Frozen II isn’t just a cartoon. It’s a brilliant critique of imperialism

The Washington Post

Made By History/Perspective

Every Thanksgiving, Americans trot out the self-congratulatory myth that colonization was a harmonious, bloodless affair — that native peoples practically gifted their lands to America and then served up a feast. We forget the aggressive colonial practices (including kidnapping and enslavement) that actually surrounded the holiday’s roots.

This year, however, Thanksgiving also brought us Disney’s “Frozen II,” a movie that calls on heirs of colonialism to question such national myths about the past and atone for the ugly truth they cover up. That a movie pitched at kids should unexpectedly step into this urgent political and ethical terrain is nothing short of wonderful. The top-grossing movie of the week, “Frozen II” is more radical and politically imaginative than most popular history books about empire, which continue to justify colonialism as the fault of disorderly indigenous people. The movie’s contemplation of reparations for historical wrongs is a call for a new kind of public ethics, one that asks us to extend the values we teach our children to our politics.

The king of Arendelle raises his daughters Anna and Elsa on a bedtime story about their kingdom’s past. In his telling, the Northuldra (a people modeled on the Sami, an indigenous people in northern Scandinavia and northwestern Russia), gratuitously attacked his father, King Runeard, after he gifted them a dam.