Race in "Zootopia" vs. "The Lion King"

I have already talked a lot about race on this blog, particularly in the context of The Lion King.  It was a concept I'd thought about in other Disney films (Peter Pan, The Jungle Book, etc.) but never in this movie, so exploring people's arguments about racism in The Lion King really piqued my interest.  One of the most fascinating concepts to me is that we'll never really know whether or not Disney was being intentionally racist—we'll never know what was going on inside of the animators' and producers' heads.

Some character sketches from The Lion King.  We only know what the animators put on paper, not what went on during their meetings.

Of course, animators who worked on the movie have been interviewed, but they don't even touch on the aspect of race in the movie.  This is no doubt either because they were unaware of the issue or because they were tiptoeing around conflict.

Fast-forward 22 years, and Disney has created another animal-centric animated film that touches on race—this time intentionally.  However, in interviews I found with animators, there is still a lack of conversation about the topic.  Instead, the animation team in the interview linked above focuses on their research on animals and the progressive aspect of having a female police officer in the film.

Nonetheless, plenty of movie-watchers focused on portrayal of race in the film, some for good and some for bad.  Regardless of opinion on the movie, I think most would agree that the film is progress from Disney's older pieces (such as The Lion King).  Zootopia addresses all kinds of racism, from overt racism to micro-aggressions, in an understated yet meaningful way.

In sharp contrast, The Lion King itself has hints of racism, such as casting actors of certain races for inferior roles (I analyzed racism in The Lion King in this post.)  I'd argue The Lion King is an improvement from its more racist predecessors, and Zootopia is an improvement from The Lion King, showing an expected linear progression towards fully addressing the issue.

Both The Lion King and Zootopia have casts consisting entirely of animals living in their own society—humans are completely disregarded in both films.  While past films (ex. The Jungle Book) struggled with its portrayal of minorities as apelike or animalistic, all characters in both these films were animals.  Still, in the hierarchy of nature, opportunities for racism still arise, as seen in the hyenas in The Lion King.

In Zootopia, these stereotypes are presented not by directly addressing race but by implementing a predator-prey metaphor.  In the film, these stereotypes are established and then upended, showing social change in the animals' society—arguably a tool to prompt social change in the "real world."  Thus, Zootopia does better than avoiding racism: it initiates action and gets people thinking and talking about the very real issues they are faced with on a daily basis.

I 100% believe that Zootopia is enormous progress from The Lion King, both in its subliminal messages and its attitude towards race.  In Zootopia, Disney beautifully mixes a combination of entertainment and education to influence its viewers—both young and old—in a subdued way.  I think it's incredible that Disney is using its voice to promote change, and I'm looking forward to seeing its voice strengthen with future films.