How to evaluate the Disney animated film Zootopia?

It was already late at night when the film ended. The audience in the cinema are reluctant to leave, sitting in chairs listening to the ending song "Try Everything" and shaking their heads with the super rhythm. I am immersed in the same atmosphere, constantly recalling the shock brought by the film. This film has the following factors for the success of animation in recent years: the comedy of the Ice Age, the growth of How to Train Your Dragon, and the cure of Hero 6. But Zootopia is so different. It makes children laugh, but it also makes adults think. In just two hours, the film not only reflects the reality with a complete world view, but also challenges the audience's ethics through the constantly reversed plot, thus completely subverting the traditional routine of Hollywood animation "silly and sweet".

Zootopia is sure to make a lot of money at the box office by those funny animals. But I am more curious about what kind of debate the connotation of the film will cause and whether the film will become a classic of contemporary culture. In my opinion, this film has at least three progressive connotations, which are worthy of attention when watching.

1. Animal Tuobang

Frankly speaking, Zootopia's translation is not the worst among all Hollywood movies. After all, there are some wonderful things in the translation field, such as the Golden Escort, Stimulation 1995, and Food Story. However, Crazy Zoo obliterates the important information hidden in the English name "Zootopia". In English names, "zoo" means zoo, and "topia" is the root of "place" in Greek. This Greek root often appears in an English word: utopia, that is, "Utopia". Therefore, a more accurate translation of the film should be Animal Topping.

Animal topang

Utopia, as a synonym of "ideal society", originated from the book of the same name by Thomas Moore, a British scholar in the16th century. In that book, Moore invented an island with a perfect social system, which not only abolished private ownership, but also achieved equality for all. Under the protection of the ideal system, the residents of the island fully enjoy their freedom. Poverty and sin in real society do not exist on this small island. Just when the British people were full of hope for the political man Moore, he was executed by his good friend Henry VIII.

After Moore's death, his ideal social idea survived. A group of social practitioners decided to establish their own utopia. British businessman robert owen established an experimental commune in the United States. However, this commune that abolished private ownership failed two years later. Judging from the economic foundation of the commune, its failure is not surprising. For two years, the commune had no substantial output, mainly relying on Owen's own property. This wealth was earned by Owen in a cotton mill in England. It can be said that the economic foundation of this commune is exactly what Utopia thought opposes: employment in factories, slavery in cotton fields and colonialism in international trade. The failure of the commune was inevitable from the beginning.

In the 20th century, "Utopia" revived as a counterattack against capital. The Soviet Union carried out a more ambitious social experiment at the national level, replacing the market economy with a planned economy. But dystopian thought also rose at the peak of the Soviet Union. In George Orwell's Animal Farm, animals are also used to allegorize politics. The pig who led the revolution seized power. As a result, the animal farm, which was originally moving towards the goal of equality, has developed into a new level. As predicted by Animal Farm, the administration of the Soviet Union became bureaucratic and the economy became rigid step by step. The Soviet Union finally disintegrated.

"Animal Tuobang" in Crazy Zoo is also an idealized city. All animals live together regardless of race, and each animal can be what it wants to be. However, as the story goes on, the audience will find that "animals support the country" is only a conceptual ideal, which is far from reality. Whether "Animal Feeding Country" is an encouraging "Utopia" or an ironic "dystopia" is the first connotation to be discussed from the title.

2. Adults like fairy tales

Crazy Zoo does not stop at the abstract concept of Utopia. The film deliberately alluded to reality from the beginning. In a typical bridge section, the rabbit is anxious to check the license plate number of the transportation bureau, and the clerks of the transportation bureau are lazy. Children smiled happily when they saw the simple and honest sloth on the screen, but the faces of adult audience were all wry: the administrative process of procrastination in life was probably worse than sloth. The species conflict in the film also corresponds to the current racial conflict in the United States. Animal City is full of racial prejudice: rabbits are unfit to be policemen, foxes are liars, herbivores are weak, and carnivores are cruel ... Similarly, there is serious racial prejudice in the United States, and presidential candidate Trump has made no secret of his racist attitude. It can be said that Crazy Zoo is a fable about reality.

Fables are called "adult fairy tales", and they often use metaphors to describe society and human nature. China's classic The Journey to the West is a fairy tale on the surface, but it is also a fable on the inside. The Monkey King was independent and capable, and dared to make a scene in heaven and overthrow the order of heaven, which was often regarded as a manifestation of rebellious spirit by later generations. Pig Bajie is not only lazy and timid, but also greedy for women, which symbolizes the weakness of human nature. The indirect metaphor of fable is like a small puzzle for readers to play by themselves. As far as the purpose of satirizing reality is concerned, fable is more attractive to the audience, and its smiling irony effect is better than direct attack.

But as a fable, what Zootopia wants to oppose most is the common facial explanation in fables, such as the lion representing the ruler and the fox representing the cunning. With the development of the plot, the true character of animals always deviates from the corresponding traditional facial makeup. The timid rabbit should be brave and bloody, and the cunning fox should be kind and sincere. Small animals become gang bosses, but big animals are pony boys. The villain in the film is even more unexpected. Interpreting reality with fables and opposing racism with anti-Facebook are the second meaning of the film.

3. Culture changes the world

At the end of the film, a concert was held in the quiet animal city. The superstar antelope sang "Try Everything" on the stage. This song is just in line with the movie theme explained by the voice-over: every animal has defects, but this should not be the gap between species. The only way to cross species differences is to try hard and not give up communication. Accompanied by music, different animals danced hand in hand under the stage. The iconic carnival atmosphere of Disney movies has finally returned to this one-night carnival. The director's choice of a cultural singer as the ultimate means to bridge the gap seems far-fetched, but there are precedents.

In the1960s, American society was divided by ethnic conflicts, feminist movements and the Vietnam War. Just when the public was confused about the future, John Lennon, the lead singer of the Beatles, as the spokesman of pacifists, directly intervened in the mainstream culture of the United States. His Give Peace a Chance is regarded as an anti-war hymn. More than 100,000 students gathered in Washington and sang loudly:

All we are talking about is giving peace a chance.

(We say give peace a chance)

This anti-war movement brought great pressure to the Nixon administration, which eventually led to the withdrawal of the United States from the battlefield in Vietnam. Lennon's song is undoubtedly the product of folk movement, but it in turn further promoted the anti-war movement and became a case of soft culture changing the hard world. Lennon's cultural power was obtained through modern media. Zootopia's antelope is Lennon in the animation industry, representing the hope that animals can transcend species prejudice.

Similarly, Disney's intention to launch the fictional Zootopia in the US election year is not simple. Now the United States, like the 1960s, is facing a serious separatist crisis. Terrorist attacks have alienated Arab ethnic groups, and economic recession has led to attacks on foreign immigrants. Trump's arrogance in the general election even scared ethnic minorities. Under such circumstances, Crazy Zoo with the concept of "racial integration" stepped onto the silver screen, just like a breeze in the filth. Whether Zootopia can become a cultural totem that changes the world is the third connotation that I expect to interpret in the future.