the thing about Zootopia is that i will hear and agree with any argument about it being unabashed Copaganda because it undoubtedly is. The end result of the lengthy development being that it supports cops as much as it does is doubly disappointing, since most early scripts and concepts were rather tacit in their support of police (there were versions where Nick and Judy were detectives and/or FBI agents, and it was closer to a generic buddy cop movie with little commentary) or outright critical of police and their role in systemic oppression (the infamous shock collar script would've directly shown Judy to be an antagonist who realizes her role in keeping a brutal bigoted system of harm, her arc would've likely been with her, in some way, renouncing or at least coming to terms with her role as a police officer and what that means). Zootopia turning around to repeatedly go and say that "police make the world a better place!" especially in a movie directly aimed at impressionable children, is bad. I wouldn't say that it was the express goal of the film, but it's the protagonists main motivation for much of the film, which sucks and is bad. All that said, while I agree that Zootopia is copaganga, I really really struggle to agree with the many arguments that it's a race metaphor, or a race allegory that ends up inadvertently racist in of itself. That doesn't quite track for me.
It definitely uses racial bigotry as a kind of (extremely sloppy) inspiration for many of its scenes and character dynamics, and if you wanted to say the story is "about racism" I wouldn't even argue. It's just that the races in question are so abstracted that it's almost impossible, and more importantly, useless, to attempt to draw any 1 to 1 allegory to real life races. It's fantasy racism, and in most fantasy racism stories, it's usually easy to just see where the author took one real life dynamic and mad-libbed the races with something else. It's usually not subtle. And it usually rubs against other tropes and cliches like a "robots aren't human" narrative or a "collective punishment of a race for An Event in the past" trope or a "aliens have to acclimate to a new (human) environment and culture" story. Zootopia is not immune to this. But the popular argument I always see is that "Zootopia's predator population is a stand in for Black people/people of color/etc." And some go a step further and reverse it, saying that "Zootopia is calling Black people/people of color/etc. predators." This just doesn't track for me. For one, to go that step further and reverse it is just, dumb? It's like saying that "District 9 is calling apartheid victims inhuman bug creatures." Real dumb. Anyways.
The racial allegory is fast and loose in Zootopia, for better or worse. I think worse, since it allows for messy interpretations and lead to popular the consensus of today where "Zootopia is racist, actually" since that's and easy conclusion to get to if you don't wanna think more thoroughly. I think that gives it too much credit, honestly. Each instance of bigotry in that movie is taken in isolation, and trying to string them along into a cohesive pattern will leave you confused and marred for answers. Take, for example, Judy, the main character. In one scene, if I wanted to make 1 to 1 allegorical comparisons, I could argue that she's a stand in for a Black person trying to explain the concept of slur reclamation (Judy telling Clawhauser about how "it's okay if a bunny calls another bunny cute but not if someone else calls a bunny cute is almost 1 to 1 the same played out script with Black people having to explain that, no, you cannot say nigga). In another scene, Judy is almost the perfect allegory for liberal white women who doesn't realize how patronizingly racist she's being (complimenting Nick for being a good father and a "real articulate fella"). She swerves in and out of whatever role she needs in these scenes of bigotry. Generally, though, being a "weak" and underestimated bunny trying to break into a new field where her "kind" is never expected to succeed feels very allegorical to the "break the glass ceiling" narratives of women entering male-dominated fields. The whole thing with Bellwether going "nice to see us little guys get something" feels very much like one woman to another going "look at us! We did made it!" Not to mention a key component to her getting into that field, police work, is due to a "Mammal Inclusion Initiative," which is unsubtle in its likeness to things like "affirmative action" or some other DEI program. Judy's overarching allegory, though, doesn't seem to be for all of "prey," moreso just her being a bunny.
The other lead, Nick, does the same. There's an overarching kinda bigotry allegory with him, that of racism, seen with bits like the aforementioned "real articulate fella" thing, as well as some more cultural and systemic problems he faces. Nick says that he's not trusted by anyone, especially police, and has to resort to less-than-legal solutions to make a living, he's accused of thievery and generally being legally dubious. We see Bogo wholesale ignore and distrust him, directly saying he wouldn't believe a word out of a fox. His childhood is defined by an incident wherein he was bullied and hazed by "prey" animals and muzzled, who did this simply because they don't trust and dislike foxes. Again, though, this feels less like specifically because he's a "predator," and more because he is a fox. Though, just like Judy, he slips out of what would be a neat allegory when the scene calls for it. In what I think is the most racially charged scene in the movie, one where it feels directly inspired by real life casual racism, Nick is the perpetrator of the bigotry. While Bellwether is explaining how she's overworked, underpaid, and was brought in as a diversity hire for getting votes from a specific population, Nick ignores her and touches her "fluffy" hair. How is that not a clear allegory, at least in that moment, to Black people getting their hair touched? To non-white people bemoaning their place as diversity hires?
And this sounds crazy because Bellwether is the supreme racist! She's the one behind the "race war" that breaks out! She's "prey," she's in the class of power, so how can she victim of racism? I don't know what to tell you other than what I already said, the racial allegory is fast and loose and doesn't follow a clear cohesive thruline. For better or worse. There are dozens of little scenelets and moment throughout that come and go just as quick. The rabbit mother on the train pulling her child away from a tiger passenger. The pig telling the leopard to go "back to the forest" in the middle of a protest. It's all just madlibs animal racism to gesture at and remind audiences of real life examples, but I don't think it's really trying to make any 1 to 1 allegory.
"Predators" and "prey" are (somewhat) clearly defined in the world of the film as "predators are the ones that used to eat prey, and prey are the ones that used to be eaten." The distance in time from this stuff happening being equivalent to when humans used to be hunter-gatherers, if set dressing is to be trusted. It's also shown, repeatedly, in modern times of Zootopia, this distinction is almost entirely pointless. Predators do not eat prey. Not even the "savage" ones we see in the movie. They haven't for millennia. This past isn't some short couple hundred years ago, it's (at least implied to be) thousands of years. In the present of Zootopia, prey outnumber predators, and the implication is that prey therefore have power over them.
But in trying to apply some kind of similarity to real life (white people outnumber minorities, prey outnumber predators, so therefore...) you immediately run into issues. If you want to follow that, which is a choice you are making, you inevitably fall into the trap you set yourself (oh wait that means it's saying minorities were violent cannibals...). If that's your conclusion of the racial allegory, then how do you explain that a racist (anti-predator) government is enforced by the people it's racist against (predators)? Not in some sense that of few token examples, but that the arm of the law, the police force, is almost entirely predators. How does that track if predators are supposed to be Black and other non-white people? Again, it's not supposed to. The allegory is fast and loose and I think trying to paint stuff 1 to 1 is the fault of the analysis and not the work itself.
The weak twist ending of Zootopia happens so suddenly and is resolved so quickly that I think it resulted in many people forgetting that the distinction of "predator" and "prey" was heavily promoted as part of a government conspiracy to sew racial tensions in the general population. Predators don't go crazy, they were drugged. Prey aren't at some inherent risk anymore than a short person in real life is at the risk of tall people attacking them.
Knowing more about the previous scripts also kind of illuminate some of the decisions here, how much of this was the result of late rewrites or unfinished ideas. The aforementioned shock collar script would've made the "predator" and "prey" distinction more obviously stupid, with a scene of a young boy getting collared despite being no threat to anyone. There was also a sheep conspiracy (which explains why it's seemingly only sheep in the final script behind the druggings) and also some more to do with how predator police function. I don't think you need to have that kind of information, though, in order to avoid the "Zootopia is about real racism" conclusion though. I just think if that's the conclusion you got, you wanted that conclusion. Analysis says just as much about the reader as it does the work, after all.
Anyways I'm glad the sequel (seemingly) is kind of ignoring any grand sweeping society storyline like the first. While I think it would be a good story if they actually stuck to something more akin to the shock collar script, I know Disney wouldn't go for it, just like they trashed that script. I'd rather them not try if it would only result in them being kneecapped. From trailers it seems like the sequel, having already established the setting, is just about the relationship between Judy and Nick, using a wild goose chase as a vehicle for that. All will be forgiven if the bunny and fox kiss.
