#positive recommendation

[crooked-wasteland]

GOAT is the Movie We Need Right Now

(Spoiler free)

In 2016, Disney studios released Zootopia, a movie about coexistence, prejudice, and political manipulation. While it received harsher criticism over time for the allegories often being misrepresented by viewers as analogies around Predators and Prey, and some real problematic narrative framings such as the tone deaf framing of police and the pressure to change the system from the inside", I admit I still had a soft spot for the film.

That's gone now.

Zootopia is a corporate version of coexistence. The City Center is a corporate metropolitan, made more problematic by the sequel's addition of the wetlands. One of the most iconic images of the first film is a hippo stepping out of the water shoot in a suit and tie to get quickly air dried before heading to work. The streets are Disney clean, the buildings sparkling, the narrative's attempt at deconstruction superficial and more focused on highlighting fragility over systemic rot.

Meanwhile the sequel shows the other side of that Hippo's life. The Wetlands are cramped and portrayed as intimidating, and even sub-human with the introduction of water mammals like sea lions who don't even speak legible words, instead barking as an animal would. The escape from the underground reptile speakeasy was a moment I personally felt a slight moment of pride as an indigenous Mexican individual, not only was my favorite animals since I was a child (lizards and snakes have always been a love of mine) getting attention in this single-race world, but in a way so was I. But after Jesús has a kind of poignant line, the camera cuts to a wide shot to make fun of this really amazing ability to run on water because it looks "goofy".

Zootopia and Zootopia 2 are the neoliberal whitewashed version of how corporate Democrats envision this world. The emphasis of "Rule of Law", and respectability politics while gesturing to corporate interests polluting our government entities, greasing the hands of our law enforcement, and prioritizing corporate and financial interests over human lives. The sequel outright mocks us by reaching its dance party finale through the idea that a few good individuals can fix systemic wrongs. And I believe I made clear how that trope actually removes all weight from the harms caused by complicity and corruption.

GOAT embodies what real coexistence has to look like.

I focus especially on the art design of the cities between GOAT and Zootopia because, while the former is a picture perfect fantasy of neoliberal homogeny, Goat embodies its African American roots, mixed cultures, and authenticity in a way that Zootopia never could.

Vineland is Disney's worst nightmare. Will lives in a garage, the sidewalks are uneven, the fences are broken, there is graffiti in the subway and half the buildings look more than a little run down. Because this is what a real ethnically integrated community looks like.

And is treated.

Vineland is the "bad side" of town. People are rough. Most talk in AAVE slang, affection is coarse and they tell you what you need to hear, not what you wanna listen to.

Additionally, the animals matter in this film. Zootopia's mammals are all very homogeneous and overly human. Which is why I highlighted respectability politics. They walk on two legs (because walking on four is primitive and barbaric), they slot into respectable roles of service and exploitation. Judy is a rural white girl in the city and Nick is an urban white boy from the hood.

But in GOAT, the characters make animal sounds. The characters walk, regularly, on four legs (if naturally quadruped)! Their unique physiques and abilities are highlighted throughout the film.

Most of the characters are black, Hispanic, or mixed. And as someone married to an Irish woman, Olivia being included, played by Irish actress and advocate Nicola Coughlan, made me tear up. Because I felt like I belonged. That my wife belonged. That our marriage belonged, our friends belonged, and our community belonged. Hell, Modo is a complete disaster queer!

And never, in my 30+ years of life, have I felt more safe watching a film.

It didn't feel dirty, it felt real. It felt like what it feels to be exploited and forgotten as a community. To be reviled by people with money and power because we stick too close together. The graffiti was treated as culture and art. The City was beautiful, no matter it's flaws. Every single creature there, from the mammals to the insects, were treated as sapient cohabitants. Everyone exists with the ability to value that existence. And problematic people can also do good things. It felt like a real community, brought together over the love of the game and the beauty of coming together with all of our unique qualities, not adapted to fit in but to work together.

And that was the theme of the movie.

THESE ROOTS RUN DEEP!