Zootopia

The film Zootopia had several controversial themes that reflected on our society today. One of the themes that was highlighted was stereotyping. All of the animals in their world were automatically assumed to have a certain character or work a certain job depending on what animal they were. For example, the fox, Nick, was assumed to be sneaky and untrustworthy because of the stereotypical idea that foxes are conniving. Although it turned out that he was, in fact, a con artist, we saw that it wasn't because he was a fox that he ended up that way, it was due to society telling him that that was who he was. Also, the main character, Judy, is stereotyped by society as a weak bunny who will always just be a carrot farmer. A part of the plot in the movie is her overcoming that stereotype and becoming the first "prey" police officer. By the end of the movie, we see that there are prey animals as well as predators in the police force which shows us that anyone can become anything they want, no matter what stereotype is placed upon them. Another large theme in Zootopia is corruption. We see the corruption at several points throughout the movie, for example when Chief Bogo would not allow Judy to do any real police work and attempted to get her fired simply because she was a prey. Also, when the mayor was covering up for the predators "going savage" due to his personal conflictions in it. And perhaps the biggest corruption in the film; the assistant mayor turning the prey against the predator by causing them to "go savage". The film is filled with governmental corruption and manipulation of the people which you can't help but notice is relflecting on the world today.

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. 

Zootopia

While watching Zootopia, I noticed that at first I was blinded by how ‘perfect’ Zootopia was and how everyone there is free to do whatever they desire, for instance, Judy Hopps, the bunny, but then as I continued to watch it I noticed that Zootopia isn’t all that ‘perfect’. For those of you who haven’t watched it, it’s about how certain animals in Zootopia fake the savageness of others in order to have their way. In other words, the Mayor’s assistance along with other prey planned a way to target predators so that they would be watched and taken out of Zootopia. When I saw this I thought of how it related to today’s society where certain people are looked at in negative ways because of how they look. In Zootopia all the animals who had “killing instincts” in their DNA such as lions, otters, tigers, etc. were looked at as violent in a place where all the animals lived in harmony, where they coexisted.  Of course there is a sense of fear that some of the prey might have, but that doesn't mean their correct about it. A lot like today, anyone who wears a turban and has a long beard is looked at as a terrorist and any African American is looked at as ‘bad’ just because of how they look. A part of me wants to believe that the director and writer of this movie planned this on purpose so that the world would understand that just because an individual looks a certain way doesn’t mean that’s who they really are. I feel that the directors/writers felt the need to show the world that this is how our community looks and how it’s wrong. Even though the movie is an animation and may only appeal to younger audience because it has animals as its characters rather than humans, it reflects today’s world and how the audience is looking at something that is what’s happening now. Zootopia may seem like the perfect place because it’s a place where a bunny like Judy is le to become a cop, but in reality Zootopia is only perfect to some animals but not to all, and that’s why the sheep feel the need to change it. 

Zootopia Analysis

Zootopia brings to light a mature message throughout its screen time. The city of Zootopia is supposed to be a utopia in which all animals, whether they are predator or prey, can live in harmony. Judy Hopps, the rabbit main protagonist of the movie, describes her view of Zootopia as a place where “anybody can be anything”, and the song “Try Everything” tells its listeners to never give up and to try even though they might fail. Zootopia is a place where animals are given the opportunity to do anything they would like to do, and while this may be the ideal situation, the issue preventing this to be true is the distrust between predator and prey. Throughout the movie, predators discriminated against by the majority of the city, as “prey outnumber predators ten to one”. The first time the viewers see this discrimination is when Judy profiles Nick Wilde, the movie’s fox protagonist, as suspicious due to his species and the fact that he seemed to be skulking around. Right after, Nick is denied purchase of a Popsicle due to the fact that he is a predator, and that the owner has the right to do deny this of him. Nick later on in the movie explains that he wanted to be a scout when he was little, but was muzzled and completely humiliated by the other scouts present exclaiming that they would never let a fox be a scout. The uneasiness of Zootopia’s citizens grows to new heights when predators seemingly revert back into a “savage” state of mind. This causes the prey of the city to fear predators greatly. This can be seen in a scene in which a predator sits down on a train next to a mother and child who are prey, and the mother looks very uncomfortable and fearful of the predator. The mother grabs her child and holds them close to keep them away from the predator who may “go savage” at any point from their point of view. Another point in which Clawhauser, a leopard who attends the front desk of the police department, is moved away from sight as the department did not want someone’s first view entering the department to be a predator. Zootopia seems like the perfect utopia in which everyone has a chance to chase their dreams from the outside, but below the surface lies the fact that the schism between prey and predator still remains open no matter how many times they say that they have evolved and left those times behind.

Zootopia Analysis

Zootopia is an interesting movie. It is a utopia for animals where everyone appears to live in harmony. Throughout the movie you see subtle hints about the deeper meaning of the story. Racism, discrimination, and prejudice is demonstrated all through the movie. From the beginning discrimination is shown in the movie. There is a scene where the main character bunny Judy gets bullied by a fox called Gideon. He tells her that her dream of becoming a cop is stupid and she should stick to carrot-farming. This is a perfect example of a discriminatory mindset and can correlate to reflect humans’ reactions with other humans. When you have certain characteristics, people assume ideas about you even though they may not be true. It is a common occurrence in society and it is also displayed in Zootopia. This stems from events that happened in the past. That is true in both American history and in the history of Zootopia. The past dictates how we view other people and the prejudices that we may form against them. For example, in the movie Zootopia the predators were looked down upon because of the past. It was natural for them at that time to kill the majority for their survival. Years later that all changed and there was still an unwavering doubt that the predators haven't changed. There is evidence of this when the animals start to fight after Judy says that their biology might have triggered the response. It made the prey animals defensive against predators and drove a line between their kinds. There was no more unity and the animals were scared of the unknown. Fear is what drives people apart is it a reoccurring theme that is shown throughout the movie. When the animals didn’t know what happening, it caused them to shift their behavior for the worse. The same happens in American society between people of different races. It has a lengthy past originating from slavery.  Overall the movie Zootopia teaches us an extremely important message, we should not judge what we do not know.

Zootopia

For a "movie for kids", Zootopia had a very grown, mature message.There were plenty of deeper, more meaningful things in the movie that relate directly to what's going on in todays world. For example, The relation between predator and prey have a lot of similarities to racism between white and blacks. I hope its not my mind finding the dark in every situation but there were multiple scenes of this being displayed. For example, around the beginning of the movie, there was a scene where a the fox (Nick), who is a predator, was denied ice cream from a store because of who he is. This reminds me of the bad ole days where blacks were refused service by plenty of places with white owners, around the 1950s, 1960s. There was another scene of such discrimination being shown. Near the end of the movie, when discussing how the predators, which in my eyes are African-Americans, were all turning violent and couldn't be controlled, there was another scene. When on the train, a tiger, which is a predator, sat down on the train and started reading a newspaper, doing nothing wrong. However, when a mother rabbit, who is "prey", saw the predator sit down she moved her little bunny daughter close to her, visibly scared and shook. Zootopia is supposed to be a perfect place, free of all issues but its not. Kind of similar to how some white politicians think that the United States used to be "great", when slavery and Jim Crow still ran the town. All in all, Zootopia is a great movie with a great message. At the end, it was proven predator and prey can get along, just as white and blacks should be able to. The world may never be perfect, the people in power may never be perfect, but its the people, who make the difference in the end. I would give Zootopia 10/10 rating on my Yelp account if I had one.

Zootopia

Zootopia is a utopian society in which all animals, predator and prey, are able to live in harmony with one another. Throughout the movie, the many stereotypes that exist among animals were confronted which, through the animals of this society, presented how this utopia somewhat failed as being a utopia. This society is meant to be a place where “anybody can be anything” but it is seen in the film that small animals were constantly being put down and told that they were too small to handle certain tasks. Having a lion as a mayor and small sheep as the assistant is an example of how bigger animals are stereotyped to be commanding, powerful, superior beings. Another example of Zootopia failing as a utopia is the crime and corruption that took place in the film. The scheme of turning prey against predator to bring down a whole society showed how easily a community could be manipulated and torn apart.

On the other hand, Zootopia does have a few things about it that does help it function as a utopia. The city possesses numerous habitats that resemble and function like any natural habitat for the animals that inhabit it. Having a jungle and a town made of ice and snow are examples of how each animal in this society is able to live comfortably in their natural habitats.