Disney fans petition for “Donald Trump to watch Zootopia”
Disney fans want US president Donald Trump to watch Zootopia, as the film’s directors say it has a message for the American leader. Many have taken to Twitter and even formed a petition, to try and get Trump to watch the movie:
Byron Howard and Rich Moore, who helmed the animation, told Business Insider, of the politics behind the film:
“We examined these topics because this is real. We all thought there was an interesting social handshake in the animal world that is very much like the human world. In a city there can be people who don’t see eye to eye and have different points of view but we put them aside and live together. But that doesn’t mean those feelings go away. So we thought what if ‘Zootopia’ became a story about injustice, discrimination, as well as racism? We didn’t just want to tell another funny animal movie.
Our leader doesn’t feel like a unifier right now so imagine what kinds of movies we’re going to see during these next four years.” said Moore.
Howard also spoke about the film’s political themes:
“Even with the Trump presidency, no matter what side of the fence you’re on, we owe it to future generations to make good decisions to try to work together and understand each other and I think that’s what the film is trying to say,” he said.
He also had a little dig at Trump when accepting the award for Best Animated Motion Picture at the 2017 Golden Globes, saying that the movie is about “embracing diversity even when there are people in the world who want to divide us by using fear.”
“Zootopia is about discrimination, Trump doesn’t feel like a unifier”
While Ginnifer Goodwin, who stars as Judy the rabbit, told THR how relevant the film is in the current climate:
“I can’t speak to Disney’s stance because Disney is an unbiased storytelling entity, but I can say [the plot], of course, brings those recent political statements to mind for me personally,” she said.
Comparisons have been made of other family films exploring these themes, such as Finding Dory and Paddington. And Zootopia certainly covers similar ground too. The Disney box-office triumph is nominated for Best Animated Feature at this year’s Oscars.