It is quite frustrating that, at every turn, we hear and discuss Donald Trump. It seems like we are living in a bizarre, obsessed world, and he is the puppet master. He is running the show right now, and demanding the attention. He has plenty of followers who are succumbing to his extremism and calls to arms and fear. I was watching the animated movie "Zootopia" recently, and felt like it was a mirror image of what it feels like in the USA right now.
1. The behind-the-scenes puppet masters
What you will find in this film is that the scene becomes more seemingly uncontrolled, with rampant fear and anger toward predators who are pacified. The slander of their kind and the false accusations causes them to be hated and feared throughout all of Zootopia. And yet, we find out that behind it all there is a creator of the chaos: Zootopia's own Donald Trump, posing as an innocent sheep. Everything is done out of fear as the prey come together to prevent any possibility of danger, but it is all built on lies.
2. The rogue good guy willing to stand up
The tiny little rabbit, incessantly positive and determined, is the one to stand up to unseen monsters and search for the truth. Her unlikely best friend, the fox, is at her side—at first unwillingly, but soon invested, to solve the case of the predators gone savage. At first, the rabbit messes up the entire situation by believing a false accusation and actually spreading rumors out of her own fear. Later, she and the fox discover the truth, and she feels quite misinformed and guilty for spreading the panic.
3. The minority being attacked and blamed
In Zootopia, the predators are the minority and the prey are the vast majority. Power is actually held by both, but still, the fear of some in the category of prey is that the predators could easily take over and wreak havoc on their supposed peace. Here in the U.S., we see the same thing. Some members of the white majority, mostly the male population, desires to put down the minorities who are dark skinned, of foreign heritage, or of a religion other than Christian. They are allowing world issues and a very rogue terrorist coalition to group together people of the Muslim religion to judge, mistreat and accuse them of crimes that they themselves did not commit.
4. The spreading of fear for power and control
The tactic used in Zootopia is to spread the fear and even exaggerate the situation. They decide to actually cause attacks and cases and to publicize them intensely in the media, which causes rampant distrust and fear toward predators. This is what Donald Trump does using the media to cause fear and mistrust toward the Latino and Muslim populations.
I would recommend watching this film and considering what happens in this little animal town, full of diverse creatures and ecosystems. Then you may realize how similar that chaotic animal kingdom is to our current political reality here in the United States. We should challenge the weak sheep's fear of the predator and react with intelligence and open conversations. We can defend against the real threats without alienating our own Americans and dividing our country. We will not live in fear.
