Zootopia: Reflection of Chinese Society

Surely, living in a world where “anyone can be anything” would be fascinating, but perhaps unattainable as long as prejudice prevails. In 2016, Disney delivered to the public a sense of how it would be to live in such a society with its cartoon film Zootopia. The film, with its “anyone can be anything” motto and animated anthropomorphic animal characters quickly gained success in America, grossing over 340 million dollars. Beyond the storyline revolving around Judy Hopps, a rookie bunny cop, and Nick Wilde, a small-time hustler fox, who work together to uncover Zootopia’s mystery, the movie actually delves with deeper topics, such as racial prejudice and diversity. With this in mind, it’s understandable why such a film achieved such popularity in a diverse country like America. However, this popularity is not exclusive to America. In fact, Zootopia became the highest-grossing cartoon film of 2016 in China. While Zootopia’s success in its country of origin can be attributed to its easy-to-follow lesson on prejudice and stereotypes, it is not the same case for China. With nationalism and patriotism being common Chinese values, the Chinese public depicted Zootopia as a film that established that one’s home country might not and will never be perfect and dedication to one’s country does not necessarily determine adherence to the government.

Zootopia’s popularity in its home country can be widely attributed to its expression of social issues, specifically racial prejudice and stereotypes, which have been long-standing and highly problematic issues in America. Dan Kois, writer of the article “Disney’s Zootopia Is a Delightful Kids’ Movie That Is Also Totally About Racial Profiling,” details that Zootopia delivers a clear message that people get hurt and treated unfairly when people prejudge others based on their ethnicity (Kois). Despite the film’s motto that “anyone can be anything,” Zootopia mirrors America’s current society by clearly displaying how often stereotyping occurs and how it affects others. And certainly, most of us have seen many other movies deal with social issues, but what makes Zootopia so special is that it accomplished so in a way that was easy to grasp for both kids and the general audience. A prime example included in the film is the wild fox Nick Wilde’s background. As a kid, Nick was refused acceptance to the Junior Ranger Scouts and received discrimination for being a predator, specifically a fox that is perceived as shifty and untrustworthy. Zootopia depicted his backstory as extremely heartbreaking and influential, affecting Nick’s confidence in his identity as a predator. By including a storyline such as Nick’s, the film allowed the audience (both kids and adults) to feel empathy towards the character, as well as understand the damages of prejudice and stereotyping people based on their appearance.

Aside from its depiction of the damages of stereotypes, America’s political environment may have played a role in Zootopia’s success in its country of origin. Coincidentally, the same year Zootopia was released, Donald Trump was elected as the 45th U.S President. As we all know, Trump’s “Make America Great Again” presidency was comprised of highly racist and dehumanizing policies, which pushed for a divided America. While Zootopia did not originally intend to criticize nor denounce Trump, the film’s thematic seemed to align well with America’s situation. In the movie, when predators are falsely accused of going savage, the prey members of Zootopia begin discriminating against them, resembling 2016’s divided environment. According to Jason Guerrasio, writer of “The Oscar-nominated ‘Zootopia’ has a hidden message for President Trump,” since Trump’s successful but divisive presidential campaign, in which he was accused of employing racist speech, the film has gained in relevance as a demonstration of how a diverse group of people with different views can come together (Guerrasio). Put simply, 2016’s political environment with Donald Trump as America’s president contributed to Zootopia’s success even more as such similarity between America’s political environment and the Zootopia’s storyline allowed the film to thrive in its home country.

While we can see the reasoning behind Zootopia’s success in America, what is the case for the movie’s popularity in China? Despite not presenting any Chinese culture like other cartoon films such as the Kung Fu Panda franchise, which featured Chinese martial arts and Chinese symbolic animals, Zootopia still became a massive hit in China. Many Chinese people appreciated the film for its ability to communicate a deep meaning to not only young children but also adults, as it is both entertaining and educational. However, aside from Zootopia’s intended message about diversity and tolerance, the Chinese public actually caught a different perspective from its plot, which helped Zootopia soar as high as to become 2016’s highest-grossing cartoon film. Wang Haitao, a professional movie reviewer, suggests that “[t]he film exposes how a society may look peaceful and ideal on the outside, but at the same time contains many different levels of darkness and conspiracy on the inside”. When Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde expose the truth behind the disappearances of the predators, revealing that the city’s assistant mayor had been behind the kidnappings, “people discovered that in the seemingly harmonious Zootopia, there was high-pressure maintenance of stability and well-designed power struggles” (Haitao). Put simply, from a Chinese viewpoint, Zootopia ultimately reflects the dark side of society and debunks the existence of a utopia, as a perfect society is not accomplishable when there is a corrupt and unstable government. In Zootopia, both the mayor and the assistant mayor contribute to the instability of the government, as one holds the majority of the power and does nothing to solve the city’s problems and the other simply desires more power and creates chaos in the city. Such unreliable government distortions the city’s harmony and balance, breaking down the animal world’s utopia. Now what this tells us is that while from an American perspective, Zootopia reveals that a perfect and equal society in which “anyone can be anything” is unattainable due to human bias, from a Chinese perspective grasped Zootopia uncovers that utopias will remain, well, utopias because as long as one’s government is not reliable, perfection cannot be achieved.

Accordingly, such interpretations of Zootopia allowed the Chinese public to establish a parallel between the animal world and their own home country. As most of us know, China endorses patriotism left and right — from the promotion of communist symbols to the banning of foreign content. Therefore, one grows up with the belief that China is perfect and must be loved and adored — both as a country and as a government. However, Zootopia’s depiction of a seemingly harmonious society with a not-so-perfect government led the Chinese public to compare Judy’s experience in Zootopia to their own in China. As conveyed by Charline Jiao in her article “What to Make of Zootopia’s Popularity and Critique in China,” in Zootopia, when things don’t turn out to be as Judy had expected, she has to reevaluate who she trusts and such a situation requires one to “dissect the relationship between dedication to one’s country/Zootopia and one’s government” (Jiao). In this case, despite China’s portrayal of itself and its government as impeccable and worthy of admiration, members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) hold the majority of power in the country, leading to constant abuse of political power for private interests. Of course, many Chinese people are aware of this matter, which is why Zootopia’s storyline resonates significantly with their own experience. In Zootopia, Judy does not stop cherishing Zootopia even when she discovers the government’s many issues, but she just comes to understand that her beloved city is and will never be perfect, and therefore she must commit herself to make a change. With that being said, Judy’s story awakens in the Chinese public a sense of acknowledgment that while of course the Chinese government is and will never be entirely perfect, one’s patriotism does not end with a faulty government, but rather there is a line between loving one’s country (its history, culture, and traditions) and one’s government (in this case, the CCP). In essence, Zootopia’s — most likely — unintended patriotic message attracted the Chinese audience, allowing the film to become a massive blockbuster in China.

So does this mean that the Chinese people missed the movie’s message about racism and prejudice? Actually, the Chinese audience expressed admiration for the film’s social commentary on prejudice and stereotypes. Among the many positive reviews on Douban (basically, the Chinese Rotten Tomatoes), one user commented that “the most interesting thing is that the film breaks stereotypes and prejudices one by one, deliberately going beyond people’s stereotypes to create a sense of conflict in the plot” and “[this] process of breaking down stereotypes and prejudices one by one is what moved me the most in the whole film” (Douban). As seen, Zootopia’s intended message was actually received and understood by the Chinese audience, but that is not to say that this message was the main reason for the film’s appeal in China. Despite having an understanding of the movie’s original lesson, the Chinese public caught a different message that conformed to their own society better. Rather than focusing on the diversity aspects of the animal world, the Chinese interpretation centered around the illusions of a perfect society.

Although for both American and Chinese audiences Zootopia is about a rabbit and a fox working together to investigate the animal city’s disappearances of predators, for both audiences the film depicted two completely different messages. On one hand, the American audience grasped the film’s intended message regarding racial prejudice, stereotypes, and diversity. And on the other hand, the Chinese audience determined that Zootopia conveys a patriotic message about the inexistence of perfect societies and the distinction between adoration for one’s country and its government. Such contrast in understanding simply comes to show us how movies are always subject to interpretation. While a movie might intend to deliver one simple message, its translation may differ depending on the viewer’s background. And undoubtedly, worldwide successes such as Zootopia simply manage to demonstrate to us that deeper meanings and lessons will continue to be interpreted differently to fit one’s narrative and society.

Works Cited:

德小科 “Zootopia与它的社会学彩蛋.” 豆瓣, 豆瓣(Douban), 7 Mar. 2016, https://movie.douban.com/review/7803399/.

Guerrasio, Jason. “The Oscar-Nominated ‘Zootopia’ Has a Hidden Message for President Trump.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 28 Jan. 2017, https://www.businessinsider.com/zootopia-donald-trump-2017-1.

Jao, Charline, and By. “Zootopia’s Popularity in China.” The Mary Sue, 18 Apr. 2016, https://www.themarysue.com/zootopia-china/.

Kois, Dan. “Zootopia Is a Delightful Kids’ Movie That Is Also Totally about Racial Profiling.” Slate Magazine, Slate, 2 Mar. 2016, https://slate.com/culture/2016/03/disney-s-zootopia-has-a-message-for-kids-about-racial-profiling.html.

Wang, Haitao. “Zootopia, Almost a Banned Movie.” Sina, 17 Mar. 2016, http://news.sina.com.cn/zl/ruijian/2016-03-17/09165632.shtml.