Themes And Themes Of The Film ' Zootopia '

In current society today, technology is advancing at a rapid rate and with so much exposure to the media it is difficult to control what is being seen by children. Disney is one of the largest and most successful companies in the film industry. From children 4 years old to adults and every age in between, Disney has found a way to create films that entertain all ages. The seemingly innocent content of Disney movies are enjoyed from a very young age; however, behind the colorful and lighthearted storylines of many Disney films lies many unreasonable social ideologies that children may be subconsciously becoming accustomed to. In her work, “Where Do the Mermaids Stand,” Laura Sells discusses the hidden messages in Disney’s The Little Mermaid. Sells explains how this movie expresses a hierarchy of gender and exaggerated femininity by demeaning the role of women in society. Susan Jeffords, author of “The Curse of Masculinity,” discusses similar ideologies in her article. This article looks at Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and focuses primarily the role of men and the how they perform to fit into this white male system by means of upholding hegemonic masculinity. The two articles “Where do the Mermaids stand” and “The curse of Masculinity,” bring to attention the reinforcement of the white male system, the racialization in the white male system, and the reinforcement of hegemonic masculinity in beloved childhood Disney movies.

It is no secret that the media is able to influence the general public’s opinion on most anything. Whether the subject is fiction or non, movies, documentaries, and the news especially, are capable of swaying the public’s opinions and perceptions one way or the other. Not even the world of law enforcement is safe from the media’s purview (Barlow, M. H. and Barlow, D. E. and Chiricos T. G., 1995), as media portrayals often romanticize law enforcement as a well oiled machine that always gets the bad guy, and has a perfect relationship with the public. On top of this, the media has displayed a poor habit of portraying crime as predominantly violent and racial, rather than showing the whole picture(Gilliam, F. D. and Iyengar, S. and Simon, A. and Wright, O., 1996). In this paper, the motives driving these depictions, as well as the scope and effect of the media’s influence on public perception of law enforcement, will be explored and discussed.

The Mickey Mouse Monopoly documentary reveals the obscure social messages behind the animated films created by the Disney Company. Although we are conditioned to believe that these movies are pure forms of entertainment, further examination has proved that there are hidden messages concerning gender, race and class that Disney is instilling in the minds of children. The speakers in the documentary argue that Disney is extremely political and hides its ideas behind innocence, magic and fun. When masked by features that are appealing to a younger audience, it is difficult to realize these ideas without taking a closer look.

Hollywood scripts and television programming are filled with storylines of crime and criminal justice. The viewing public consumes crime

What images come to mind as one reflects upon his or her childhood? Playgrounds, blackboards, and soccer balls may be among the fondest of memories. Yet, for many, mermaids swim their thoughts, princesses get swept off their feet, and lions roar to their royal place in the animal kingdom. Disney films have captivated the American culture for years and have become a pivotal part of popular culture as well as a form of education. However, these films have devoured the youth of America and, in the process; have perpetuated an institutionally racist society based on harsh stereotypes. Minorities are often underrepresented, and even completely left out, of many Disney films such as Dumbo (1941), The Lion King (1994), Aladdin (1992), and

Regarding the film Zootopia, there are several social psychological concepts that were explained in the events. Throughout the film, subtle but offensive comments and actions are unintentionally and unconsciously directed toward the non-dominant group (predators) and the protagonist of the film, Judy Hopps, encounters those macroaggressions throughout the story. As the film progressed, the police force became increasingly fearful and pejorative of the predator group in the city, which drew similarities to the attitudes exhibited by law enforcement officers in American society. Attitudes provide an association between a concept and an evaluation, whether it is favorable or unfavorable, desirable or undesirable, positive or negative. In addition, attitudes can be classified as automatic or deliberate. In comparison to the reflective responses (also called explicit attitudes) that individuals exhibit, the (automatic) implicit attitudes are relatively inaccessible to control and conscious awareness.

The portrayal of crimes in all various forms of media are mostly exaggerated and tend to overstay there welcome. When a crime gets reported on the news or any other media they tend to focus on violent crimes only. Most focus sole on crimes in poor neighborhoods and only on certain race and genders. When a crime is portrayed in movies or in video games it is usually unrealistic and tend to be blown out of proportion for the viewers to get them hooked. Once in a while there are good types of media that can correctly describe crimes. Boyz n the Hood is a story about a group of friends who have to struggle and cope to live in the hard streets of Crenshaw, located in Los Angeles. In the film their friend gets killed by a group of blood members and they seek revenge at the end of the film by killing the culprits cold-bloodedly with an AK-47. There are numerous theories described in the books and modules that can help explain why the characters in the film committed the murder and crimes depicted in the film.

Disney creates gender roles, racial roles, and white supremacy through socialization within their motion pictures. For example, Walt Disney’s “Snow White”, “Fantasia”, and even “The Little Mermaid” all show females as obscenely beautiful, male dependent and flirtatious creatures who couldn’t save themselves from a Chinese finger trap. Males are the perfectly sculpted rescuers who can be easily wooed by a woman’s body; and these exaggerated roles create a false standard for children and can lead to severely underdeveloped sociological skills. Moving onto the racial roles; in the movie “All dogs go to

Stories are often a reflection of reality. Unlike many animated films marketed towards children, Disney’s Zootopia contains more than its fair share of socio-political commentary. The timing of Zootopia’s release in 2016 illuminates the American paradox. The U.S. culture celebrates diversity of lifestyle and background within a shared American experience, but at the same time, the country is split with the discourse of hatred. The movie follows an ambitious young Judy Hopps whose goal in life is to become the first female bunny police officer. Placed on parking ticket patrol, Judy teams up with a con artist fox Nick Wilde to solve a missing animal mystery that has been plaguing the city of Zootopia. The divide between predator and prey is something the two protagonists Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde were forced to accept as a

Organized crime has been an extremely prevalent subject over the past decades, whether it’s in the news, fictional stories or hybrid docudrama, this type of crime has been a steadily popular subject in the media’s eyes. It has provoked a stream of intellectual discussion on its nature and the impact of its diverse representations. Regardless of opposing views as to this relationship, there is a broad agreement that the media has a tendency to be selective and oversimplify. They tend to focus largely on individual pathologies and violence. Hollywood’s style of glamorizing things is commonly fused with dubiously obtained facts, which provide an energetic account of excitement and danger for society. This is because in today’s world, quick news turnover and profit growth drive media. Organized crime TV shows and movies have embellished and created popular stereotypical characters as well as criminal activities, to the point where the line between real and fake has become extremely distorted.

During the last several decades, the media has become a strong agent in directing and controlling social beliefs and behaviors. Children, by nature, can be particularly susceptible to the influencing powers of the media, opening an avenue where media created especially for children can indoctrinate entire generations. Disney movies, like all other media “are powerful vehicles for certain notions about our culture,” such as racism. (Giroux 32). Racist scenes in Disney movies are often identified as simply being “symbols of the time” when the films were produced. Furthermore, Disney racism is often passed over as simple humor, or as a simple guide to

ideas on what exactly crime is, how it is represented by the media, and how

On the surface, Zootopia might appear like a fun, silly Disney movie, but the film actually touches on powerful messages about stereotypes, prejudices, and power in today’s society, especially regarding racial relationships. Zootopia is a film about a world where prey and predators live together in supposed harmony. Judy Hopps, a bunny aspiring to become a police officer, faces resistance from other animals. Similarly, Nick Wilde, a con artist fox, faces social stereotypes that harm his self-image. These two characters work together to solve a missing mammal case, and end up discovering a darker secret: the mayor’s assistant, Bellwether, hatched a plot to turn predators into savages so that prey would finally get recognition in government. The prey, however, are the majority, making up ninety percent of Zootopia’s population, and the predators are the minority, making up ten percent of the population. (Zootopia) Throughout the movie, the viewers are exposed to the stereotypes and discrimination that the prey impose on the predators. Ultimately, this film is a message about the relationships between the dominant and minority groups. Through this prey-predator relationship, Zootopia reveals how the power of language and the dominant narrative results in both harmful stereotypes and unconscious biases.

It is no surprise people enjoy stories of overcoming the odds. This is why both children and adults love the movie Zootopia. Walt Disney’s Zootopia is a heartwarming story on its own, but when it is analyzed, the movie has deeper meaning and lessons to learn. Zootopia not only has many post-colonial aspects that explain the mammals’ way of life, but it displays psychoanalytic tendencies about how the main characters childhoods affected them later in life.

In the film Zootopia we see right off the back how a society is shown it may look happy on the outside but picture can be misleading. Although race plays a big part in the movie what I didn’t notice before reading Sir Thomas Moore’s Utopia was that it was much more than that. It was about the society and how people views never really change. Even though the predators and prey lived in peace for many year the prey still felt some way about the predators. Zootopia was very large but the people there had hidden resentment toward each other. This goes with the first quotes “They are generally more set on acquiring new kingdoms, right or wrong than on governing well those possess”. Zootopia full of tall beautiful building but the people there were still unhappy.