Zootopia essay

Describe an important idea in the text.
Explain how the director used audio and visual
language features to help you understand this idea.

Do stereotypes actually have any significance? In the film “Zootopia” directed by Byron Howard
and Rich Moore, we see many valuable ideas presented to us. An idea that stood out, was how
stereotypes can be broken. This is shown whenever a character breaks the stereotype that comes
with being that specific animal in scenes such as when Judy and Nick became the first of their
species to become a cop, and when Flash, who is a sloth, gets a speeding ticket.

The first scene where a stereotype is broken was when Judy, a fragile little bunny, goes through
the training required to become a cop. In this scene, Judy is made to complete an intense training
course, specifically made to challenge even the biggest and strongest animals. This already shows
us that small animals like Judy, stand no chance against this course. To make it worse, before the
animals even began the track. The director used multiple establishing shots of the training course.
Making it seem even more impossible for Judy. Despite all that, Judy defied all odds and graduated
first in her class and became the very first cop that is a bunny. By doing this, Judy broke a
stereotype by becoming something other than a carrot farmer. And, having to be big and strong to
become a cop.

Another scene where we see a stereotype being broken is when Nick, despite being a fox,
becomes a cop. When Nick is first shown in the film, he was a stereotypical fox. Crafty, sly and
most importantly, untrustworthy. But as the film went on, Nick, with the help of Judy, slowly began
to break that stereotype. And during Judy’s speech at the end of the film, the director used
a full shot to show Nick get his badge and to show all the hats getting thrown up in the air to
celebrate. To make Nick and Judy an even better duo. Nick became the very first of his species
to become a cop, Just as Judy became the first of hers.

Another way a stereotype was broken was when the speeding culprit at the end of the film
happened to be flash. Before, when Judy was in a hurry to find a DMV for the missing otter case.
Nick took her to a DMV full of sloths. Once Judy realizes this, she says “wait, they're all sloths!”.
Right after she says that. Nick replies “are you saying because he’s a sloth, he can’t be fast”.
Having nowhere else to go, Judy used the sloth DMV. The visit ended up taking the entire day.
This shows that the sloths working in that DMV follow the stereotype. However, this all changes
when Flash, one of the sloths, ends up causing problems by going too fast and breaks the stereotype.

In Zootopia we see that although stereotypes do have some significance, they are easily broken
as long they are willing to change. This was shown on three different occasions. When Judy became
a cop, When Nick became a cop, and when Flash got a speeding ticket. In these ways, the idea of
stereotypes being broken was supported.