An Analysis of Bullying in the Film, Zootopia
I dedicate this article to Jennifer Lee, whose work and speech has served as inspiration to overcome and achieve.
A Revolutionary Animation
Zootopia has become Disney Animation’s record breaking debut. The film has received critical acclaim and the themes within make it easy to believe. Set in a world dominated completely by animals, Zootopia exemplifies many issues that are controversial in our own society. Gender and racial discrimination are both prominent examples. However, the concept of bullying is, in my opinion, the most influential. Zootopia utilizes both the antagonist and protagonist to deliver a unique story about the effects of bullying on different individuals.
Some theorize that the effects of bullying are unrealistic, yet they are the very concepts that shape us. The effects of both physical and verbal bullying are poisonous. Labels can burn into our minds, and those words can even cause trauma that remains with us for the years to come. In Zootopia, viewers get three different perspectives on the causes and effects of bullying.
Assistant Mayor Bellwether
Much like Prince Hans and Professor Callaghan, Bellwether carries on Disney’s plot-twisting habit. She is an anxious little sheep that serves Mayor Lionheart. While one would think the relationship between this sheep and lion is mutually beneficially, the reality is being screened. When she later helps Officer Judy Hopps find a missing car, we get a view of her office. It is situated in a crammed boiler room, a location where we learn how the mayor mistreats her. Bellwether reveals that Lionheart bullies her with a derogatory name, and actually sees little to no value in her. To him, she is just an insignificant, under appreciated prey. Little does Lionheart know, Bellwether is also incredibly underestimated. The sheep is later revealed to be the antagonist behind attempting to plunge the city into chaos. She does so under the belief that she can avenge the victimized prey and eliminate predators entirely. She hoped to use fear to turn others to destroy her bullies, ultimately grouping predators into the same, demonized category.
Bellwether allowed bullying to break her. She decided that the best form of payback was vengeance. She took the law into her own malicious hands, and it ultimately led to her downfall. She became the bully she sought to punish, and it brought her to ruin. Bellwether is a powerful example of how hate and violence are incited.
Nick Wilde
The secondary protagonist in the film, Nick is one sly fox. The audience first sees him as a conman, scheming to illegally profit from the inhabitants of Zootopia. As we later learn, Nick has a very pessimistic approach on life. He has a very pessimistic outlook on life, and it stems from the trauma he endured as a child. In his youth, Nick was going to be the first predator boy scout. However, his dreams are shattered when the rest of the troop hazes him. They shove and hit him in the darkness before fastening a muzzle to his face. All of these traumatic actions are inflicted while one of the prey verbally abuses him, saying that he will never be more than an untrustworthy predator. The incident ends with Nick ripping off the harness and crying.
While Nick does allow this incident to corrupt him, he does not incite violence as Bellwether did. Instead, he turns on himself. He believes every negative opinion about himself and decides to live under the label he was given. If the world would always see him as nothing more than a untrustworthy fox, there was no reason to even try and be anything else. He is cynical and degrading towards Judy, who has just moved in. In a sense, he sees himself in her. He sees that eager young face that believed in possibility, and is under the illusion that is he cannot succeed, no one else can. It would later take Judy’s persistence to help him find the confidence within himself. Nick exemplifies those who choose to let others set their standards.
Officer Judy Hopps
The main protagonist, Judy is a rabbit who will never say die. She faces the most trials in the entire story. If anyone had a right to quit under pressure, it would be her. From her youth, Judy ignites a dream to become the first rabbit police officer in the history of the world. At the beginning of the story, we see her parents persuading her to settle down and give up such dreams. Her father does not enforce resilience at all, and stresses to stop trying and stay in comfort zones. While this is not necessarily bullying, it is a moment that defines Judy. Sometimes parental advice is not in the best interests of the child. While some may be like Judy, and choose to ignore such words, others may believe them. Many people have their dreams crushed because they believe every limit and enforcement that parents label him or her with.
Moments later, Judy stands up for weaker children getting bullied by Gideon Grey, a hulking fox. He shoves her to the ground, and she ends up hitting him back. As much as Judy stands up for herself, Gideon ends up slashing her across the face, and traumatizing her by saying that she will never be more than a stupid bunny. This incident resembles Nick’s boy scout hazing. Unlike Nick, Judy refuses to let anyone define who she is except herself. She remains true to her passions and refuses to believe anyone else. She understands that someone’s opinion does not have to become a reality. This understanding allows Judy to overcome the odds and make history as the first officer.
Her trials continue in the workplace, where Police Chief Bogo immediately discriminates her. He disregards her academic achievements and assigns her to parking duty. He openly admits to not caring what Judy has done or where she comes from. Rather than hope to exact revenge on the chief or believe his label, Judy strives to disprove him. He says she can mark one hundred tickets, so she does two hundred. She embodies the belief in performing your best regardless of your position in life. Prior to her breakthrough moment, Judy is nearly discouraged by her own parents and Nick. Still, she is able to stay true to herself, and ultimately save Zootopia. In the process, her actions are able to inspire Nick to overcome his fears become a police officer.
Judy does not let bullying define her. She acknowledges it, and moves forward to prove to herself what she is capable of.
The positive influences of Nick and Judy
Because no character is perfect, Nick and Judy each have their weaknesses. The following is yet another reason Disney excels at storytelling. While Nick does let people define who he is, he does not permit them the satisfaction of seeing it. While Judy is determined to prove herself, her bullies do get to her. They ignite fires in her temper that often get her into trouble. Nick and Judy are perfectly imperfect characters that complete each other as companions through the trials of life. They each learn from one another, and I believe this to be a lesson in understanding. There is no superior side. We all have our negative and positive moments, yet we are so quick to judge a personality that we don’t comprehend why they act the way they do. Knowledge ends ignorance. Ignorance ends hatred.
Outcomes of the bullies
Mayor Lionheart is ultimately arrested for his dirty work. While Bellwether is responsible for framing him, she is impressed for her own malicious intentions. Both suffer consequences for their actions. As Martin Luther King Jr. put it – “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
Judy eventually runs into her former bully in adulthood. Gideon Grey apologizes to her, and openly confesses to bullying because out of personal insecurity. The major factor driving bullies today is insecurity, which they can develop from being bullied themselves. The cycle ends with us. Don’t let someone else make you as bitter and cruel as they are.
Sadly, Nick does not get any closure. His bullies are never encountered again. The importance of Nick’s progression is that he moves on without confrontational closure. He draws the line himself. He knows who he is, and focuses on Judy, the only person to ever believe in him.
Zootopia
