Zootopia is a Disney movie about an animal society. The movie follows Judy Hopps in her quest to become the first, and best, bunny police officer.  She cracks open the biggest case in the city of Zootopia, and saves the day. What is the underlying message of Zootopia?

Zootopia is really about discrimination. The first time the discrimination is shown is against Judy Hopps. Hopps is a small bunny who dreams of being a police officer.  Everyone tells her she can’t do it because she’s a bunny. Hopps does become a police officer, but faces similar challenges within the police force.  The police captain assigns her to parking ticket duty, because he doesn’t think that she can do anything else.  Throughout the whole film every tells Judy Hopps that she can’t do something because she’s a bunny. Even when she does it, she still faces discrimination because of who she is.

Discrimination is also shown against the predators in Zootopia. The police and the residents of Zootopia begin to live in fear of the predators when a few of the “go savage”.  All of the prey in Zootopia avoid the predators. Some of the predators are even removed from their jobs, just because they’re predators. Predators are the minority in Zootopia, and the majority prey discriminates against them because of a few bad predators.

The discrimination faced by the predators and Judy Hopps is all a metaphor for our world. So often people face discrimination for who they are. We see it everyday in racial profiling by the police, and in the way people attack others for their religious beliefs. Zootopia puts this complex issue into a form that children can understand. It shows them that it’s not okay to discriminate against someone because of who they are.

Zootopia does what every children’s movie should, teach the viewers an important lesson. Zootopia teaches the viewers that discrimination is not okay. I’d like to see more movies that deal with issues like this. What movies do you like that deal with complex social issues? If you’d like to read more about cartoons, cosplay, media, and more, then subscribe to Media Mania.