A Utopian Impulse: Seeking Identity In The Anthropomorphic "Animal World" Zootopia

As a 3D computer-animated film released in 2016(the year of the American election),Zootopia has attracted the audience spreading across all ages,and it has also attracted much public attention in film industry and sparked heated debates among the academic world.The film,which is based on the two species of predators and prey,tells the story of main characters---the rabbit Judy and the fox Nick,along with solving the case of the disappearance of 14 mammals.In the process of dealing with the case,they keep searching their self-identity and try to realize their self values.Meanwhile,they experience prejudice,misunderstanding and oppression from others,especially from the authorities.However,finding “true self”,treating others equally and better understanding of the society,all together contribute to solving the case;and Zootopia gets back to its peace and harmony.Taking this film as the research object,the author analyzes this movie by means of “utopia impulse” reflected in literary and cultural works.Combined with Stuart Hall's fluent cultural identity theory and Jung's psychological theory,the author analyzes this film and reveals people's longing for ideal society and perfect life in reality through the utopian anthropomorphic animal city.This thesis is divided into four parts:The first part is a general introduction,which mainly gives the basic information about the movie,the relevant theories and literature review with this movie.And then the structure and significance of this thesis are presented in this chapter.The second part emphasizes the choice and design of this animal city,characters and scenes inside,in order to analyze its meaning expressed by them,that is,the inspiration and hope for a better society of characters inside the film and the audience outside the film.Under the guidance of Hall's fluent cultural identity theory,the third part starts to explore the seeking of self-identity of two protagonists---Judy and Nick.During the process of realizing self-identity and self-values,they encounter with difficulties and prejudice from others,but their utopian impulse has been performed through it.In the last part,the author analyzes characters' realization of “true self” by keeping the original inspiration,seeing the good side of others and better understanding of the world.What's more,the finding of “true self” also helps to reconciling the conflict between the prey and predators.Both the positive side and negative side presented to the audience make people reexamine themselves and the society and try to figure out the importance of tolerance and respecting everyone,finally,realizing the utopian impulse and embracing the brand new society.