Assalamualaikum w.b.t.
Hi, guys! How’s your holidays? Anyway,
have you watched ‘Zootopia’? Directed by Byron Howard and Rich Moore, some critics
acclaim that this animated film might be the most political Disney film ever
made. Praised for its themes about discrimination and social stereotypes, this
55th Disney film is the third highest-grossing film of 2016 and the
25th highest-grossing film of all time. Cutting to the chase, there
are several theories found throughout this motion picture including feminism,
marxism and postcolonialism.
Feminisim
First and foremost, the film ‘Zootopia’ criticizes
the oppression of women in the workplace. In simpler words, this animated film does
promote feminism. As the first ever rabbit on Zootopia’s police force, Judy Hopps
is continually underestimated and overlooked by those who think she is not cut
out for the job. To add, her struggles roughly parallel those of women who are
trailblazers in any field. Besides that, another female character is the
assistant major of Zootopia named Dawn Bellwether who is “more of a glorified
secretary”. Quoted from the film, “I never get to do anything this important”.
It is obvious that she mostly does paperwork and menial jobs whereas the mayor
himself is somewhat of a glory hound who dumps the work on her and gets all the
attention. Thus, both female characters are depicted as the struggles of
working women in the male-dominated workforce.
Marxism
Secondly, this animated film also obstructs
marxism which aims to bring about a classless society. Neither predators nor
preys, they are all animals. In the film ‘Zootopia’, predators are the minority
and they are the only ones who are “going savage” as a result of the night
howler serum which is a metaphor of cocaine. To support, 10% of the population
living in Zootopia are predators, showing a similar mark to the number of black
people living in the U.S. which is 12.2%. Based on a research, 85% of
crack-related arrests are the minority themselves (Hendricks & Wilson,
2013). While the Zootopia major – Leodore Lionheart – struggles to maintain the
peace between preys and predators as he is a predator, his own assistant
masterminds the prey-supremacist conspiracy to get rid of the minority group. In
reality, the assistant represents any white supremacist who tries to get rid of
all minority groups out of the country.
Postcolonialism
Speaking of postcolonialism, Zootopia is
set where predators and prey can live together. According to Judy, there were
two groups years ago which are “meek preys” and “vicious predators”. She added,
“But overtime, we evolved and moved beyond our primitive, savage ways”. In
succinct words, this is also a postcolonial film. Although predators no longer
predate whereas preys are no longer eaten, predators are still mistreated by
the majority group. Back then, Nick Wilde was prejudiced by the other scouts
for being the only predator in his division. When the news of the disappearance
of predators is exposed to the public, a wave of protests against predators shows
the mistreatment of minority group in any country. According to Chief Bogo,
they are now in their postcolonial era where both groups can live in harmony
without their natural instincts. Hence, this symbolizes the postcolonialism of
Zootopia but the majority group still mistreat predators.
0 comments:
Post a Comment