I think that my favorite part of Zootopia, other than the snarky attitude of both protagonists and the various jokes, is that the fact that none of the characters, well at least none of the main ones, are one-dimensional caricatures. Judy, despite being an overall heroic good character, has her faults and prejudices; even though she and Nick had been working together she instantly reaches for her fox spray as soon as he bares his teeth. This sort of wariness around foxes is brought about by her parents and the fact that she had been attacked by one when she was younger, but since she had been working with Nick you would think that she knew that he wasn’t like the ones she had been warned about by her loving but misguided parents. On the flipside, the villain, Bellwether, isn’t just a villain for the sake of being evil; being constantly bullied and nagged by her predator boss definitely played a role in her contempt and framing of the predator minority in Zootopia. Are her actions forgivable? No. But at least her relatable frustration gave her more dimensions than simply, “I was bad all along for absolutely no reason.” Another interesting thing about Zootopia is how the majority (the prey) transitions from being the oppressed to the oppressors. All in all, this was a fun movie with character development and social commentary hiding just beneath the surface of the goofy character models and the irony of a slow sloth speeding in a fast car.
Rose Scholars Fall 2018
Endless possibilities
I totally share your opinion about the movie. You are right when you say that this movie was more complex than a typical kids’ movie as the main characters were more than “one-dimensional caricatures”. where you definitely know who is good and bad.
You raised a lot of interesting points about the multi-dimensionality of the characters. It’s nice that even in a children’s movie, the filmmakers made an effort to make characters who, like real people, are complex in their motivations, morals, and actions. They did an excellent job and demonstrating that the main character, despite her strength and skill, was not perfect. Instead, she took the necessary steps to confront her mistakes and right her wrongs. This is definitely a much more powerful example to show in the face of such complex social issues like discrimination and prejudice.