The second opus of Snow Queen will only be released on December 25 in Northern Europe. And, already, the tickets are getting off. Especially in the Sami region. There, in northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia, the excitement is at its height. The indigenous reindeer breeder has not only inspired the creation of the new friends of Queen Elsa and her sister Anna (of the renamed Northuldra), but for the first time, she will finally be able to see an animated film from Disney in one of his languages, North Sami.
"I do not even know how to explain how important it is for our children to be able to discover this film in their language", says Aili Keskitalo, the Speaker of the Sami Parliament of Norway, a consultative body. In 2013, at the release of the first film, she contacted the northern branch of Hollywood studios, to request that an original version be produced. Without success.
Whitewashing
The Sami had nevertheless recognized elements of their culture in the film inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's Danish tale. There was, for example, the character of Kristoff, the mountaineer accompanied by his reindeer, Sven. The producers also called on Norwegian musician Frode Fjellheim to compose the song Vuelie, inspired by the traditional sami song joik.
At the time, Disney had been accused of cultural appropriation. In the United States, some bloggers even lashed out at the whitewashing – literally, the whitening – of some characters – like Kristoff, judged too clear skin. In Scandinavia, the debate had not really taken. The Sami community – about 80,000 people – was rather pleased to be a source of inspiration, only regretting never having been consulted.
So when, in the fall of 2016, it was rumored that the team of The Snow Queen II (Jikŋon 2, in Sami) was in Sami territory, the local elected officials took things in hand. After consulting the Presidents of Sami Parliaments in Sweden and Finland, Aili Keskitalo sent a letter to Burbank, California, at the multinational's headquarters: "We wanted to make sure that if the rest of the film was inspired by our culture, it would be done with respect, without playing on prejudices. "
In her letter, the Speaker of the Sami Parliament of Norway proposes "A collaboration, which she emphasizes can only be mutually beneficial". She has no illusions: "Between the way of communicating a small people of Arctic Scandinavia and that of a multinational, there is a clash of cultures"she laughs. And yet, the answer comes quickly. She is positive.
