At this point, it's probably fairly obvious that "Zootopia" is basically a parallel to the world we live in today. Like our world, there are social injustices. Like our world, there are beings who focus too much on the differences between us, rather than the similarities between us all. Like our world, there are people in all aspects of the social injustice system.
On one end, there are predators, who are seen as ancient enemies of the prey and only make up 10 percent of the population. On the other end, there are prey, who (overall,see the ancient predators as enemies and consider themselves oppressed.
Which mindset are you?
Note: this is all from the perspective of a 16-year-old Asian girl who lives in a sheltered, minimally diverse community.
1. Judy Hopps
Judy Hopps is the protagonist, and as she is a rabbit, she is considered "prey." She wants to be a cop, a position traditionally reserved for larger, hardier creatures. Because she knows how it feels to be disregarded and mocked for being a rabbit and having the desires she has, she tries her best to be open-minded to everyone.
However, no matter how hard she tries, having a pair of parents with traditional-esque views influences her more than she'd like to admit, and the message drilled into her by her parents and society are what cause her to initially lose her newest friend, Nick Wilde.
She is the epitome of the people that I see most in the communities around me, as an individual of Generation Z.
Most people genuinely try to be open-minded, but, sometimes their environment causes them to become borderline discriminating. Such examples would be that of a centennial with parents who harbor seamlessly racist tendencies towards a certain minority. For example, always locking the car doors when Hispanics and black people around or people who automatically assume that every Asian person is an ex-oppressed subject of Mao Zedong.
2. Nick Wilde
Nick Wilde is Judy’s reluctant ally, whose relationship is forged when she realizes that, due to being a rabbit, she is allocated no resources whatsoever, whereas Nick Wilde is a fox who conveniently has everything she needs at her disposal – insider knowledge about the dirty workings of Zootopia.
The problem is, however, as previously stated: Nick Wilde is a fox – a sly predator. As a result, nobody trusts him completely. And he’s fine with it. As a young kit, he had a bad scrape with a pack of exceptionally prejudiced prey, after which he decided that if nobody would see anything in him except the fox, then he would be nobody except the fox.
He represents the oppressed people in our society who have given up – the ones who conform to their stereotype, no matter how untrue or harmful, because it’s easier. I don’t blame him for being frustrated, losing hope and conforming, but at the same time, I kind of do. He is someone who needs to fox up about his identity. While people like him still exist, we will never get rid of discrimination of minority groups and this extends beyond racism to other aspects of one’s identity, such as sexual orientation, nationality or gender.
3. Bellwether
Bellwether is a sheep, a type of prey. In prehistoric times, prey were eaten by predators. Sheep in particular, are on the smaller and weaker end of creatures, and as seen by the discrimination endured by Judy, smaller and weaker creatures are not expected to hold force-reliant or high positions in anything, such as cop or mayor.
However, Bellwether doesn’t crave for equality. At this point in time, her species has been oppressed for so long that she doesn’t even think an egalitarian society is feasible anymore. She craves vengeance. She craves domination. And she attempts to take it. She is the epitome of the extremists in our society.
In our society, there are many who are vying for a completely egalitarian society for all, so that everyone has equal opportunities. That’s cool. However, what’s not cool is when any group of people in this day and age strive to achieve domination. This doesn’t just apply to situations where traditional oppressors attempt to stay in positions of higher power and status but to situations where the traditionally oppressed try and become the oppressors as well.
It is because of people who think like her that history repeats itself. Yes, technology will grow more advanced, the universe will keep expanding, and time will keep ticking, but if this pattern doesn’t stop itself before it begins, I guarantee that the newly oppressed will attempt to become the next oppressors, and view their prior glory days as such through rose-tinted lenses.
Which of the main three "Zootopia" characters do you identify with?
