Disney's Zootopia.... a movie about "race" relations....

A saturday afternoon with my eight year old. We've just rented Zootopia.

The entire plot of the movie is about a town of animals living together. Predator and prey, living together.

But, somehow, they've learned to overcome natural instincts. And someone decides to setup "Predator" animals as being responsible for missing "prey" animals.

Thinly veiled at best.

OK, it is looking to overcome stereotypes by way of a fable.


I'm not at all certain as of yet as to my overall feelings or reaction to this. At this point, I see it as.... intriguing.

Hi,

I had seen the movie a few weeks back and thought of the same thing. It's reflective of society, of course; however, we do see this thematic plot being utilized in plenty of animated movies. Typically, animators will derive inspiration from real world events.

~Sovereign

originally posted by: nullafides
I'm not at all certain as of yet as to my overall feelings or reaction to this. At this point, I see it as.... intriguing.

The real questions are:

Did the movie elicit feelings in your son?
What was his take-away?
He didn't get 'tainted' did he?

1st S&F

originally posted by: SovereignEve
Hi,

I had seen the movie a few weeks back and thought of the same thing. It's reflective of society, of course; however, we do see this thematic plot being utilized in plenty of animated movies. Typically, animators will derive inspiration from real world events.

~Sovereign

I am by no means naive.

As stated...I merely found it...intriguing.

originally posted by: nullafides
A saturday afternoon with my eight year old. We've just rented Zootopia.

The entire plot of the movie is about a town of animals living together. Predator and prey, living together.

But, somehow, they've learned to overcome natural instincts. And someone decides to setup "Predator" animals as being responsible for missing "prey" animals.

Thinly veiled at best.

OK, it is looking to overcome stereotypes by way of a fable.


I'm not at all certain as of yet as to my overall feelings or reaction to this. At this point, I see it as.... intriguing.

It definitely was interesting. I watched it with my kids...more times than I would like to admit by this point... because they're at that age where watching a movie several times over is kind of a thing. (On the bright side, it's not Teen Titans GO!)

The message seemed kind of muddled. Stereotypes aren't accurate, except they kind of are...sometimes. And predators aren't dangerous and we should all get along... except when the prey sets them up to be dangerous. So the prey is dangerous, only maybe it's also not.

The film seemed to end somewhere along the lines of "reality is really a confusing mess, but go with it and try to be nice because.... oh look bunnies and foxes hanging out and smiling! The End!"

Eh, interesting....

At least it kept the kids entertained and didn't give me a headache like Cartoon Network.

Not a bad message, I guess,

originally posted by: SisterDelirium
Stereotypes aren't accurate, except they kind of are...sometimes. And predators aren't dangerous and we should all get along... except when the prey sets them up to be dangerous. So the prey is dangerous, only maybe it's also not.

The film seemed to end somewhere along the lines of "reality is really a confusing mess, but go with it and try to be nice because.... oh look bunnies and foxes hanging out and smiling! The End!"

That actually sounds like the most accurate representation of the Real World actually. Except maybe the Predators not being dangerous.

But isn't that otherwise exactly what the world is after all. Sort of stereotypical but not. We should all get along, but don't. Sometimes it's the victim that turns out to be the predator. But in the end try and be nice and "oh, hey, check out these kittens and puppies and bunnies over here."

Sounds like a perfect modern day example of the world.

originally posted by: mOjOm

originally posted by: SisterDelirium
Stereotypes aren't accurate, except they kind of are...sometimes. And predators aren't dangerous and we should all get along... except when the prey sets them up to be dangerous. So the prey is dangerous, only maybe it's also not.

The film seemed to end somewhere along the lines of "reality is really a confusing mess, but go with it and try to be nice because.... oh look bunnies and foxes hanging out and smiling! The End!"

That actually sounds like the most accurate representation of the Real World actually. Except maybe the Predators not being dangerous.

But isn't that otherwise exactly what the world is after all. Sort of stereotypical but not. We should all get along, but don't. Sometimes it's the victim that turns out to be the predator. But in the end try and be nice and "oh, hey, check out these kittens and puppies and bunnies over here."

Sounds like a perfect modern day example of the world.

True.

I'm just not sure how that message plays out in the target audience's brain. It's a fun movie, but it raises roughly as many questions as it answers.

a reply to: nullafides

Sadly utopias are as of today completely fictional, as we stand in our social and spiritual evolution ladder is not going to happen.

But is cute to see it in the big screen and enjoy with your littler ones while their minds are still, fresh innocent and full of hope, for them magic is real.

A lot of members here could learn a great deal by absorbing the messages in that film.

Also, it was hilarious.
Very intriguing for a disney movie certainly.

originally posted by: SisterDelirium

True.

I'm just not sure how that message plays out in the target audience's brain. It's a fun movie, but it raises roughly as many questions as it answers.

Maybe that's better. IMO it's better that kids come away thinking about questioning society rather than having someone else give them the answers for why and what things are. Because as we all know, there are very few real answers in reality and neither Disney nor anyone else has a valid answer either, even though they might think they have all the answers.

The last thing we should be doing is lying to kids saying we do. Because we don't. Thinking we do is what has got us here. When we should have been thinking and questioning are so called answers we thought we had.

originally posted by: mOjOm

originally posted by: SisterDelirium

True.

I'm just not sure how that message plays out in the target audience's brain. It's a fun movie, but it raises roughly as many questions as it answers.

Maybe that's better. IMO it's better that kids come away thinking about questioning society rather than having someone else give them the answers for why and what things are. Because as we all know, there are very few real answers in reality and neither Disney nor anyone else has a valid answer either, even though they might think they have all the answers.

The last thing we should be doing is lying to kids saying we do. Because we don't. Thinking we do is what has got us here. When we should have been thinking and questioning are so called answers we thought we had.

I'm not sure it's entirely truthful to say everyone will live in peace as long as everyone ignores their natural differences, either. Truth is, the sheep can hang out with the wolves, as long as the wolves are well fed on some other source.

But, I do agree that simple evil vs. simple good doesn't work, either, in terms of instructing kids about the world.

All that said, it's probably best not to read too much into kid's shows. That's a slippery slope heading toward hand-wringing over Harry Potter teaching kids black magic

The moral of this story is the only predator remaining is the STATE.

Government never has like competition killing people.

Ponder that.

Say what you want about the movie, the DMV scenes were accurate as hell!

originally posted by: neo96
The moral of this story is the only predator remaining is the STATE.

Government never has like competition killing people.

Ponder that.

Well, that's a dark thought, but yeah. I see what you're saying.

Besides that... what are they eating? Is soylent green fluffy bunnies?

a reply to: SisterDelirium

My son asked what they ate.

I looked at him and whispered, "Did you see any people?"

What do you call a camel with three humps?

originally posted by: DBCowboy
a reply to: SisterDelirium

My son asked what they ate.

I looked at him and whispered, "Did you see any people?"

In other words, soylent green? Still made of people.