The allegory behind Zootopia represents
a society of animals that have long ago shed their primal “savage” instincts
and now live in peace. The land of Zootopia is the culmination of everything
these animals have achieved, and as Judy insists, a place “where anyone can be
anything.” However, taking a closer look at the conflict in the movie, I
realized that the predator-prey tension draws close parallels to racial and
ethnic tension in our own society. This can be seen from the very beginning of
the movie, when Judy’s parents tell stay wary of foxes. Despite that predators
and prey live together, there is still an undertone of distrust between them,
similarly to the subtle prejudices that people in our society have towards
people of different gender, race, or sexuality than their own.
During the part of the movie when
it is revealed that predators are biologically predisposed to being savages, I
was reminded of the White Man’s Burden, the rhetoric used in the pre-Civil War
era. This phrase falsely implied that black people were too “savage” to
function normally in society, and that white people had an “obligation” to “save”
them.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the
movie and its interpretation of utopian society.
No comments:
Post a Comment