I'm putting this on the internet, because I can't seem to find it anywhere else, and I think it is important. I have read
a lot on Disney's recent hit, Zootopia, and found just like you that the
internet is full of praise and criticism of the movie's themes. The movie has a
cool premise, and was fun to watch! However I would not show this movie to my fictitious
children, and it's not for the reasons that the internet has already screamed
about. My impression of Zootopia was one bathed in the rich current topic of
the perpetuation of rape culture.
Don't get
me wrong, I enjoyed the film, however without being informed and aware I would
be very uncomfortable letting my son or daughter watch this, which is ironic
because the movie has broken ground by being created by a half-female team.
This is huge! Despite this awesome feature, the movie falls flat in
representation.
In the film
there are predators, and there are prey.
Primary Prey:
Lt.
Judy Hopps
Assistant
Mayor Bellewether
Primary
Predators:
Nick
Wilde
Mayor
Lionheart
Officer
Clawhauser
The prey
tend to be female, and the predators male. You can argue that Judy's boss:
Chief Bogo, and a few other minor character are male prey, however these
characters tend to be very physically intimidating in one way or another (I
would not want them to "go wild" unlike Judy and Bellewether or are
physically nonthreatening).
When the
conflict starts we find that predators are "going wild" and
losing control of themselves, endangering animals around them. Naturally the
prey is intimidated, and the animals are held accountable for their behavior,
putting the blame primarily on the animal itself. This is only a behavior that
we really see males experiencing. Even in the montage, only one animal goes
wild that is a female.
Later it is
found of course that it wasn't the Predators fault that they can't control
themselves, and while there is some weird and dark commentary on drug rings,
the reason for these predators going crazy is not because of their nature, but
rather it was Assistant Mayor Bellewether (the representative of prey) all
along.
What really
scares me is that this movie shows people, perhaps subconciously the idea that
it is the victim's fault that they are assaulted, and there is no
accountability to be held in the assailant. A really scary concept to be making
the most popular movie in America ,
especially in the light of the crimes of Brock Turner (the Stanford Rapist) and
every other headline we here about.
Zootopia
makes me uncomfortable, and I'm worried that a team of women would perpetuate
such a scary concept to kids, even if subconsciously.
