Zootopia is hardly the first kids movie to appeal to adults, but what stands out
about Zooptia is that it tackles adult topics that family films usually avoid:
racism, sexism, bigotry, and drugs.
[Crazy world are you living in where you think a bunny
could be a cop]
Of course none of these terms is ever expressly named.
The movie uses metaphor and analogy
so that kids can grasp the underlying point, while
adults also might learn a fresh approach to controversial issues,
and you'd never call Zootopia gritty, heavy, or moralizing
because it pulls all this off while while still feeling light, entertaining, and heartfelt.
Even before the film's release,
Zootopia was already making strides to draw in a more mature crowd.
Many of their promotional pieces were parodies of film posters for R-rated films such
as The Big Short, The Revenant and Mad Max Fury Road.
On the primary level, Zootopia is an allegory about prejudice.
[The next time you think you
will ever be anything more than just a stupid carrot farm and dumb bunny]
The way that the Zootopia animal society is structured mirrors our real-world racial tensions.
The city is made up of 90% prey and 10% predator.
[Vicious Predator or Meek Prey]
Even though the prey is the vast majority and thus protected by social
institutions, the minority, the predators, are made out to be feared.
Authorities and power, who are part of the majority, vilify the predators, highlighting
their physical strength and different looks.
There's also a clear segregation
that takes place as animals are separated by species
and businesses turn away certain kinds.
[We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.]
[Very first rabbit officer: Judy Hopps/O. M. Goodness they really did hire a bunny.]
Then, there's the discrimination in Judy Hopps workplace.
As a bunny surrounded by
physically larger animals, Judy represents the female in a
male-dominated workplace.
[Parking Duty.] [I was top of my class at the Academy.]
[Well then writing 100 tickets a day should be easy.]
When she's first forced to work
parking duty this speaks to how women historically have been stalked in
secretarial or administrative jobs with the excuse that they're unfit
for more leadership roles.
[I don't want to be a meter maid, I want to be a real cop.]
Judy's co-workers equate her smaller size with an inability to do the job
because the job is designed for animals who fit the Big Animal for Male profile.
But like other smart women facing sexism, Judy uses her smarts to outwit,
work around, and find different means to excel.
[I gotta tell you, you are even cuter than
I thought you'd be.] [A bunny can call another bunny cute,
but when other animals do it...] [You're a cute meter maid doll. It's not exactly a place
for a cute little bunny.] [Don't call me cute. Get in the car.]
She objects to being called cute,
challenging her co-workers and even us watching because naturally we'd never
thought twice about calling bunnies cute. [Go back home would that cute fuzzy wuzzy little tail]
It seems absurd that this would be offensive.
[You're not seriously looking
for a new assistant, are you?]
But as we react to that absurdity we're implicitly
encouraged to apply the same questioning to how we talk about women
while sure it might be a nice compliment for some to tell a woman she's cute or pretty,
In a working context, this talk elevates her appearance over her merits and minimizes
her status as a serious professional.
Zootopia also casts a spotlight on the
dangers of media fearmongering.
When Judy hold the press conference, she's
surrounded by horrifying imagery of predators in mid growl, shrouded in black
and white. The way the Predators are portrayed in the media masks that as
much outnumbered minority, the Predators are actually a disadvantaged group.
The reporter's questions seem intentionally leading, meant to instigate fear, alienate
predators solely for the sake of pushing headlines.
[Have any other foxes gone savage?]
[More bad news in this city gripped by fear.]
The media's tendency to sensationalized
and play upon the public's fear is an ever-present reality.
This problem is exceptionally relevant in today's media climate
with its polarized news sources and plethora of fake news feeding divisive political agendas.
Even though Judy is one of the prey and experiences discrimination, she's not without fault.
[It may have something to do with...biology.]
Her remark, while not intending to
perpetuate problematic stereotypes, alludes to highly racially charged
offensive discussions of genetics from our world in history.
Afterwards, Judy is confronted by her partner Nick, the Fox, who's a predator.
[Nick, stop it. You're not like them.]
[Oh, there's a them now...]
This event leads to a series of scenes showing microaggression:
a mother on the train pulling her child away from the predator,
Judy carrying around Fox repellent.
[What can you tell us about the
animals that went savage?]
[..by a savage polar bear.]
And repetitions of the word savage,
which can be associated with critiques of the media's
usage of words like thug.
Judy's mistake and its consequences is
one of the movies most explicit lessons to the audience.
Even if we don't consider ourselves guilty of prejudice,
microaggression, and even word choice can be
gateways to treating people as others or less than.
[They thought it would be better
if a predator, such as myself, wasn't the first face that you see when
you walk into the ZPD.]
So we should examine even our small
and unconscious actions.
As Judy discovers that Bellwether orchestrated the
predator attacks to fear monger and seize power,
the movie points out government's officials ability
to use fear to coerce and manipulate voters.
[Get them.]
[Prey fears predator and you stay in power?]
[Fear always works.]
This is a relevant parallel to the rise of populism all over the globe today,
and it's unusual for a kid's film to raise the prospect that authorities might not
be trustworthy, honest, or well-intentioned.
[I was trying to protect the City.]
[You were just trying to protect your job.]
[Hey, no kiss bye-bye for Daddy?]
[You kiss me tomorrow, I'll bite your face off. Ciao.]
And let's not forget other inside jokes that make the movie fun for adults.
[Oh, hi! I'm Judy your new neighbor.]
[Oh, yeah? Well we're loud.
Don't expect us to apologize for it.]
We see an array of pirated DVDs
that pun on Disney and Pixar movie titles.
The mask the scientist uses to make the Night Howler drugs
in an abandoned train car, visually recalls the mask and
environment we associate with the process of cooking meth.
The movie also contains references to The Godfather
which most kids won't have seen.
[To come here unannounced on the day of my daughter is to be married.]
And the visit to the DMV finds comedy from its reputation for being unreasonably slow.
[They're all SLOTHS?]
A problems kids are unlikely to have experienced.
[D.] [Mhm, 0-3.]
When kids emerge from Zootopia, they won't be using any of this advanced
language to discuss race, drugs, gender or the DMV,
but it raises an interesting discussion
about how we can talk to kids about issues like inequality.
So yeah,
Zootopia is a fun ride that makes us smile while also encourages us, adults and kids,
to think a little deeper.
[Judy Hopps can do anything like a boy can do.]
[Zootopia isn't just for kids.]
[That's a wrap.]