Zootopia: A Darker Film for Adults

Rating: 8/10 (11 December 2016)

Zootopia is a great kid's film. It's beautifully saturated, has a ton of cute animals, and has enough action to keep their attention for an hour and half. What's important about this film, however, is its relevance to modern culture. This is the stuff the creators hide under the plot and the characters, the substance that makes Zootopia important. Although this film is perfect for children, some of its underlying themes are aimed at a much older audience.
Let's look at the society the movie has created as a whole. It's a huge city of all kinds of animals, peacefully integrated into a functioning environment. From a modern prospective, this is basically what America is right now. It is a combination of all races even though these races have historically not gotten along. Yet, the mayor of the Zootopia is a lion, a dominant predator, much like white Europeans during the Manifest Destiny period. In other words, the evolution of how these species interact is still affected by previous prejudice. When looking more closely at how the species participate in society, it becomes clearer.
Every occupation seems to be dominated by a single species, bunnies are in charge of agriculture, sloths are all involved with the Motor Vehicle Department, etc. This leads to a lot of stereotyping and racism. For instance, the main character, being a female bunny, wishes to join the police department. When she does get in, she finds that the force is dominated by toxic masculinity (much like a frat house or gym). This very much alienates the main character, demonstrating a "women in the workplace" kind of issue.
Furthermore, the film touches on the Black Lives Matter movement in relation to the fox species. The foxes, stereotyped as greedy and deceptive thieves, are harshly discriminated against. In the ice cream shop scene, the owner of the store refuses service simply because the customer is a fox, clearly a parallel to the way black people were treated up until the civil rights movement.
What is even worse, however, is the main character, now as a policewoman, solely carrying fox repellent as her weapon of defense. Also, while the fox, is only trying to buy ice cream, she is immediately suspicious and has her repellent ready in her holster. This is a very strong idea behind BLM, that the discrimination and automatic behind the police force is dangerous and incredibly outdated.
So what is Zootopia trying to say? To kids, this huge city is almost perfect and a place for opportunity, while adults see it as discriminatory and racist. This is what much of America is to its citizens. Stereotypes feed into actions which further feed into stereotypes. It's a self-destructive kind of circle that ruins a truly united land. This film is more important than many people think. It hides a harsh reality under beautiful animation and cute characters.