Topic #4 Media Product Review
I can talk about movies? FINALLY. SOMETHING I ACTUALLY ENJOY GOING ON ABOUT! GET READY FOR A WALL OF TEXT THAT I WILL NOT BE SORRY FOR THIS TIME!
1) Introduction
The movie I chose for this project is Zootopia. It's only two years old so it's probably recent enough.
Why did I chose this movie? Because a) it's one I have seen; and b) it works for this assignment. I would have preferred to talk about Frozen or the Star Wars sequel trilogy. But unfortunately I don't think those films would work as well as Zootopia; with those movies I would start ranting about their unflattering writing (big surprise coming from the amateur writer) instead of their place in and relevance to society and culture. Although I could possibly pull that with The Last Jedi*.
Here's the teaser.
And the trailer.
And the trailer.
And because I want to include it, the Honest Trailer.
2) Background
Zootopia is a 3D animated comedy film from Walt Disney Animation Studios. It was released on the 4th of March 2016 in the United States, cost around $150 million to make and made around $1.024 billion in box office revenue.
It was directed by Byron Howard and Rich Moore. Howard has been working at Disney animation since the 1990's, serving as an animator on various Disney movies from the time before his directorial debut with Bolt. He has since co-directed Tangled and Zootopia and is currently working on a new original animated movie with the guy who made Hamilton. Moore meanwhile is also a veteran in animation having worked on The Simpsons (notably the first Treehouse of Horror episode*) and Futurama before crossing over. His directorial debut was Wreck-it-Ralph and he co-directed its (currently) upcoming sequel.
The films main characters are voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin (Once Upon a Time) and Jason Bateman (Arrested Development). Supporting cast members include Idris Elba, Jenny Slate, Bonnie Hunt, Don Lake, J.K. Simmons, and Shakira. Its story involves rabbit police officer Judy Hopps (god I hate that surname) and her attempt to be taken seriously as an officer. She then attempts to do this by solving a mystery involving the city's predator animals with the aid of a red fox con artist named Nick Wilde (less annoying but still, really?).
I already mentioned it's box office return; and it won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. I'd say it was successful.
3) Analyze
I cannot say how similar or different this film is to Howard and Moore's previous work. Out of them I have only seen the first "Treehouse of Horror" and the Futurama episodes Moore directed, and I cannot in good faith use them as this movie is on a completely different level than those. However I can compare this film to previous films from Disney animation at large. Similarities include the film being, mostly, family friendly since there is nothing overly scary, gory, sexual or otherwise taboo in the film (well except the nudist club, but they're all featureless and it's not played for sexual elements so it doesn't count); having a more lighthearted tone; being animated; and being marketed primarily to children. Differences include the envoironment of the film (a modern world of anthropomorphic mammals), the lack of princesses and royalty in general, and the genre (buddy cop crime film as opposed to fairy tale-based fantasy). Not that it's the first Disney film to try a different genre.
For the purposes of this project lets run with the idea that Zootopia is an animated buddy cop movie; as such it has a lot in common with them. A large scale crime/conspiracy that needs to be solved, a more by the books character being paired with a wild card, even one of the two protagonists not being a police officer is not uncommon. However, one major similarity this film has with other buddy cop movies, especially the old ones from the 1970s through 1990s, is it is a film about race relations. Most buddy cop films of decades past were about two polices officers, one white and one not working together and trying to get along with each other despite the (then) recent racial tension. The point of these films was too comment on and help heal the racial divide in the country in the aftermath of the Civil Rights movements of the 1960's. The major difference being that the characters in Zootopia are all animals (which is a problem with the film and its message, but I'll get to that in a minute).
4) Interpretation
Does matter? Is it important? In the grand scheme of things this film probably does not matter anymore that most other Disney films. It's another animated feature from Disney, the most famous animation company in the western hemisphere. It is notable for being the first Disney film to talk about racial differences in the way most other films do though (Hunchback kind of did, but this one has it more in the forefront).
Does it reflect a cultural trend? Possibly. If that cultural trend is placing content traditionally considered to be not child friendly in films/shows directed at children. Steven Universe has LGBT themes all over the place for one, and Gravity Falls had a lot of disturbing and scary imagery (like wall mounted animal heads bleeding with glowing eyes while chanting demonically. Gravity Falls was rated TV-Y7 for every episode, including that one).
Target Audience? Families and people with children. It's a Disney film.
Stereotypes? Offensive messages/material? Not really, Disney tries to avoid those. Unless animal stereotypes count, then the film has a few of those because most media starring anthropomorphic animals does in some form or another. The message of racial equality the film tries to convey is a good one though, even its method of telling it is not that great.
5) Evaluate
Strengths and Weaknesses? Its strengths are the usual strengths of a Disney movie. Great animation (even if I'm kind sick of 3D), great voice acting, and likeable characters; Judy Hopps for example is a great role model for both girls and boys, even her voice actress thinks so.
It greatest weakness is a common weakness in a lot of modern Disney movies: its writing. So I get to rant about writing after all. This is a film about race, but in order to make it a more kid friendly one the writers use anthropomorphic animals divided between "predator" and "prey" as an allegory. First of all, I'll let a quote from J.R.R. Tolkien explain my opinion of allegories in general. This film is also a good example of why I don't like allegories because I don't think this film completely understands the massive contrast between our world and Zootopia's. I am not the only one. Now I don't think it's as bad as Crash and I can think of two different examples of race relations allegories that try to use stand ins for minorities that are worse.
But where those two examples are uncaring and lazy respectively, Zootopia does have an air of competence and good intentions to it. The article above can handle Zootopia's misunderstanding of how racism works but I can handle why animals as an allegory does not work, especially in the films context. A world inhabited by animals, even if they were using human approaches to race, would function completely differently. Firstly, they would not just divide themselves down the lines of "predator" and "prey", not least of all because some animals are both in the food chain and predators often fight over territory and hunting grounds. Secondly, animals rely on each other for food and in order to form the world of the film they would have to stop hunting and killing each other to get there, which would be difficult when some of those animals have uncompromising dietary requirements. Thirdly the predators being the targets of bigotry in the film is the complete inverse of reality. If the film actually thought through a clear pecking order (which it completely lacks) then predators would probably be at the top (since their relation to prey is more akin to slave owners and slaves) and be racist (or more accurately species-ist) towards the animals they previously used for their benefit, albeit as food rather than free labor*. As the above article mentions racism requires a discriminatory system and people who benefit from it being complacent with, supporting, and defending it by dehumanizing and discriminating against those at the bottom of the systems pecking order. The way animals work, the system would be discriminatory towards prey and the predators would the the ones to develop bigoted views because of it. This Wisecrack video helps understand the "animals as allegories" problem in connection to the real world as well.
This is all the result of over thinking though, and to be fair trying to make a movie about race relations for kids is hard enough already. Do I think the film is good? Yes. I don't think it a great film, and certainly not a good film about race, but it's message of inclusiveness and harmony is a good one and it's wrapped in a kid friendly buddy cop/crime movie. And people don't tend to overthink kids movies anyway. So like that Wisecrack video said, if you don't over think it, it is perfectly harmless family fun.
Is it the artists best work? I'd say no. For the directors, I would prefer to watch Byron Howard's Tangled or Rich Moore's Simpsons and Futurama episodes. For the Disney animation studio as a whole I would rather watch Beauty and the Beast (1991) or The Hunchback of Notre Dame myself. My first choice for a buddy cop comedy is Blazing Saddles as well.
Is it memorable? Sort of, it not Disney's first film starring all anthropomorphic animals, but it is arguably the more notable and memorable one, even I personally really enjoy their version of Robin Hood myself (though it still has nothing on Men in Tights!). This like because it is a) more recent; and b) a lot less generic than Robin Hood.
Me vs. the Critics? Here's a place full of reviews for you, that and it won the Oscar for best animated feature (although I would have given that to Moana). They are all probably not overthinking the film like I am though, or maybe they are not overthinking it enough.
7) Engagement
I don't know if the directors have social media accounts. They probably do and the Disney Animation Studio as a whole definitely has one; as well as a YouTube channel. But no I don't follow them, nor have I subscribed to the Disney Animation Studio's channel because as far as I'm concerned, the social media atmosphere surrounding a film is irrelevant to the film itself; it can be helpful to understand what people think about a film, but the film itself does not change in regards to it, only your thoughts on it.
I do not own a copy of Zootopia on DVD or Blu-ray. If I want, I can just rent it from Xfinity again.
Do I look up the artists work? I mean, I try to go to a new Disney film when one is released and pay attention to what new films they are developing. Does that count?
What do my friends and family think about the film? Well, I don't know about my friends; with half of them I don't think this is their kind of movie so they probably have not even seen it. My sister, though, has and she likes it fine although she agrees the usage of animals as racial allegories was probably a bad idea, or at least badly handled.
8) Conclusion
I guess the moral of this project after all of that is that some writers don't think hard enough about what they are writing, especially in regards to more touchy subjects. And that good intentions can easily be muddied up by less than thought out allegories, which is why I personally hate them and heavily discourage their use by other writers.
I did learn a few things though. I had never known what Howard and Moore had done prior to doing Zootopia and I learned that I was not the only one who takes issue with the film attempts at allegory. Something I had suspected, but like to have confirmed nonetheless. I'd still recommend Zootopia to people, but more if you want to see a kids version of a buddy cop movie.
*Although for the "offensiveness" part of this project, Kylo Ren shirtless is definitely offensive to my sense of a guys attractiveness. The dude looks like he's got a mannequin chest.
*Which I watch, along with its sequels and "Halloween of Horror" every October.
*That probably would have resulted in a much more fucked up movie; think of it, predators at the top of a pecking order with prey animals (who have human level sentience) still being treated like farm animals whose only purpose is to serve as a food source... there's an alternate universe out there somewhere where that is what Zootopia is, I'm sure of it.
Note:
I'm still not sorry for this wall of text, I got to write about something I enjoy writing about for once.
Does it reflect a cultural trend? Possibly. If that cultural trend is placing content traditionally considered to be not child friendly in films/shows directed at children. Steven Universe has LGBT themes all over the place for one, and Gravity Falls had a lot of disturbing and scary imagery (like wall mounted animal heads bleeding with glowing eyes while chanting demonically. Gravity Falls was rated TV-Y7 for every episode, including that one).
Target Audience? Families and people with children. It's a Disney film.
Stereotypes? Offensive messages/material? Not really, Disney tries to avoid those. Unless animal stereotypes count, then the film has a few of those because most media starring anthropomorphic animals does in some form or another. The message of racial equality the film tries to convey is a good one though, even its method of telling it is not that great.
5) Evaluate
Strengths and Weaknesses? Its strengths are the usual strengths of a Disney movie. Great animation (even if I'm kind sick of 3D), great voice acting, and likeable characters; Judy Hopps for example is a great role model for both girls and boys, even her voice actress thinks so.
It greatest weakness is a common weakness in a lot of modern Disney movies: its writing. So I get to rant about writing after all. This is a film about race, but in order to make it a more kid friendly one the writers use anthropomorphic animals divided between "predator" and "prey" as an allegory. First of all, I'll let a quote from J.R.R. Tolkien explain my opinion of allegories in general. This film is also a good example of why I don't like allegories because I don't think this film completely understands the massive contrast between our world and Zootopia's. I am not the only one. Now I don't think it's as bad as Crash and I can think of two different examples of race relations allegories that try to use stand ins for minorities that are worse.
But where those two examples are uncaring and lazy respectively, Zootopia does have an air of competence and good intentions to it. The article above can handle Zootopia's misunderstanding of how racism works but I can handle why animals as an allegory does not work, especially in the films context. A world inhabited by animals, even if they were using human approaches to race, would function completely differently. Firstly, they would not just divide themselves down the lines of "predator" and "prey", not least of all because some animals are both in the food chain and predators often fight over territory and hunting grounds. Secondly, animals rely on each other for food and in order to form the world of the film they would have to stop hunting and killing each other to get there, which would be difficult when some of those animals have uncompromising dietary requirements. Thirdly the predators being the targets of bigotry in the film is the complete inverse of reality. If the film actually thought through a clear pecking order (which it completely lacks) then predators would probably be at the top (since their relation to prey is more akin to slave owners and slaves) and be racist (or more accurately species-ist) towards the animals they previously used for their benefit, albeit as food rather than free labor*. As the above article mentions racism requires a discriminatory system and people who benefit from it being complacent with, supporting, and defending it by dehumanizing and discriminating against those at the bottom of the systems pecking order. The way animals work, the system would be discriminatory towards prey and the predators would the the ones to develop bigoted views because of it. This Wisecrack video helps understand the "animals as allegories" problem in connection to the real world as well.
This is all the result of over thinking though, and to be fair trying to make a movie about race relations for kids is hard enough already. Do I think the film is good? Yes. I don't think it a great film, and certainly not a good film about race, but it's message of inclusiveness and harmony is a good one and it's wrapped in a kid friendly buddy cop/crime movie. And people don't tend to overthink kids movies anyway. So like that Wisecrack video said, if you don't over think it, it is perfectly harmless family fun.
Is it the artists best work? I'd say no. For the directors, I would prefer to watch Byron Howard's Tangled or Rich Moore's Simpsons and Futurama episodes. For the Disney animation studio as a whole I would rather watch Beauty and the Beast (1991) or The Hunchback of Notre Dame myself. My first choice for a buddy cop comedy is Blazing Saddles as well.
Is it memorable? Sort of, it not Disney's first film starring all anthropomorphic animals, but it is arguably the more notable and memorable one, even I personally really enjoy their version of Robin Hood myself (though it still has nothing on Men in Tights!). This like because it is a) more recent; and b) a lot less generic than Robin Hood.
Me vs. the Critics? Here's a place full of reviews for you, that and it won the Oscar for best animated feature (although I would have given that to Moana). They are all probably not overthinking the film like I am though, or maybe they are not overthinking it enough.
7) Engagement
I don't know if the directors have social media accounts. They probably do and the Disney Animation Studio as a whole definitely has one; as well as a YouTube channel. But no I don't follow them, nor have I subscribed to the Disney Animation Studio's channel because as far as I'm concerned, the social media atmosphere surrounding a film is irrelevant to the film itself; it can be helpful to understand what people think about a film, but the film itself does not change in regards to it, only your thoughts on it.
I do not own a copy of Zootopia on DVD or Blu-ray. If I want, I can just rent it from Xfinity again.
Do I look up the artists work? I mean, I try to go to a new Disney film when one is released and pay attention to what new films they are developing. Does that count?
What do my friends and family think about the film? Well, I don't know about my friends; with half of them I don't think this is their kind of movie so they probably have not even seen it. My sister, though, has and she likes it fine although she agrees the usage of animals as racial allegories was probably a bad idea, or at least badly handled.
8) Conclusion
I guess the moral of this project after all of that is that some writers don't think hard enough about what they are writing, especially in regards to more touchy subjects. And that good intentions can easily be muddied up by less than thought out allegories, which is why I personally hate them and heavily discourage their use by other writers.
I did learn a few things though. I had never known what Howard and Moore had done prior to doing Zootopia and I learned that I was not the only one who takes issue with the film attempts at allegory. Something I had suspected, but like to have confirmed nonetheless. I'd still recommend Zootopia to people, but more if you want to see a kids version of a buddy cop movie.
*Although for the "offensiveness" part of this project, Kylo Ren shirtless is definitely offensive to my sense of a guys attractiveness. The dude looks like he's got a mannequin chest.
*Which I watch, along with its sequels and "Halloween of Horror" every October.
*That probably would have resulted in a much more fucked up movie; think of it, predators at the top of a pecking order with prey animals (who have human level sentience) still being treated like farm animals whose only purpose is to serve as a food source... there's an alternate universe out there somewhere where that is what Zootopia is, I'm sure of it.
Note:
I'm still not sorry for this wall of text, I got to write about something I enjoy writing about for once.
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