Hey, Nonny! Sorry for taking a while to reply, I wanted to make sure that I gave this the appropriate amount of time and thought, as it’s a subject that I think warrants a lot of care. Also I can’t seem to reply directly from my inbox, I think maybe Xkit is f-ing up at the moment, so sorry for the weird formatting as well!
Before I get into my opinion on the film, I think it’s important to clarify a couple of things.
1) I am part of the American Sámi diaspora. I have regrettably never lived in Sápmi (although if I thought my husband would let me drag him up there, I would be on a plane tomorrow), and my Sámi heritage is also something I have only recently begun the process of reconnecting to. My Sámi ancestor immigrated from Sweden to the United States to escape persecution and forced assimilation, so when they arrived here, they tried very hard to blend in with other Scandanavian immigrants and did not pass their language and culture down to their children. As such, I have not grown up in the culture and was raised in a very typically white midwest family, and so I don’t have the same lived experiences as a Sámi person who has grown up in Sámi culture in a country where racism against our people is still very much alive and well. I could write a whole separate post on what it means to be a white-passing indigenous person living thousands of miles from their ancestral lands with only bits and pieces of their culture accessible, but that’s not what you’re asking about, so I’ll save that for another time. But I do want to be very transparent about this part of my identity and make it clear that I experience a level of privilege that many, many Sámi do not.
2) Sámi people, like any marginalized group, are not a monolith. We are all individuals with our own differing backgrounds and lived experiences, and because of that our opinions on things like this are not universal. So what I say in this post may vary from what you see from other Sámi people, and my opinion does not invalidate or negate theirs. We are all allowed to feel however we feel about issues that relate to the representation of our culture in media and the impact it has on our community. My opinion is my own and shouldn’t be taken as The Sámi Opinion™ on the matter. There are a lot of other posts about it from other Sámi folks, as you’ve noted, and I would encourage everyone to look at all of them to get a broader view of how the film has been received by our community.
SO. All that being said, here are my thoughts:
The Frozen franchise already had kind of a special place in my heart because of Kristoff. According to the original script from the first film, his character is “a young Sámi boy,” and it was my first time ever seeing a Sámi person represented in an animated film. And while Disney did not remotely do Sámi culture any justice in the first movie, it still felt nice to see my culture being recognized in a children’s film at all. So few people have even heard of us that just to be seen felt kinda good, even if the representation was… not great. LOL.
The second film was produced with the help of Sámi people who consulted on the representation of our culture, both in terms of the aesthetics and the way the Northuldra people’s lifestyle was depicted. It was MUCH better than the first film. However, it still had some issues. This is going to get a bit long so I’m going to put it under a cut.
I think there are a lot of Sámi who can identify with reconnecting to the culture, self certainly included. Centuries of forced assimilation have left a lot of us displaced and removed from our heritage and I think we saw some of ourselves in Anna and Elsa’s discovery of their mother’s Northuldra roots. But the idea that Anna and Elsa automatically get accepted into their culture just by virtue of… a shawl? It felt a little bit superficial to a lot of people, and I think that’s valid. The reconnection process is long and involves proceeding with an abundance of caution, care, and respect. None of us would be able to come in and say “Hey, I have this liidni, it belonged to my mum, so I no longer represent colonization and all the horrific things my family did to you guys, isn’t that great!?” That shit wouldn’f fly, LMAO.
And the idea that this person who hasn’t been raised in the culture can come in and claim her place without any work, and also happens to be a magical Chosen One archetype has some white savior overtones that are kind of uncomfortable, as well.
I also know that a lot of folks felt that the Northuldra fall into the “noble savage” trope, and I can definitely see that as well. So often the way indigenous people are portrayed boils down to Magical Nature People and it can be tiresome, because it leads to a lot of exotification/fetishization of our culture by outsiders. Like, Ryder’s last name is Nattura. It literally means nature in Icelandic. Of course nature is a huge part of indigenous culture, but we have interests and personalities beyond that and it would be nice to see those explored more in media.
And I’m also kind of salty about Kristoff not getting a proper reconnection, or really any explanation about his origins at all. I thought for sure that they were going to get into that, given his affinity for reindeer and the almost immediate brotherly bond he had with Ryder, but then… nada. I really need my soft Sámi boy to find his place and discover more about his own roots if there ever is a Frozen III. That and gay Elsa, those are my two demands from the Mouse, LOL.
But you know what? There were also parts of the film I really did love.
When Yelena called the Northuldra “people of the sun,” I legit got goosebumps. One of our creation stories explains that we were the children of the sun and the moon, and the seeds of that story are scattered all over Sámi culture. You can find our people referred to as “children of the sun” in some form in many places throughout history. Our flag has a large red and blue circle, which represents the sun and moon respectively. One of our most famous poets, Áillohaš, wrote a book called “Beaivi, Áhčážan,” or “The Sun, My Father.” Our national anthem refers to the Sámi as “Beaivvi bártniid,” sons of the sun. So to hear that referenced in the film was really something.
I also enjoyed the overt anti-colonial themes in the movie, with the dam representing the colonial oppression of indigenous people and Anna working to crumble it despite knowing it might mean the end of Arendelle. In recognizing the role some of her ancestors played in oppressing her other ancestors and doing “the next right thing” to correct it, she was showing that she was willing to face the ugly parts of her family’s history in order to truly embrace her heritage, and as someone with mixed indigenous and colonizer ancestry, I felt that in a big way.
So yeah… it definitely was not what I would call perfect representation, but then, I don’t think that media written about Sámi culture by non-Sámi people ever will be. Even the much-praised Klaus—which is a beautiful film, by the way, and I would literally die for Márgu—but even it had some room for improvement in the way we were portrayed. Still, I felt Frozen II had a lot of positives going for it and I’m hoping future installments in the franchise will continue to improve on indigenous representation, and that Disney will continue to involve our community in the discussion when doing so.
I hope that answers your question adequately, Nonny! Feel free to send another ask if you want me to expand on anything or provide any clarification. And thank you for the ask, and for listening and learning what you can about our culture. It means a lot!
ME:A DEFENSE SQUAD HIGH FIVE!!! Played the game beginning of August and now I'm 40k words deep in a pile of fic I'm writing after 4 years of hiatus/semi-hiatus. I romanced Jaal, who did you romance?? Favorite squad combo? Weapons???
THANK YOU YES, I love it so much! I definitely agree with some of the critiques, like that some of the animation could have been better and overall I wish the lore and the story had been allowed to go deeper than it did, but I still think it’s a banger.
My canon Ryder romanced Liam. I know a lot of people complained that his romance was boring but like... no? He’s actually great? People complain that he’s too much of an idealist, but isn’t that the kind of optimism you probably need sometimes when you’re a couple million light years and six centuries from home? He has such a huge heart, his whole aim is to help the team come together and learn more about one another so that they can build this new future, like how can you dunk so hard on a guy who is basically empathy personified?
I romanced Jaal in another playthrough as well, and his romance is just SO sweet. I love how emotionally competent he is, it’s so refreshing after having dated my share of non-pixelated guys who definitely cannot say the same. And uhhhh that love scene? Hot.
My favorite squad is usually Jaal and Drack. I typically play a Sentinel build, so using the two of them gives me a tank and a sniper to round out my biotics and tech abilities and I find that worked well for me.
And then as far as weapons go, I like the Viper for long shots and the Valkyrie for closer range stuff when accuracy isn’t as important.
What are your faves? And do you have screenshots of your Ryder? I’d love to see them!
HELLO IT IS I AND I HAVE COME HERE TO TELL U I'VE READ DEUS IN ABSENTIA (I hope I spelled that correctly). AND OH MY GOD IT'S SO WHAUENEICOAPAHSOAOXNXN HEAVENLY AJSJEODKOD👹👹👹👹
OMG IT WAS SO GOOD LIKE OFC DOTTORE BEING DOTTORE THE START WAS ROCKY considering he's a villain duh but I'm fine with that, actually I love it lmao BUT I LOVE HOW EVEN IF WE WERE SCARED (cause dottore), we didn't cower in fear but at the same time we didn't act stupid by being stubborn 😭 (I've read way too many fics with this situation and sometimes I just can't). It's a perfect mix of being respectful and being firm WHAT I'M SAYING IS READER IS CAPABLE AND I LOVE THAT YAY (I'm bad with words ok, I'm fluent in keyboard smashes)
THE SLOW TRANSITION OF US BEING SKEPTICAL OF DOTTORE'S IDEALS TO US BELIEVING IT RARARARARA im not even gonna lie to u when the whole book was being explained in chapter 4 (5?? 6??) I was riding the train already LIKE I BELIEVE U DOTTORE I BELIEVE U. I was convinced already lmao
THEN WE SMOOCHED oh my god we smooched OMFHSUDUWJSJ WE SMOOCHED RARARARARARA the way it was set up was so soft too im just here giggling and screaming dying toe curling blushing jumping off a cli
anyways the nickname "archivist". at first i was 😬 archivist and now im 🥰 archivist like yessir im ur archivist KSIDISKAKAKA
BUT THE LAST CHAPTERS I WAS LIKE NO DOTTORE MY BB GIRL NOOOOOO DON'T DO THIS TO ME WE COULD FIX YOU UP WE COULD INSTALL ALEXA INTO YOU PLEASEE DONT LEAVEEEEEE
then gasp segment is here and we lived happily ever after yay 😭 i mean it when i say it's yay cause a life without- I CANT EVEN SAY IT, IT'S TOO MUCH 🤧
The whole point of this screaming is to say that I am excited for your soulmate au and I found out like these week that there were 2 new chaps already uploaded :') the chapters are good and i can't wait to witness ur big brain has to say to the mic 🎤💥💥
I'm really glad you enjoyed it!
The reader character in that fic is the one I'm probably proudest of (not that I've written that many multi-chapter reader fics, usually just requests when I offered requests)! I like a capable character, reader or otherwise, it's something I always strive for when writing. I find it more compelling, personally, although there is something to be said for the whole character-growth-of-powerless-to-gaining-power thing.
Pretty sure the Archivist is one of my better reader characters. I might have initially gotten the title idea in place of a name from TMA but it...worked within the story, so...yeah...I’m not a fan of seeing “Y/N” in fic, just a personal preference lol.
Truthfully, if it hadn't been for the leaks and the Lazzo trailer, I wouldn't have known how to end that fic. The clones threw me a curve ball but like...a workable one. Let's just say that, uh, the ending would have been a lot different if not for the segment lore.
My big brain is currently trying to figure out the soulmate AU, I have a single note on my phone that makes sense conceptually. DIA was like...I had An Ending and a Goal in mind when I started the fic. Here? I'm still trying to figure it out. We'll suffer together!
But I'm really happy to hear you're loving it so far, even though not much has been established yet!
I'm sorry anon, I didn't mean to make Fenris look whitewashed.
I still don't have a palette for him, it was in fact the first time I colored him.
It was a quick doodle I made, and probably was too excited in posting it. I didn't realize.
I'll fix him as soon as I can, thank you for pointing it out.
Hi! Your blog is great. Do you do any beta/sensitivity reading?
Hey, anon!
So sorry for taking forever to answer this. Thanks so much for the compliment about my blog, I really appreciate that and I’m glad to know you’re enjoying it! I only wish I had more time to spend on it lately!
In terms of beta reading, I have done quite a bit but mostly just for story flow and general writing advice, never specifically from a sensitivity angle. I guess my comfort level with that would depend largely on what lens you wanted the piece read through? Like, in terms of reading something specifically for sensitivity regarding queer identity, I would be totally comfortable with that, but I think I would be slightly less comfortable doing it from an indigenous perspective, simply because I am still early in the reconnection journey and I still don’t understand some of the subtle nuances involved with my ancestral culture and traditions, and so if something was portrayed insensitively in a less obvious way, I may not necessarily catch it if it wasn’t overt, if that makes sense?
I also try to be pretty transparent about the fact that I am a highly privileged indigenous person, having grown up in the US with white skin. My experience is very different from darker-skinned indigenous people from tribes local to the USA, and also very different from Sámi people who have grown up in Sápmi and Fennoscandia and deal with day-to-day racism from their neighbors because of it. Not to say that anti-indigenous racism doesn’t affect me, but I’ve definitely not experienced it on a level that a lot of other people have, and that also changes the lens through which I would be reading something, as well.
I’d still be happy to discuss it but that’s kind of where I’m at with it just at first glance.
Just wanted to add, for context, that Sveaskog has “paused for dialogue” before and it usually doesn’t lead to anything because either they don’t actually talk to the Sámi people or they do but don’t listen. So it’s the same as they done before, but what you wrote is still important. Bad publicity and pressure make people listen, so it’s important to keep it up! ✊🏻❤️💛💚💙
Thank you for adding that context, I really appreciate it. I confess that I don’t know a ton about Sveaskog as an organization but it’s not terribly surprising. Government-run organizations here do the same thing with our indigenous populations in the US all the time--they talk a big game about opening dialogue but when the time actually comes, very little ends up changing and they just push forward with their actions and violate treaties regardless.
I think oftentimes the “opening dialogue” stuff is just said to make people feel like the org is doing the right thing, and they hope people will forget about it and move on so they can continue to quietly steal land and stamp out indigenous cultures. Definitely not time to hang up the gloves yet!
Ahhh, thank you Azia! I missed all my tungle friends. I hope you’re doing okay in These Trying Times. (Also here is my specific colored heart emoji back at you, LMAO 💛)
