Zootopia Analysis: Zootopia=America

Disney has always been good at making family friendly movies that everyone can enjoy with Zootopia, not being an exception. Every scene brings joy to the kids watching it, but can bring an ominous and familiar feeling to others. The group of people having these ominous feelings are usually adults because they see things that kids overlook. Though a close analysis can reveal that this movie is familiar because of one thing. Zootopia is exactly like America with the only difference being that animals are replacing human roles. This can be seen by analyzing the environment and social structure of Zootopia while comparing it to America’s own lifestyle.

The environment of Zootopia is one that’s splits between 12 districts with it forming one union. All these 12 districts are considered one union because they are led by one mayor and share collective ideas. This mayor works in collaboration with the government and police force to maintain Zootopia’s amity. All of the things surrounding their structure can be mirrored into what America does. In America, there is only 50 states that work differently but are considered unified. America also has a leader which is the president whom guides their citizens along with a having a police force to maintain order. These similarities run even deeper by looking at every small detail of Zootopia atmosphere. In one scene, Officer Hoops and Nick arrive at DMV run by Sloths while searching for a clue on a case. These sloths are slow to represent how slow DMV’s are in America. Another scene show’s a mouse existing a store called Mousy’s which is basically a Macy’s for mice.

Social structure of Zootopia also has a direct resemblance to how America functions. In the movie, there’s two group’s: Predators and Prey. Although there’s supposed to be peace, each group is met with prejudice and stereotypes from the other. In one scene, Nick is trying to buy a popsicle for his fake sun and is rejected service because he’s a fox. Although this scene was humorously because it’s found out later that Nick was being a fraud, the message of discrimination still stands. This scene can correlate with a human being denied service because of their race or beliefs. The animals that are in charge can be seen as huge and male. This is seen with Mayor Lionheart and Chief Bogo who are both huge male’s in their respective fields. Their social structure of having big males in the top can be seen in America as well. In congress, the ratio of male to female is 445:95 with women still holding few seats in congress despite it being 2016.  

These hidden messages found in Zootopia are what makes it such an impactful movie. Kids may view it as just a funny comedy, but a close analysis reveal’s it to be how America actually operates. Acknowledgment of these movie problems being real is what's needed to fix them in America.