In the opening scenes, we meet Elsa and Anna and their parents — an African American actor plays their father. It was unexpected, Elsa and Anna are both portrayed in the animated film as two Norwegian princesses from the 1840s — it's highly unlikely that their father, the King, was not white.
In the Disney film adaptation, Anna is depicted as the princess of Arendelle, a fictional Scandinavian kingdom, and the younger sister of Elsa (Idina Menzel), who is the heiress to the throne and possesses the elemental ability to create and control ice and snow.
While Frozen takes place in the fictional kingdom Arendelle, the kingdom was based on multiple locations in Norway. The team behind Frozen even visited Norway to gain inspiration, and you can see Nordic influence all throughout the movie.
As for whether Elsa and Anna are white … the Northuldra are modeled on the Sami, an indigenous people scattered across northern Scandinavia and northwestern Russia who have faced a great deal of discrimination, but there's a lot of disagreement about the genetic and linguistic origins of Sami to this day.
The home of Anna and Elsa is a fictional location made for the purposes of the magical world of the Frozen franchise, but Arendelle and its people are based on the Scandinavia region of northern Europe, which encompasses Denmark, Norway, and Sweeden.
In many ways, Arendelle looks like a quintessential fairy-tale setting, complete with a grand castle in lush surroundings. Much of it is inspired by Bergen, Norway´s second largest city, one of numerous places in Fjord Norway where you can experience a little bit of fairy-tale magic in real life.
(Note: Much of Frozen 2 appears to be a reaction to the reaction the first film received for not including many people of color and for “whitewashing.” The problem with how Frozen 2 handled this is that they really couldn't up and change the race of the lead characters, so instead they just had them retroactively ...
Inspired by Disney fairytales' true origins, YouTube channel Movie Munchies translated the princesses' most famous songs into their native languages. For example, Elsa and Anna from Frozen are Norwegian, Jasmine from Aladdin speaks Arabic, and Snow White is German.
Although the majority of the kingdom of Arendelle was inspired by Bergen, there are a couple structures throughout the kingdom that are reminiscent of locations in other parts of Norway. For example, the castle where Elsa and Anna grew up is inspired by the Akershus Fortress in Oslo.
From Arendelle's stunning fjords to the obvious Scandinavian cultural influence, it's safe to say that two of the most famous Disney princesses in history are from Norway.
Indeed, the plot is loosely based on the tale of The Snow Queen by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, who based many of his books on old Scandinavian folktales.
The Northuldra tribe is inspired by the real-life Sámi natives from the north of Europe, particularly Norway, which Frozen's fictional setting is based on.
As the lies on which the Kingdom of Arendelle is founded start to unravel, we discover that Anna and Elsa's mother, Iduna, is from the Northuldra tribe – she was the mysterious saviour who rescued their father during battle.
Eyebrows are typically darker than a human's head hair. In animation where it is especially important to be able to easily discern a character's emotions through facial expressions, it is pretty much a requirement to have eyebrows. And an animator would really not want light-colored eyebrows on pale-as-snow skin tone.
Pocahontas became the first Native American Disney Princess and the first woman of color to be the lead character in a Disney film. As of 2014, she remains the only Disney Princess to be based on a historical figure.
No, Elsa and Rapunzel are not twins. However, it seems likely that they are cousins. We see the specifics of Rapunzel's birth in Tangled. The queen of Corona must have been Rapunzel's mother, or else the flower's powers could not have transferred to Rapunzel's hair.
When they showed what was finished of the film to a Story Trust group several months prior to release, many were still confused about who the voice was supposed to belong to. It was after that the decision was made to fully commit to the voice calling to Elsa being that of her mother, Iduna.
Elsa is never properly identified as asexual or aromantic, something that would help immensely to increase visibility and awareness. Considering Disney's record with LGBT characters (remember the underwhelming 'gay moment' in Beauty and the Beast?)
Honeymaren, a member of the Northuldra tribe who was trapped in the Enchanted Forest by the curse, could return for Frozen 3 as Elsa's girlfriend based on the two characters' shared chemistry.
On February 8, 2023, Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed that Frozen 3 is in the works, along with Toy Story 5 and Zootopia 2. While news of a third Frozen film was a welcome one, we have yet to hear more details about the movie or see a trailer. Here's everything we know about Frozen 3.
