Theory of Otherization effectively implemented through the protagonists of Zootopia
When children’s films tell more than just a fantasy stories: The case of Zootopia and Up
Children’s film is a genre that uses simple storyline so that children could easily relate. However, great filmmakers have been using this platform to express their messages since the birth of cinema. The messages can either be their understanding and interpretation of certain social issues or their take on human emotions. The following sections will explore how children’s films Zootopia and Up implemented certain ideas, theories and whether they succeeded in that or not. Both the films are externally deals with friendship which the children could easily relate too. In-depth analysis highlights that there are multiple layers of messages hiding under the light and vibrant world of computer graphics.
Zootopia (2016, directed by Byron Howard and Rich Mooreand produced by Disney) is not just a children’s film but it has many socio-political implications (Movies.disney.in 2016). In the narrative world of Zootopia, all the animals live in peace and harmony in a big city until the predators become savage. The delinquent fox and a bunny police are responsible for solving the case. In their journey to explore the mystery, they overcome many external and interpersonal conflicts. The film is a prime example of a cinematic example that hides significant social message against prejudice underneath its vibrant and happy world. Apparently, no one in the world of Zootopia is privileged as even the predators with their natural strength are not more privileged (El-Ali et al 2016). The process of otherizing is skillfully avoided here. Here everyone is treated as ‘other’, that means everyone can be marginalized in certainly given condition. The protagonist Judy Hopps is extremely enthusiastic, passionate and wants to conquer the world by resolving all the problems that she will encounter. The society has resisted her that she should not do the things she wants to. She belongs to the scared bunny family, but she wants to be a police officer. Despite her societal status, she comes into the world to fulfil her dream. It is nothing but the preconceived notion of ordinary people that comes in the form of prejudice that Judy experiences. Judy is cute dumb bunny who struggles to establish herself in the regime of Mayor Bellwether. During her journey, Judy proved to her fellow police officers and the world that her physical appearance is not the resistance to her achieving the dream. She might be “dumb”, “cute” or “little bunny”, but with her strength and intelligence, she proved that she deserves a higher rank in the police. So in this sense, she does belong to the marginalized, and she is the other who proved herself to fit in the mainstream world. The film is not a direct allegory of racism as the makers could have demonstrated in the fox encounter scene by portraying it as self-defence. An in-depth analysis brings to the surface that it does not center around racism, rather the prejudice that gives birth to racism (Johnson 2016).
How Prejudice and Racism portrayed in the film as central themes
When someone develops and reflects a negative attitude towards someone else because of the stereotypes, he is committing the act of prejudice. On the other hand, when someone demonstrates hatred towards someone because of his or racial identity it becomes racism. In the world of Zootopia, the racism is not apparent. The society looked like a classless society without any stereotypical attitudes towards anyone, until Judy enters.
The community that Nick Wilde belongs to, represents the discrimination and prejudice that a certain section of people does experience and that leads to them to do anti-social activities. They are thee underclass in the classless society of Zootopia. Nick is one such character who has experienced otherization more than in anyone in the film. The process otherization is socially excluding someone based on their certain traits or identity (Merveilleux 2016). In the origin story of Nick, the viewers come to know about the group of bigots who pretended to be his friends hurt him. He becomes the other, the peripheral of the society and as a result he formed his way of living that is extremely unconventional. So, the racism towards this group of tricksters born out of the prejudice against them.
There is an endless search for a utopian world, and it should be noticed that the world does not metaphorize our world. This society without class is not our society, but it can be, at least all peace-loving humans want it to be. There is a utopia the film’s name. Utopia is described as the society that has all the perfect qualities that the citizens desire (Mannheim 2013). The world of Zootopia tries to give us an image of the society that everyone desires. If the society removes all the bigotry, institutionalism, hierarchies, racism and prejudices, it can become the initial utopian happy world of Zootopia (Xue 2016).
It is a world where the herbivorous animals find that their hunters are living in harmony, leaving their animalistic urges. On the surface level, every animal treats each other with equal respect. However, the prejudice has always been living in the deep level that comes in the foreground in several instances. The utopian world did not take long to turn into dystopian. One such defining moment is when Judy encounters the savagery of a predator. This is the moment when actually the cinematic world starts looking like a metaphor of the contemporary realistic world. The prejudices start dominating the people, and their lives start to get threatened. The survival theory tells that it was a common instinct of all living beings to identify who is a friend and who is not. Their ability to mark the enemies could prolong the life span and decrease their struggle. This has always been a basic human nature to secure their reproduction and survival. The initial phase of Zootopia created an illusion where everyone is each other’s friends. The animals who try to conquer their enemies often use fear as a significant tool. The spectators can find this trait in the character of Mayor Bellwether that threatens the ordinary animals by the carnivorous animals into predators. The fear is a common tool that most autocratic rulers use against the rebellions and common people. During World War II, Adolf Hitler used this against the Jews and Germans and even now the political leaders of developed countries have been using the fear to remain in power (Gopalakrishnan 2013). Judy claims that it is because of the genetics the animals are behaving such way. She associated biology with the identity, and in the process, she highlighted how prejudice turned into racism.
The Utopian Dream of our society is established but there are difficulties to materialize it
Zootopia tries to conclude that if the evil and harmful authority is eliminated from the power, the society can have a racial harmony. The system can be rectified if people start identifying the problematic individuals and successfully eliminate them from the system. The narrative world tries to theorize a principle that in a certain instance, the prejudice against people can turn into racism. The institutional racism is built Upon the prejudice that the people have been long cherishing and powerful people tend to use whenever its necessary. The children must learn to overcome the prejudice that their predecessors have established to fulfil certain selfish agendas. The friendship between Judy and Nick demonstrates a relationship based on sympathy and humanity that can minimize the problem greatly. They overcame all their differences to achieve their dream and solve the problem. The friendship and harmony among the diversified groups can only open new possibilities to end the struggle.
Up (2009) is Pixar film directed by Bob Peterson that deals with a journey of friendship and fulfilling dreams (Imdb.com 2009). The otherization is extremely prominent in the narrative tale of Carl Frederickson. He has become old but still stubborn to fulfil his dream. He does not leave the house even though the court has sent an order for him to live in an old age home. All other people around him has submitted to the traditional practice where the skyscrapers are replacing their homes. He belongs to the marginal in the story much like Nick from Zootopia and demonstrates rebellion by flying his house with the help of thousands of helium balloons. In the journey, he gets a friend name Russel, who quite resembles with Judy with his awkwardness. This is also a quite unlikely friendship between two people who belong to two completely different words but together the fulfil their desire. The story is told from the perspective of Carl who met Ellie who is also a follower of his hero Muntz. They fell in love, get married and get old and Ellie died due to sickness. It was Ellie’s dream to go to Paradise Valley which Carl is determined to fulfil. In Zootopia the viewers experience that though initially Nick underestimated Judy and ignored her friendship but eventually they become close friends. Here also Carl used to dislike Russel but eventually throughout journey he becomes his friend and a grandfather like a figure.
This film’s antagonist is Charles Muntz who is in a mission of capturing the rare bird, he can go to any extent to achieve that. Her dark side gets exposed to Carl and Russel and symbolically presents that if Carl continues his obsession, he might end Up like him. Here this film defers greatly from the previous film. Munz is not an autocratic ruler who is manipulating the society to fulfil his agenda. Here Muntz has an agenda but is quite personal. Up primarily deals with the obsession and it’s negative and positive both sides. The friendship between Carl and Russel is also what tells the viewers that friendship can make the difficult journey easier. It gets easier to overcome challenges if you someone has a companion to support him. The film deals with human emotions greatly (Batty et al 2016). Carl cannot become like Muntz because Muntz is driven by ego, but Carl wants to fulfil someone else’s dream which he loves the most in the world. There is not a direct representation of prejudice in the narrative world of Up, but symbolically it hits the stereotypical thoughts of the other characters and the viewers (Lugo-Lugo 2016). He might have led his life in a very conventional manner, but he is not ready to get supppressed by the authoritative power. He announces his rebellion when he removes his house to fly to the paradise hill.
When the Metaphors becomes too real in the cinematic world
The adventurous journey of Nick and Judy can be compared with the journey of Carl and Russel. In the first film the characters are searching for a solution of the problem, but in the later, they are going to fulfil their dream. They discover the nemesis after reaching there while the antagonists were already established beforehand in Zootopia. Up represents a world where everyone has already lost the battel against the authority. Only characters like Carl who announces a fight against the tradition in a unique way. Here also he struggled and overcame many conflicts to fulfil his dream. The two films also completely different if one considers the characters’ inner world. In Zootopia Judy makes other realize that she is capable of more than other thought. She fought against the prejudices that the society established against her. She proved herself to the others that she deserves more than what they are offering him. He courage, strength and intelligence were the main weapons. On the other hand, Carl was driven by her wife’s dream of going to the paradise hill. At the end what Carl experienced was self-realization. Proving the world that he can fulfil his dream becomes secondary as his self-realization became more visible. He realizes that his obsession was driving towards destruction. The destruction was demonstrated by his idol Muntz. In the climax when he found the letter and read it, he realizes that he was on a dangerous path.
In both the films, in the journey, Nick found Judy and Carl found Russel as their companions. In both the films, their success could not have been possible if those were not a journey of two. The characters were opposites. Initially, Nick ignored Judy and underestimated her strength and Carl also tried to avid Russel because he thought he was just a burden for him in his journey. But eventually, both became their closest friends and integral part of their mission.
It is quite interesting to notice that in the jungle of Paradise hill, Muntz uses animals against the humans and they are all after another creature that is Kevin, and in their journey, they get Dug as a companion. It can be interpreted as sub-world much like Zootopia inside the world of Up. Dug can also be considered as an extended manifestation of Nick who almost becomes their guide in the jungle. Dug has proficient knowledge and understanding about the jungle and his wisdom almost makes him their mentor, much like Nick. Nick’s knowledge in the underworld has made him a mentor of Judy in her journey. In a way here Dug becomes the eyes of Carl and Russel and in Zootopia it is Nick. Kevin can also be interpreted as an extension of Nick. In the jungle, Kevin proves to be a trickster. Kevin disappears whenever it pleases and irritates Carl by eating Up the balloons. It was revealed that it was not a boy. The difference is Kevin was a trickster by birth, but the social challenges made Nick a trickster.
The Power Equation is present so it is not a society of equality really.
Another difference between both the films was in its filmic structure. Up uses fewer dialogues where Zootopia uses a lot. The initial sequence is a long dialogue-less sequence from Carl’s meeting Ellie to their marriage (Wozny 2014). This film stresses more on the film being a visual medium than the other one. Both of the films use beautifully crafted animated sequences but Up offers the viewers the space to engage directly with the narrative (Riley 2015). This can be proposed that the philosophies that the films tried to establish were more direct in Up. Viewers immediately feel connected to the emotional journey of the two humane characters (Ebert 2009). In Zootopia the connection is on more symbolical and metaphorical level. This is a utopian world that consists animals which eventually become aligned with the contemporary world, but in Up, Carl’s dream can seem almost absurd, but the world he inhabits is a contemporary realistic world. There are several symbols in Up as well like the merit badge or the adventure book, but those are part of the realistic world. In Zootopia the narrative world itself is a symbolic one. There is a journey of revelation in Zootopia that is missing in Up. The spectators have to engage with the narrative world and the characters to a deeper level to get the real significance. In another word, this films demand more audience engagement more than the other film.
Conclusion
Both the films implement certain social messages in the film. The messages in Zootopia deal with subjects like racism and prejudice but Up deals with human values and emotions more. However, both the films bring lovable characters in the cinematic world and express a certain message through certain metaphors. An audience has to overcome the go beyond the surface of the cinematic world and understand the deeper meaning. Both of the films succeeded in their plans despite their contradictions. Cinema as medium serves more value than just as a medium of entertainment. It teaches the world the valuable lessons, makes the people think, it reminds people of the lost values or highlights the contemporary issues that demand attention. Zootopia and Up are two of such films that successfully fulfil their purposes.
Reference
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Riley, Tess. 2015. “The Film That Makes Me Cry: Up”. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2015/mar/17/the-film-that-makes-me-cry-Up-pixar
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