions of the writers were. I have no idea whether they wrote that song for the purpose of convincing people not to hide who they are. That song,which has been annoyingly stuck in my head for two months now because all of my nieces are singing it CONSTANTLY.
Frankly, I don't care what their intentions were.
And, frankly, if this movie and that song are getting gay people to stop hating themselves and to start acknowledging who they are so they can move on and figure out how to contribute to the world, then bravo, Disney.
No film could ever make someone gay. But a message in a film might have the ability to encourage people to love themselves even though ignorant bigots are writing blog posts decrying the message for encouraging young folk to take a different path than generations past--back when you were taught that being different in this way made you less valuable.
I pray to God that one day when my little nieces and nephews are old enough to deal with a range of adult problems, especially if any of those nieces and nephews are gay, they will remember stories like the one in Frozen where a girl learned that she was worth loving and they'll forget the words of ignorant grandmas who preach that the gays don't deserve that message.
And look. The film's message is obviously not "do what feels good and everything will be fine." That wasn't at all what happened to the protagonist. For a long time she suppressed her feelings. She had no life at all. Then she "did what felt good" and wandered off into the mountains, letting her "powers" reign freely. And guess what? There were TERRIBLE consequences. The whole damn world froze over.
She actually learned that you can't just do what feels good and expect things to be ok.
She learned, ultimately, that she needed to accept who she was, love others, and find a way to do what feels right.
Sound familiar? Sound like every religious sermon you've ever heard in your life about the importance of following your conscience or your gut or the holy spirit and doing what you feel is the right thing to do?
Maybe Disney meant for its animated film to reach out to gay people and tell them not to let those misguided folks who are offended by the message continue to make them feel like they don't deserve some words of comfort and encouragement every now and then, too.
And if that was Disney's intention, then bravo.
When they remake Pinocchio, I hope he straight up comes out of the closet.
~It Just Gets Stranger
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