If you didn’t know, Zootopia is in theaters and it’s blowing up.
I’ll have to admit, when I first saw the trailer for the animated feature film, I didn’t think much of it. Oooh, talking animals--like we haven’t seen that before.
However, Zootopia is taking the box office by surprise. The film’s total box office for its first two days is $143 million dollars putting it as the number one movie for the weekend of March 11-March 13. Beating out J.J. Abrams, 10 Cloverfield Laneand Sacha Baron Cohen's, The Brothers Grimsby.
Zootopia was directed by Byron Howard and Rich Moore. Zootopia, follows Judy Hopps (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin), a bunny who becomes the first rabbit police officer in Zootopia. In Zootopia, the city has fallen victim to many missing animal cases. Hopps wants to be on the case but Chief Bogo doubts her potential due to her size. She is assigned to parking lot duty. During one of her shifts she meets con artist Nick Wilde (voiced by Jason Bateman) and together they discover the cause of the missing animals.
Critics seem to like the film. Variety Magazine, Chief International Film Crtitic, Peter Debruge made this comment about the film:
Disney offers a decades-later correction to 'Song of the South,' in which rabbits and foxes have a chance to live together in relative harmony.
Some see, Zootopia as a commentary on how we approach diversity in our society.
Jeff Wang, a writer for Quartz.com, described the film as “as an epic allegory for the intricate ways in which race, gender, and difference both enrich and complicate our lives.”
This is definitely evident in the seen where Judy Hopps and Nick visit the DMV to run a plate number. Judy is in a rush and is looking for a fast turn around so she’s shocked to see the entire DMV is operated by sloths. Judy and Nick’s conversation goes something like this:
Judy: Wait, They're all sloths.
Nick: Are you saying because he’s a sloth he can’t be fast?
While the film should be applauded at its attempt to talk about racial stereotypes along with the treatment of women in male-dominated professions (as portrayed as Judy Hopps being first rabbit police officer), the film does perpetuate some stereotypes as well.
For example, Judy Hopps is representative of women who work in male-dominated fields. Judy is a small, perky rabbit. This further continues the stereotype that women should be petite and weak in some regards. There’s even a crack at women’s mental strength with Nick’s comment of “Rabbits, you’re so emotional." Ethnic stereotypes are also present. When Judy and Nick get taken by Mr. Big’s, a notorious crime boss in Zootopia, goons, Mr. Big’s accent is something if not straight out of the Godfather.
The representations of gender and ethic groups are very clear so it could be said that the use of these stereotypes is purposeful in order to depict how people view others different from ourselves. In closing, I’ll leave you with this:
“Life’s a little bit messy, we all make mistakes, no matter what type of animal you are, change starts with you.” ~Judy Hopps
