History FridgeBrilliance / Zootopia

* An otter seems a bit of an odd choice of victim compared with the other 14 missing mammals who are all all stereotypical large predators like wolves, bears and big cats. But the other 13 were likely random victims. Otterton meanwhile was targeted because he knew too much.

* [[spoiler: Night Howlers are used for agricultural pest control, even country bumpkins are aware of their symptoms, and are listed as a controlled botanical. Given this, why was did at Cliffside recognize the symptoms and run a test? Probably because not only were they unable to contact other medical professionals for assistance, but they would have also been chosen on their ability to keep quiet, not their medical expertise.]] Had Lionheart not been so secretive, the cause of the mammals illness would have been identified much earlier.

* [[spoiler: Night Howlers are used for agricultural pest control, even country bumpkins are aware of their symptoms, and are listed as a controlled botanical. Given this, why was did at Cliffside recognize the symptoms and run a test? Probably because not only were they unable to contact other medical professionals for assistance, but they would have also been chosen on their ability to keep quiet, not their medical expertise.]] [[CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot Had Lionheart not been so secretive, the cause of the mammals illness would have been identified much earlier.]]

* It's been pointed out elsewhere that Doug has eyes that much more closely resemble those of a real sheep. While the Doylist explanation of making him look menacing makes sense, there's a decent Watsonian one, too... He works regularly with Night Howlers and has likely inhaled/otherwise consumed trace amounts of the stuff. As such, he's ended up partially "reverting" to a more animalistic state, with his eyes adjusting accordingly.

* When Disney did their clever promotional posters featuring Zootopia characters in famous films (ie "Fifty Shades of Prey" or "Mad Yax"), one was for "Steve Paws" and the [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/steve_paws_poster.jpg poster featured the character Michael Tanuyama]], one of the alternate ZNN male newscasters created for the Japanese release. Having such an obscure character in the poster seemed an odd choice until you realize that Tanuyama is a Japanese raccoon dog, a species known for their disproportionately large testicles. Steve Jobs was known for having the balls to be able convince himself and others to believe almost anything (i.e. his Reality Distortion Field). This turns out to be a sublime case of StealthPun and GettingCrapPastTheRadar.

* The BigBad's identity makes sense when you realize that, like quite a few other Disney villains, [[spoiler:she is essentially an EvilChancellor]].

** Bogo is definitely a JerkAss early on... [[JerkassHasAPoint except he actually is right]]. Judy's behaviour as a ''new recruit'' is ''quite'' reckless. Her being dispatched as a meter maid is seen as demeaning and stereotyping, except a lot of police officers start out at the bottom and work their way up. He's not being sexist and racist for doing that, he's just ''doing his job''. (Not so much of an excuse for when he gives her ''forty-eight hours'' to make an arrest on a case that the whole ZPD itself couldn't solve ''in two weeks''...)

* Then again, if anyone did realize Finnick and Nick were different species, they could just say he's Nick's adopted son.

** Bogo is definitely a JerkAss early on... except he actually is right. Judy's behaviour as a ''new recruit'' is ''quite'' reckless. Her being dispatched as a meter maid is seen as demeaning and stereotyping, except a lot of police officers start out at the bottom and work their way up. He's not being sexist and racist for doing that, he's just ''doing his job''. (Not so much of an excuse for when he gives her ''forty-eight hours'' to make an arrest on a case that the whole ZPD itself couldn't solve ''in two weeks''...)

** It's also a good symbol within-Verse for a costume representing how the animals have "evolved" from wildlife into civilized and more human-like (although they don't know the word) beings. Very few RealLife mammals can see the complete range of colors extant in a rainbow; in a world with no primates, ''no'' placental mammal would be expected to have that ability. But the diversity of colors in Zootopians' clothes, decor and advertisements suggest that ''all-color vision'' is yet another trait they've acquired when they "evolved", right alongside sapience, bipedalism, opposable thumbs, and speech".
*** In other words, while this saying is ''extremely'' obvious, Zootopia is a story that's basically "what if animals evolved '''like''' humans.

** It's also a good symbol within-Verse for a costume representing how the animals have "evolved" from wildlife into civilized and more human-like (although they don't know the word) beings. Very few RealLife mammals can see the complete range of colors extant in a rainbow; in a world with no primates, ''no'' placental mammal would be expected to have that ability. But the diversity of colors in Zootopians' clothes, decor and advertisements suggest that ''all-color vision'' is yet another trait they've acquired when they "evolved", right alongside sapience, bipedalism, opposable thumbs, and speech.

** Not every animal species has been uplifted, as evidence by the non-existence of primates in this film. It's possible that aquatic animals, birds, and reptilians were never uplifted at all.

* Starting from the teaser trailer [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9lmhBYB11U&ab_channel=WaltDisneyAnimationStudios 1]], one of the earliest complaints lobbed at the film was how it very heavy handily states "In Zootopia, animals are '''Anthro-po-morphic'''" to the audience to an annoying literal degree, considering this isn't their first foray into talking animal genre. And yet, as the film revolves around FantasticRacism and the central mystery of "Will predatory animals eat other animals?" is introduced the blunt textbook definition is actually the perfect grounding and necessary {{Foreshadowing}} to the film's twist. Animals in Zootopia are too evolved to simply "go savage" and ''are'' by definition anthropo (having human level behavior) morphic (despite having animal appearances)- with the central message being human cognitive biases.

* Starting from the teaser trailer [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9lmhBYB11U&ab_channel=WaltDisneyAnimationStudios 1]], one of the earliest complaints lobbed at the film was how it very heavy handily states "In Zootopia, animals are '''Anthro-po-morphic'''" to the audience to an annoying literal degree, considering this isn't their first foray into talking animal genre. And yet, given the film revolves around FantasticRacism and the central mystery is "Will predatory animals eat other animals?" the blunt textbook definition is actually the perfect bit of introductory grounding and necessary {{Foreshadowing}} to the film's twist. Animals in Zootopia are too evolved to simply "be savage" and ''are'' by definition anthropo (having human level behavior) morphic (despite having animal appearances)- with the central message being human cognitive biases.

* There's actually another reason [[spoiler: ,besides the ruination of his political career, that has Mayor Lionheart so angry during the asylum scene. Dr. Honeybadger tells him that he needs to start considering that the affected predators might be reverting to their natural urges. She just told ''another predator'', who is already worried about the crisis putting his career and possibly the safety of him and his family on the chopping block, that this was just something that all predators eventually did. She pretty much insulted him to his face. It's no wonder he completely loses his cool.]]

This in turn invites some more Fridge Sadness: [[spoiler:Of course he kept the Junior Ranger Scout scarf: he probably couldn't afford to throw clothes away given it's established he was extremely poor growing up.]]

* Then again, if anyone did realize Finnick and Nick are different species,he could just say he's Nick's adopted son.

** Flash the sloth is actually a speed demon when he's in his muscle car.

* Surprisingly, even though mammals of all size and shape inhabit Zootopia, primates are nowhere to be seen. The creators of the movie must have thought that primates are too closely related to humans. The idea of apes not understanding AnimalTalk because of this dates all the way back to ''Disney/LadyAndTheTramp''. It's entirely possible that the reason humanity "never happened", to quote the trailer, is that primates all became extinct long before the first proto-hominid.

* During the [[AMinorKidroduction preface]] in Judy's childhood, Gideon inflicts a flesh wound on her. It's a bit of a shock, but it's a deliberate bit of writing to show that the rules of this particular Disney universe are more ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' than they are ''Disney/RobinHood'': bad people can and ''will'' do violence to innocents unless they're stopped. It makes it clear that all these fuzzy little friendly critters in Zootopia can bleed and feel pain, which increases the emotional stakes once mysterious "atavism" and paranoia-fueled hate crimes become part of the story.

* It might bug you how the ethnics of this world's society was merely separated into two categories: "Predator" and "Prey". Then it comes to you exactly ''why'' this feels wrong: you're [[MostWritersAreHuman looking at it through a human's lens, not an animal's]]. While the animal kingdom is made up of so many species with inherent differences in strength and capabilities, of course it doesn't work with human society, because humanity is one species all with the same potential. To attach such connotations to ethnic labels only ends up making them demeaning, when it's barely relevant to the potential any human has. You look at Judy's drive to become a cop as a child, it's mostly the same as any human child; not truly caring about labels and stuff, and looking to gun for the goal she set for herself. The {{Aesop}} of ''Zootopia'' isn't "don't be racist, [[PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad even just a little bit or accidentally]]"; it's that having such connotations to ethnic labels in the first place is detrimental and pointless. When you learn look at yourself and the world around you beyond mere ethnicity, [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre you and those around you have the potential for anything]].