Into the unknown [Amas Mu Vuordá]? Listening to Indigenous voices on the meanings of Disney’s Frozen 2 [Jikŋon 2]

Abstract

ABSTRACT In 2019, Disney released the animated film Frozen 2 and included depictions of Indigenous Sámi peoples, landscapes, and lifeways. Communication scholars have critiqued relationships between Disney and Indigenous cultures. However, with Frozen 2 Sámi consultants initiated a new mode of collaboration with Disney to combat cultural appropriation, linguistic erasure, and misrepresentations. This resulted in almost unanimously positive media praise by Sámi individuals and communities in Scandinavia. By drawing upon an Indigenous listening methodology, we articulate ways Sámi communities discuss the degree to which Disney’s Frozen 2/Jikŋon 2 is a transformative agent (or not) in treatment of Indigenous communities in film.