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Zootopia 2 is going to be interesting.

Just by the fact alone that snakes hadn’t been seen in the city for years and Zootopia of all places prides itself on being an ‘all inclusive’ city. It was the whole reason Judy wanted to move there in the first place. So here I am wondering why Zootopia is all inclusive except for snakes… and then I realized that every animal we’ve seen in the first movie were mammals. That snake’s existence also implies the existence of other sentient reptiles, birds, amphibians, and maybe even some sentient fish (hopefully not all because that means there’s acceptable levels of eating another sentient race in their world).

So… the wonderous ‘all inclusive’ Zootopia only welcomes mammals. It’s just starting to be more open to predators coexisting more closely with herbivores on a social and cultural level. But the trailer also shows that not every animal gets along and some predators will immediately take a small smile as a threat. So we have this conflict still happening despite the last movie’s victory which is not surprising. Having two cultures agree to coexist is one thing but it’s a learning process and sometimes fights will happen. It’s not great but it’s to be expected. I mean, discrimination is still a thing today even if it used to be worse in some parts of the world. The reality is that change happens in little bits at a time.

So, Zootopia is currently facing a huge shift between the relationship between predators and herbivores. It’s still messy and not at all harmonious even if the desire for change is there. Minds have to change, people have to learn to be mindful of each other’s cultures, and therapy becomes a necessity. Now, on top of it all, a new creature that hasn’t been welcomed in Zootopia at all is in the city.

So, do the animals hold true to this new value of trying to be more open and inclusive towards each other or do they set aside those beliefs completely for this creature? This movie is probably going to explore how harmful having one exception to the rule of ‘no discrimination’ is. You could be open to just about every race and culture but the moment the one you have no love for appears, or has been a sworn enemy in the past for your culture or nation, an ugly hypocrisy is shown.

But another question is: is whatever stereotype this snake faces based on a proven fact about EVERYONE of their kind? Or is it a baseless belief only defined by the mistakes of a small minority of their kind? Knowing Zootopia, it’s likely the latter.