It’s a tumultuous time for people in the United States. Over the last few years, we’ve seen a resurgence in racial discrimination, police brutality and the utilization of fear within mass media for political gain.
So, on that note, let’s talk about "Zootopia" for a moment.
Not quite the opening you were expecting, eh?
If you haven’t seen "Zootopia" yet, I’ll try to steer clear of spoilers as best I can; I make no promises though, so read at your own discretion.
"Zootopia", for those of you who don’t know, follows a rabbit named Judy Hopps who aspires to be a cop. It also follows a con-artist fox named Nick Wilde. Together, the two get wrapped in a noir-esque conspiracy that threatens the titular city of Zootopia.
Pictured: A neo-noir, crime drama.
Having said that, I’m not here today to talk to you about the utilization of neo-noir generic tropes in a family film. (Though, having said that, I was impressed at how the film adapted decidedly a non-family centric genre to a family film.)
No, I want to point out how impressive this film is in how it addresses race and prejudice.
If you didn’t gather as much from the trailers and promotions surrounding "Zootopia", the film is concerned with the racial divide between predators and prey in the film, a clear analogue for different racial identities. Even more impressive is how the film refuses to paint a binary picture of prejudice. This is a problem for everyone, it posits.
I won’t give exact examples because, you know, spoilers, but let’s just say this film has some particularly heart-wrenching scenes depicting just how hurtful prejudice, even accidental prejudice, can be.
The reason "Zootopia"’s subject matter is so noteworthy is that, well, this is a Disney film. You know, the corporation that shies away from controversy like the plague. “But how impressive is that?” I hear you ask. Let me contextualize this a bit.
Disney, for years and years now, has been the company largely responsible for re-popularizing and adapting folklore and fairy tales. There’s a reason that when I say “the little mermaid” you think of the animated motion picture and not Hans Christian Andersen’s prose. In fact, the works of authors like Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm has largely been overshadowed by the cinematic monolith that is Disney.
This, however, is clearly not from a fairy tale.
Rather than create a clearly distinct fantasy world that operates under its own separate rule set, "Zootopia" creates an analogue of our own world, reflecting contemporary fears, anxieties and issues. It’s a tightly constructed film that doesn’t avoid real world problems but rather addresses them intelligently using its narrative construction and fictional world. It’s not cute, anthropomorphic animals for cute, anthropomorphic animals' sake; the film’s a little too smart for that.
"Zootopia" is the latest in a long line of decidedly more contemporary Disney animated films, but I think it deserves more praise than its recent predecessors. While "Tangled" and "Frozen" got caught up in the postmodern reconstruction of the Disney fairy tale and "Big Hero 6" rode on the coattails of the Marvel cinematic universe, "Zootopia" asserts both a unique identity and a surprisingly forward mindset. Disney’s outdone itself, and while this might not be the best Disney film to come out of the last twenty years, it’s certainly the most ambitious.
TL;DR: Go watch this movie. Really. Do it. Go now. You won't regret it.
