History FridgeBrilliance / Zootopia

* 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 Disney's 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.

** In addition, the hippo mother who wishes Judy Hops were dead makes sense, considering how territorial and deadly hippos actually are in real life. May cross over with fridge horror when one realizes she doesn't have to merely wish if she lacked restraint.

** In addition, the hippo mother who wishes Judy Hops were dead makes sense, considering how territorial and aggressive hippos can be. May cross over with fridge horror when one realizes she doesn't have to merely wish.

** It's likely that the other victims ''weren't'' random, but were people with some public significance. Bellwether's plan was to spark fear in the masses, which would happen faster if the targets were figures that people would know about and not just random weirdos who 'went nuts'. They probably weren't too famous, because a) there'd be a much bigger press to find them and b) celebrities have large fanbases that might rush to defend them from claims of 'going savage'. Notice how Bolo brushes off the Otterton case over the other missing people, because in comparison, no one exept his family knows enough about the otter to care that he's gone.

** It's likely that the other victims ''weren't'' random, but were people with some public significance. Bellwether's plan was to spark fear in the masses, which would happen faster if the targets were figures that people would know about and not just random weirdos who 'went nuts'. They probably weren't too famous, because a) there'd be a much bigger press to find them and b) celebrities have large fanbases that might rush to defend them from claims of 'going savage'. Notice how Bolo brushes of the Otterton case over the other missing people, because in comparison, no one expect his family knows enough about the otter to care that he's gone.

* One of the main reasons why Bogo didn't think Judy could hack it as an officer was because of her size. Everyone else on the force is a megafauna - as a rabbit, Judy is ''tiny'' compared to them. However, rabbits are actually [[PintSizedPowerhouse very strong for their size]], with well-developed legs able to kick so hard, they can ''literally break their backs''. Sure enough, Judy learns to capitalize on this, as well as her smaller size, speed, agility, and her colleagues' larger size, letting her graduate at the top of the class. Ultimately, this ties into the film's {{Aesop}} about looking past surface conceptions and realiZing the potential to be anything that everyone has.

* At first it may seem off that an otter like Mr. Otterton reverting to his feral state would be so aggressive at all times, even when there's no one around to attack, or provoke him. While most animals chalk this up to him reverting to his predator instincts, in real life otters have pretty [[PlayfulOtter relaxed and playful dispositions]] (although it should be noted that they ''are'' wild animals that attack when they feel threatened or provoked, and do ''not'' make good house pets) and they evolved to mainly forage for slow-moving fish and invertebrates like crabs, mussels, clams, etc. At first it can seem like a glaring case of CriticalResearchFailure, until it's revealed that [[spoiler:the cause of the HatePlague is a poisonous plant that makes ALL animals it comes into contact with turn aggressive, even ''[[BunniesForCuteness bunnies]]''. This also serves to highlight how pervasive Zootopia's FantasticRacism is: otters technically being carnivores gets them classified as "predators", and since they're predators that means they ''must'' have naturally feral, savage, aggressive dispositions. If anyone had said, "Wait, otters were mainly foragers, and were pretty mellow and friendly even in their natural state", they probably would have figured out how artificial the HatePlague was]] a little sooner. This said, it should also be pointed out that no one in the city would have any idea how wild otters would actually act. The only way they would know about the behavior of wild predators is if the herbivores managed to not only develop sapience but full on writing (which took hundreds of thousands of years for humans to develop in real life) before predators developed sapience, unlikely since predators are usually smarter than herbivores (they need to be), and even if they did, the records would be similar to big bad wolf tales, not scientific observation. Of course [[spoiler:no one realizes that the behavior of the savage predators doesn't match the behavior of real wild animals]] they have no frame of reference for it.

** It's a small moment, but there's the fact that he didn't throw away the application like he did with the fake badge sticker; he just gave it to Judy. Nick probably knew deep down that Judy would eventually realize her mistakes and apologize for it, and that they would reconcile. It also shows that despite what happened, he still wanted to be her partner, and he gave it to Judy because she would keep it safe.

* 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 ''WesternAnimation/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.

* In a deleted scene, Judy has to borrow an elephant's computer to get information on the Otterton case. It has a trackpad, because elephants are afraid of mice.

* While it hardly excuses Lionheart's rudeness to Bellwether, knowing the truth behind the events makes it much more understandable: [[spoiler:he really had ''a lot'' on his plate at the moment: the mysterious disease, abducting people to cover it up, the fear that, at best, he might lose his office if it all comes out, and, at worst, the madness might afflict ''him'' or [[AdultFear his family]]]] - such things do tend to make people irascible, impatient for red tape and eager to vent their frustration on someone.

* It might bug you how the ethics 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]].

* How the BigBad gets foiled during the climax is not entirely Nick and Judy's doing. To avoid suspicion, [[spoiler:Bellwether]] calls the ZPD and says "Officer Hopps is down!" However, [[spoiler:she was there with Chief Bogo]] when Judy resigned from the police force. Therefore, it would tip the police off that something is amiss when [[spoiler:she]] refers to Judy by her ''former'' title.

** Going off of the whole "humans never existed" angle, it suddenly makes sense why we only ever see wild animals; there are plenty of big cats everywhere, and we know there are foxes and wolves, but there are no cats or dogs. It could be that those species don't exist in this universe because humans weren't around to domesticate the ancient wolves and wildcats.

* How the BigBad gets foiled during the climax is not entirely Nick and Judy's doing. To avoid suspicion, [[spoiler:Bellwether]] calls the ZPD by saying "Officer Hopps is down!" However, [[spoiler:she was there with Chief Bogo]] when Judy resigned from the police force. Therefore, it would tip the police off that something is amiss when [[spoiler:she]] refers to Judy by her ''former'' title.

* How the BigBad gets foiled during the climax is not entirely Nick and Judy's doing. As part of [[spoiler:her]] charade, [[spoiler:Bellwether]] calls the ZPD by saying "Officer Hopps is down!" However, [[spoiler:she was there with Chief Bogo]] when Judy resigned from the police force. Therefore, it would tip the police off that something is amiss when [[spoiler:she]] refers to Judy by her ''former'' title.

* Clawhauser noting he has been downsized to a job "by the boiler" seems like a minor detail at first, until remembering that [[spoiler: Bellweather's "office" was in fact the boiler room, an element to show how callously treated she was. It's an early foreshadowing that Bellweather has gone SheWhoFightsMonsters, making predators feel her mistreatment, deserving or not.]]

* The "angel" depicted in the Carrot Days play at the beginning has a rainbow for a halo. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, of course, the rainbow was the promise to never again destroy the world after Noah left the Ark--as in, the means which preserved all the animals.

* [[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 did no one 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.

*** In other words, while this saying is ''extremely'' obvious, Zootopia is a story that's basically "what if animals evolved '''like''' humans".

** Going off of the whole "humans never existed" angle, it suddenly makes sense why we only ever see wild animals; there are plenty of big cats everywhere, and we know there are foxes and wolves, but there are no cats or dogs. It could be that those species don't exist in this universe because humans weren't around to domesticate the ancient wolves and the smaller cats died out.