Remember that episode of My Little Pony, where the moral was “’No’ means ‘no’?” It was basically a message to the My Little Pony Fanbase - which had a *TERRIBLE* habit of pushing that shit down peoples’ throats regardless of what they said. Yeah, it was basically Hasbro saying, “Are you listening, Bronies? This is for you.”

Zootopia is this way for Tumblr - and well, in general, this generation.

Note that it did not actually paint one particular group with a black and white brush. It actually paints them with a GREY brush. Why is this a good message for this generation?

It shows that people are INDIVIDUALS. It does not actually go with this fairy-tale “Clearly you are supposed to sympathise with this person because they never do anything wrong”-type of characterisation that Disney used to do. Sure, it was alright back in say, the 1930s or the 1950s, but in the new tens? People expect more. It doesn’t show you that WHAT you are that is important, but WHO you are.

A surprising amount of people - especially on this site - don’t seem to realise this.

It also teaches don’t judge people based upon their initial appearances. See? Do we have to still teach kids this? Yes. Just look at this website and note that most of these are kids who are like “oh you are just this this means you are…” or “This person didn’t even know me and he judged me so he must be a bad person!” Because there is always a lot more. You know. You know.

Oh, and you just know that people are going to say “See look at this movie about race relations - TAKE NOTES WHITE PEOPLE!” Oh people should take notes alright… it’s actually you, Tumblr. Take notes.

Note how it does not paint the predators and prey (or hell, even individual species) with any black or white brushes. It does not show that the racism is directed only at the predators by the prey or at the prey by the predators. It shows that jerks can be anyone - and I DO mean ANYONE.

This is a huge thing and one reason why we need to give this message out - I know a lot of people will immediately write me off as a racist, but note that what this actually does: It portrays people as people. It doesn’t say “see this is why our belief is justified”. There is a TON of racist hate coming from both sides - and especially on this website. Even if you love to point out the whole “But these people have had it worse I think fixing things for them is better than making sure they don’t say rude things”.

This is called “appeal to worse problems” - this is a LOGICAL FALLACY. Sure, an informal fallacy (Because say, dealing with limited resources like “Why should we spend money fixing this side road nobody goes to rather than main street when we only have enough money for one?” it’s one thing, but when you’re talking about trying to make people be seen as equal? This is a problem you can’t just ignore. It is fully possible to care about big and small problems simultaneously. (Look at how feminists and egalitarians are trying to make things better for people in the first world.)

Okay, now that that’s done?

Long story short: It shows that just because you are a prey or a predator, that does NOT mean you can NOT be racist - it means you CAN be.

In fact, take a note of the villain’s motivations - they want to create what amounts to a race war. And look at how easily people are led onto it. This is where the film strongly says “Are you paying attention, people?” Take a look at our media and note the trends. Note how commonly people appeal to race and use that to justify supporting them, no matter how clearly wrong they are. (And as an added bonus, note the species…. it’s a genius bonus.)

Additionally, note the Oryxes at the start. Two mild characters that probably dont’ even have names (unless you read the credits) and only exist for a gag that they are loud and that the apartment walls are thin. They never question or bring up whether they are gay or not. Erasure? Actually… no. It’s just treating it as a normal acceptable behaviour. That means a lot. Seriously it freaking bugs me whenever I see a character who is supposed to be gay and they are a total walking stereotype who has to remind you that they are gay. It’s treating them like it’s a total normal thing - heck, having thin walls and being able to hear your neighbours argue is totally normal, no matter who or what they are. It’s the same with Clawhauser - they don’t fat shame him at ALL. Now that’s a very Tumblr friendly message.

Seriously,if I’m seeing people go “this movie is so SJW” or “This movie is such a satirization of PC culture”, then my only response is “eat shit and choke on it.” It’s perhaps one of the most relevant movies this generation.





btw, Tumblr, are you listening? Yeah.