![]() Whereas the hunted animals have features that help them to defend themselves. Such as speed, stealth, good sense of smell and sight, poison to kill the hunted, etc. The hunters are seen to have qualities that are helpful for them to kill. For example, the lion and the Zebra, the bear and the fish, the wolf and the reindeer, etc. They are dependent on one another, and the wheel of the food chain rotates by interactions between the two. The predator is the hunter, and the prey is the one hunted. The predator and prey are two different species of animals in an environment. At the same time, the hippopotamuses would kill lions, humans, and crocodiles to survive. Because in the dry season, when food is scarce, carnivores are desperate and would attack anything.Ĭrocodiles hunt baby hippopotami near water holes. Perhaps one day Disney will make a movie that will help with that discussion as well.Is a hippo a predator or prey? Well, sometimes they are both. I don’t quite know how to approach the gray areas where faith can turn to violence and people who feel oppressed can sometimes become dangerous. The truth is I am much more comfortable talking about the many dear Muslim friends that we have, and the dangers of stereotyping. What we didn’t talk about was extremism–or how, unfortunately, many people do commit atrocities in the name of religion. I knew that politics of the recent campaign had trickled down into my kids’ worlds, but I hadn’t realized that my daughter had made that personal connection. We talked some more about how each person is different, and you can’t decide if someone is good or bad based on their race, religion, or “species.” We talked about how, although sometimes these “trouble makers” have actually caused problems, often they are just less socially adept than the other kids.įortunately, none of their personal examples were as extreme as the intentional manipulation of the “predator’s” image in “Zootopia.” But, it was clear that they understood how our perception of other people is influenced by opinions. Just as we were turning into the driveway, my daughter made a big statement, “It’s kind of like how on TV they want to kick Muslim people out of America, even though my friends Joseph and Amina are really nice.” Each kid, it seemed, has a classmate, or group of friends, who are regularly labeled as “trouble makers,” often with the silent approval of the teachers or coaches. I explained to them the meaning of the word “scape goat.” Suddenly, they were all chiming in with personal experiences. “It’s kind of like that time when the “cool kids” told everyone that that it was me and my friends’ fault that the class lost our recess time, even though everyone was talking, and then the whole class got mad at us.” But, my daughter drew an even more personal parallel: The “racism” in this movie was not just about preconceived notions, it was a concentrated effort by the minority of “prey” to make the predators look primitive, violent, and downright dangerous. The parallels to the current political climate, as well as the much darker days of pre-Nazi Germany, were extremely evident to me. We spent the next few minutes talking about stereotypes and racism and how even good guys (like Judy Hopps) can often make the mistake of judging people based on the color of their skin (or the type of species that they are).īut there was another element to the story, one that I wasn’t sure if my kids had picked up on. “It was hard to tell who was nice and who was mean.” They spent most of the ride home in silence-not typical for my boisterous gang. My 10- year-old son finally broke the silence with a loud sigh, and said, “That movie was kind of scary.” This heaviness was not lost on my children. Heavy fodder for a children’s movie indeed. Her discoveries force her to come face-to-face with her own prejudices, as well as those of people that she respects. As Judy delves further into the system, she begins to uncover a complex web of institutionalized “specie-ism” and back room politics. She is assigned to work in Zootopia, an idealistic city where predator and prey coexist in harmony…at least theoretically. The story centers around Judy Hopps, a determined bunny who, through hard work and dedication, breaks the glass ceiling of “cuteness” and becomes the first bunny cop. Instead, what I saw was a thoughtful, nuanced reflection on race relations and the complexities of government manipulation, delivered in a child-accessible manner. When I took my children to see the new Disney movie, “ Zootopia” this week, I was expecting another fluffy tale of good versus.
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