In modern society, countless people live together. However, even they living in one country have different cultures and different ideas. Here, like humans, there is a city where various animal species coexist. It is Zootopia! Let's take a look at the lives of the different animals of Zootopia who have evolved as much as humans.
Characters
Judy Hopps: Born and raised in Bunnyburrow, a rural village, Judy dreamed of becoming a police officer since childhood. However, there has never been a rabbit police officer before, so everyone around her discourages Judy. But with an indomitable will, she tops the Zootopia Police Academy exams, beating out other giant animals. Despite Judy being the valedictorian, Chief Bogo doubts her ability and assigns her with parking duty. Judy is disappointed but she works hard in her own way. Then on one of her shifts, she happens to meet Nick at the Jumbeaux's Café, which is an ice cream parlor made for elephants and other large mammals.
Nick Wilde: Nick meets Judy in the midst of their scheme. Nick seems to have been trying to buy his son a Jumbo-pop, but the elephants refuse to sell, showing signs that say, "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone." Judy helped Nick, but Nick and his son turn out to be a group of people who melt Jumbo-pops and sell them back to Lemmings at more than the original price. Later, he was forced to assist Judy with a carrot-shaped recording pen that recorded his tax evasion. At first, Nick trifles with Judy's dream to change the world to a better place, but he gradually changes his mind as they investigate the disappearance of the otters together.
Synopsis
Zootopia is a metropolis populated by predators and prey of the food chain. It is literally a utopia of animals, especially mammals, with various districts from the Sahara Desert to the Tundra region. Judy Hopps, who dreams of becoming a police officer to make a better world, heads to Utopia. However, as the city’s first rabbit police officer, her police life with big and powerful animals is not that easy. Meanwhile, Judy happens to be in charge of the otter disappearance, one of the many recent missing mammals. With Nick Wilde as a witness of the case, Judy struggles to find the missing otters.
Utopia, Where Discrimination Exists?
Zootopia is a compound word of Zoo and Utopia. In other words, it means paradise for animals. All mammals live harmoniously regardless of species. This reflects the modern society in which everyone lives together regardless of race or culture. At the beginning of the movie, Judy considers Zootopia a place "where anyone can be anything," and she has proven this herself. Given her situation, however, the discrimination still remains there. Other giant mammals are entrusted with investigations into criminal cases, while Judy is assigned relatively easy parking duty. Judy is considered no more than a perfunctory mascot. The same is true of Bellwether, Assistant Mayor of Zootopia. On the surface, a sheep, a small herbivore, appears to have risen to the high post of assistant mayor, but in reality, she was only appointed deputy mayor to make the Mayor Lionheart win the vote of sheep.
‘Zootopia’ is fresh because it is not just dealing with the discrimination that the strong do to the weak. Rather, in the latter part of the movie, it also emphasizes the discrimination against predators. Nick shows himself to be a sly, tricky fox in the beginning of the play. This is the image of a fox people usually have. In fact, Nick dreamed of joining the Junior Ranger Scouts, but other scouts put a muzzle on him as a beast. Nick faces social prejudice that he cannot be trusted because of the image that a fox is foxy. Eventually, Nick fits himself under the way society sees him. He chooses to live as a cunning fox, not the righteous fox he had hoped for.
Unexpected or Stereotyped
In the movie ’Zootopia,’ people could find some unexpected scene. There is an employee named Flash at the Department of Motor Vehicles where Judy and Nick go to search for the vehicle numbers. Just by name, you might have thought of an animal that does everything at the speed of light, but in fact, Flash is a sloth. Also, Mr. Big, the most infamous and feared crime boss leading giant polar bears, is actually a tiny mouse. These scenes make us laugh, revealing the unimaginable identity. However, this may be seen as an expression that not all of the fixed ideas we usually have are right.
In the movie 'Zootopia', Judy is honest and tries hard to achieve her dream. But she also makes mistakes without even noticing. Judy solves the disappearance and is interviewed at a press conference. She is so nervous that she tells that the biological characteristics of predators caused this case. Nick walks out disappointed with Judy, and her words spread throughout Zootopia. Only the subject has been reversed, but Zootopia has become a place full of fear and discrimination against giant predators. Later, however, Judy meets her own unconscious prejudice and tries to correct it. The important thing is, as Judy says in her speech, “The more we try to understand one another, the more exceptional each of us will be. But we have to try. Look inside yourself, and recognize that change starts with you, it starts with me, it starts with all of us.”
The better world Judy wanted begins with recognizing her stereotypes. Such a story appearing in animation for children may be because it is a subject that should be recognized. But in human’s modern society, there are a lot of things that happen because of hatred or prejudice towards others. Social issues such as racism, gender-based discrimination, or malicious comments remains indelible. Respecting differences in others is not a very difficult thing. Knowing that this is important and clear enough for children to know, we should all try to value others.