So, like everyone else, I went and saw Zootopia in theaters over my spring break this last week.
My first thought was that I totally wanted to be Nick Wilde for Halloween this year, until my brother claimed that for himself.
My second thought was that it may just be the most socially progressive and enlightening film released in a long while, and achieved this while simultaneously maintaining a fun-loving and kid-friendly tone. It has become a way to educate young children on integral social issues such as racism, classism, and sexism while still maintaining their youth. It's truly a masterpiece.
For one, Officer Judy Hops of the ZPD gives young kids a figure that has overcome obstacle after obstacle and achieved goals no one believed she could. Aside from the obvious benefit of the connection that young girls may feel with Hops and, therefore, the embodiment of her self-confidence and perseverance, Hops also shows that it's not only normal, but forgivable to make mistakes. In the film, she wrongly attributes the predators' feral behavior to their biology whereas it was caused by a poison flower (symbolic of institutionalized racism being brushed off as inherent weaknesses of minorities). Because of this mistake, she alienates her newfound friend and potential partner Nick Wilde, a fox and a predator. However, Hops realizes her mistake and takes great strides to fix it, in the end regaining her friend, exposing the plot to destroy predators, and restoring the harmonious balance in Zootopia. Yes, she made a mistake in the world of Zootopian social justice, but she took responsibility for that mistake and fixed it. She was not crucified for her mistake, nor should she have been particularly after she admitted said mistake.
Nick Wilde gives a prime example of how to handle the situation. He's obviously angry at Hops upon her blaming predators' "biology," as that insinuates she also believes he is dangerous. However, when Hops shows remorse for her mistake, true remorse, he forgives her because he cares for her. A lesson can be learned from this. Social justice has become a witch-hunt. Instead of teaching people who don't know any better, instead we ridicule and demean them. In short, we don't forgive them. If you want to take something away from Nick Wilde, take away that he was kind and loving and forgiving even when, today, most people wouldn't have been. Take away that he forgave, just as we need to learn to forgive again as well.
Zootopia was a study in social justice presented as a family-friendly movie. It was a way to immerse everyone in a story of oppression and forgiveness and love and justice. In truth, we can all learn from it, no matter how knowledgeable or progressive we are.
Truthfully, I might still be Nick Wilde for Halloween. The world can never have too many of them.
