Joonoh Blog #4

Separation and discrimination are the key ideas of the movie “Zootopia”. In the movie, there is an ideal place called Zootopia, where all animals including, predator and prey, all live-in harmony. Supposedly, in Zootopia, all animals have the freedom to become whatever they want. However, in reality, this wasn’t the case. The movie accurately depicts the ideas of social expectation and how everyone who don’t comply with those expectations are considered as irregular. The movie is a great representation of how people see others as stereotypes. For example, in the scene where Judy tells her parents that she wants to be a police officer, her parents show puzzlement and some disapproval. Her parents expect her “bunny” daughter to become a carrot farmer like every other bunny, stay away from predator jobs such as “police officers”. Predators in this movie is depicted as superior to the prey population, which isn’t explicitly stated in the movie. The differences in the movie represent the racial and ethnic differences and the tension that results from it. However, the movie brings a positive message to the audience by showing the success of Judy in the end. Showing that it takes courage and perseverance to defy social expectations and change what other people think about a specific group, race, or ethnicity. Judy changes the way bunnies are perceived by being the first to defy social expectations. 

Savannah Crawford Post #4

Zootopia - Analysis

Can you imagine a place where everyone could be their complete selves? Maybe even a place where everyone accepted others, no matter their background, race, ethnicity and culture? I can. But, do you know of any places that are completely like that? I didn’t think so. The newest utopian Disney movie, Zootopia is a utopia completely composed of animals. The animals are in complete control of the society, they control how they live, what they do and how they do it. The two main characters in the movie are a bunny rabbit named Judy Hopps and a fox named Nick Wilde who are trying to solve the cases that is taking the Zootopia Police Department forever. In the beginning of the movie, we are introduced to Judy being a little girl, however in this case a little bunny, performing in a play displaying the connection between the idea of “vicious” predators and “meek” prey. Judy, is an innocent, hardworking and determined bunny to make a change and make Zootopia a better place while trying to accomplish being the first bunny policewoman. Her view on Zootopia is relatively positive. However, she is in for an awakening. Nick, on the other hand, is introduced as a con hustling fox and as we all know, foxes are slick and “sly”. This is where the predator and prey connection comes into play. Nick says he knows “everyone” in Zootopia, which is ultimately true. When Nick and Judy first encounter each other, he is awfully rude to her and Judy gets discouraged by what he is saying, but overtime they realize that the two of them make a great team. I noticed that from her childhood years until she attended the Police Academy, her parents thought she could stay home and be a great carrot farmer, Gideon, the fox who assaulted her when she was nine told her she would never be able to do it, and her instructor at boot camp was very discouraging. In life, women are always faced with what they shouldn’t do as opposed to society telling them what they have the power to accomplish. Zootopia exposes the truth, irony, forms of oppression, judgement and displaying common stereotypes that occur in our everyday lives. These things are displayed through different scenes of the movie. For example, a scene occurred on a train when a mother and her baby were approached by a cheetah that sits next to them. The mother pulls her child closer to her because she fears the “predator”. In life, many people face oppression by skin tone, looks, fashion, style or whatever the case may be. If you aren’t doing what society wants you to do, you are then labeled. Zootopia expresses so many relatable topics and events that happen in our everyday lives that hits home for a lot of us. This isn’t your average Disney movie; this movie literally preaches to the choir with the use of animals to help depict a modern-day picture of our modern-day society.

Vj zootopia

          A world full of animals  that are talking and being what they want and who they want to be is the definition of Zootopia, well sort of. In this Disney animated movie, it shows how racial discrimination is in this society as well.  A brief summary of this story is that it was a young farm town bunny named Judy and she wanted to be a real police officer but all her life she was told to be a carrot farmer or a person writing tickets for a parking. Her partner in crime was a fox, Nick Wilde, and he was known to be bad because it was in his so-called DNA. The predators and the prey were living with each other in peace because the predator stops messing with the prey since the stone age. However, some predators were showing symptoms that they were tracing back to their roots again.
        Now the discrimination comes into play when you think about our society now. Like this movie couldn't have come better than the time it came out. Our community is getting worse with police brutality and racism. the same way occurs in the movie because they judge a book by its cover basically. Therefore, this zootopia world that supposed to be a perfect place to be in isn't so perfect. In conclusion, people in real life or the animals in zootopia should give everyone the same opportunity and equal rights as any other person or animals.

Jillian English Blog Post #4

Zootopia

Disney is known for packing powerful messages into kid friendly films and Zootopia was no different. Zootopia follows an ambitious bunny named Judy with hopes to become the first bunny cop of the land. Zootopia is built around the idea that all animals, no matter the species, can live together harmoniously. At first glance this racial allegory seems to have the prey represent the minority groups and the predators as the majority, however I found out that it’s the opposite.  Judy Hopps enters the police force through the new “Mammal Inclusion Initiative” which very much favors affirmative action. However, later in the movie we find out that prey makes up 90% of the population dismissing my beliefs that the prey was in fact the minority group. As the story progresses, random predators around Zootopia turn “savage” due to injections from tractor juice. This is an allusion to the 1980s crack epidemic where an influx of crack in minority communities caused chaos. This epidemic kills the peaceful dynamic in Zootopia. One scene that really portray the prejudice is when Judy was on the train and a bunny pulled her kids away from the tiger that sat in the seat next to her. The mother was trying to protect her children while the tiger’s eyes showed how upset he was because he truly means ton harm. Also, even Judy herself is discriminatory, she tells the press that predators are naturally “savage”. I didn’t like the fact that the minority groups are considered the predators. I feel like this just reinforces the twisted ideas of the real world that minority naturally are more savage then their counterparts. However, I don’t believe Zootopia did this on purpose. They try to dismiss the claims that some animals are more savage then others, however on the allegorical side they are just simply reinforcing the idea that minority groups are the “savage” ones.  Overall, Zootopia highlights the different obstacles minorities overcome when integrating into a new society. Zootopia represents our natural instincts of judging based on looks and dirty rumors while trying to look past them to make a more peaceful society in the face of true ugliness.

Jamie Schwartz Post #4

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.

Darius Zootopia

In Zootopia you see a verity of messages to be seen by an unsuspecting young audience. To me the most prevalent message was that of race. At first the races that were being represented weren’t specified. But it all became clear when the bunny cop was called a “token” which is a black person put in a certain position to please the black community. There was never a bunny on the force so I feel like she was going to be promoted to police status because it was time to have a bunny on there. That part was pretty like affirmative action because even though the other predators didn’t have to get perfect scores to be on the force the bunny did so they had to hire her. In some aspects, but all, I saw the bunnies mixed people and the predators as full black people. The reason I see it like that because of how to animals were dressed. They had on track suits and chains. It was clear that they were black because of how to police were handling them when they went “savage”. Speaking of going “savage”, this brings a great point to light. When the bunny is asked about the predators going “savage” she says it’s not their fault, it’s in their DNA to go “savage” because they are predators. This statement is the main reason I think the bunny was mixed. That statement was extremely racist and she didn’t know why. The fox feels offended and the children that watched this movie probably didn’t catch what I caught. The bunny pulled an Uncle Tom move. An Uncle Tom is a black person who does something to sell out their own. That is exactly what happened there. Another observation I made was the little animals. The assistant to the mayor kept saying that the small animals need to stick together. I saw them as white people because a lot of white people think their race is dying out so they need to stick together.

Brina Martinez Post #4

 

Overcoming stereotypes is a huge part of the movie Zootopia. Zootopia represents what society is like, except with the use of animals. But even with animals Disney found a way to address stereotypes and racial issues through a kids movie.

All of these problems were addressed from the very being of the movie, starting with Judy’s parents who told her to give up on her dreams of being a cop, because “bunnies don’t do that.” Which is a problem kids and even adults face today, being told that they can't do certain things because of who they are. And the movie ended with Nick proving not to be like every other fox, which would represent those people who overcome stereotypes and prove themselves not to be like everyone else.

One of the biggest moments in the movie was when Judy defended the Nick at the Popsicle shop. Judy believed he could be a good fox despite what her parents and everyone else told her, and even after being scratched by a fox when she was younger. But after leaving the shop she soon discovered the whole thing was a scam or as Nick called it a "hustle." Nick was just like every other fox until he began to help Judy solve the case. We later learned that Nick is the way he is because at a young age he wanted to be a Zootopia Junior Ranger but the other animals didn’t trust him because he was a fox. All of these scenes show real life situations, and even how younger children in the movie are taught not to trust foxes or children in real life are taught not to trust certain groups of people because of their races and how they look.

The movie also shows how not everyone falls into certain stereotypes that society has put in place. For instance, Judy becomes valedictorian of her class, and becomes the first bunny cop of Zootopia. Even after overcoming those obstacles more are placed and she still has to prove herself tough enough to be a cop. Judy starts off giving tickets and at the end solves a case. Nick who is made out to be a sleazy, clever fox, turns out to be the only one to help Judy on her case, even though it took a little bit of manipulation at first. The elephant is made out to be a clever one, who can remember everything, but she can’t! This shows how some groups of people are given certain stereotypes but not everyone apart of that group actually fits the stereotype.

Although Zootopia is a kid’s movie, it puts out a very important message addressing stereotyping. It shows us what our world is like today. The movie also problems we faces everyday in society because of things like our race, or the way we look. The movie also shows us that despite these stereotypes we can be like Judy Hops and become the first bunny cop in Zootopia.