Blog Post #3: Zootopia's Persuasive Messages
This module’s blog post for my Persuasion course is about reflecting on a film that uses persuasive messages in its narrative. When thinking about what film to use for this assignment, I had a hard time finding one that had been released recently and definitely included a theme that was trying to persuade an audience with its message. Then it dawned on me – a movie that grabbed a large amount of attention last year specifically for its plot’s message was Disney’s Zootopia. This animated film’s plot revolves around the moral issues of stereotyping and prejudice, and its persuasive messages are very evident within the story.
To analyze and critique Zootopia’s theme for its persuasive factors, I will use theories and topics learned from the course so far. Before I analyze the narrative’s persuasive themes, the purpose of the film needs to be understood. Disney produced this film with the intent that the character’s and plot’s display of key messages would be a positive social force. These key messages were intentional in their effort to get the audience’s attention on subjects such as breaking stereotypes and following your dreams, prejudice in our culture, and diversity. It is a film that boldly covers these topics within its animated world of human-like animals and persuades the audience to critically think about how it reflects our society.
The first topic from the course I’d like to discuss is Credibility. In the film, the main character is a bunny named Judy Hopps, who dreams of growing up to become a police officer. She is strong-willed, courageous, and determined to make it into the police academy, and although smaller than most other animals, her athleticism and intelligence gain her graduation from the academy. Although she has proven she is as ready as other officers and should have gained that credibility from the academy, her police chief assigns her to parking duty instead of handling criminal cases. This is one of many moments where the movie covers the topic of stereotyping, and displays that Judy’s credibility as a skilled officer changed depending on her audience. Gass and Seiter (2014) state that credibility is a situational and contextual phenomenon which “is subject to change as he or she moves from one audience or setting to another”, and this describes the film’s scenario. Judy was not able to persuade her police partners and chief that she has what it takes to fight crime just as much as they do at first because of her size and what type of animal she is. In their eyes, she did not have credibility because of their misconception that only the large and strong animals could be successful officers. Credibility also plays a larger role later in the film, where Judy is speaking at a press conference after successfully finding the missing citizens. While answering the reporter’s questions on why the predator animals “went savage”, Judy unintentionally persuades the press that it’s possible any predator animal could suddenly snap and become “savage”. This creates tension amongst the citizens of Zootopia, because Judy’s perceived credibility as an informed officer indirectly frightened the community and persuaded them to live in fear of natural predator animals, even though there was no reason to believe that another animal would snap.
A topic that relates to this film’s persuasive technique is how it involves factors and traits such as age and gender in a positive way. Disney is famous and well-known for producing animated films that resonate with children and that are made for the whole family to enjoy, and Zootopia definitely has a child-based target audience. The film was animated and written in a style that is easy for a child to follow and understand, even if some of the details of the plot go over the heads of a younger audience. Its ability to adapt to such a wide ranged audience is something I noticed while watching it the first time, and now in critically analyzing its persuasive factors, I see even more so that it was carefully constructed to influence both kids and adults. As stated before, the movie was written to convey a story that resonates with some of our modern cultural issues. I believe the intent of the producers of this film and the Walt Disney Company was to communicate certain moral beliefs to its audience - which includes children - and to persuade them of the wrongfulness of prejudice, stereotyping, and looking down upon someone different from yourself. These messages are sophisticatedly conveyed through the character’s actions; characters such as Judy or Nick Wilde are portrayed as the protagonists facing adversity and made likeable to the audience during the story. While watching the film, the audience is persuaded to think that the actions of these characters are the right thing to do in the situation, and in doing so the messages of cultural diversity, acceptance, and gender equality as positive things are successful in their attempt to gain the audience’s support. This film will most likely continue to have an impact on many people’s childhoods for the years to come, and persuade them in a positive way to be accepting of others and teach them the many lessons from the movie.
Lastly, I’d like to discuss how Zootopia might be persuasive enough to change someone’s behavior. The Theory of Reasoned Action was developed to explain the role of intentions and attitudes on behavior and “offers a rational model of the persuasion process” (Gass & Seiter, 2014). Based on this theory, if the film’s messages were successful in persuading a person to be more accepting of other’s cultural differences, then that person may now have the intent to act kinder to someone of a different race next time they communicate with that someone. Based on their intention to be kinder, they most likely will behave in a more kind and accepting way to that other person. If Zootopia has the effect it set out to have, then hopefully more people realize that they can be the change from the hostility in our society and cultural environment.
In writing this blog, I’ve analyzed the persuasiveness of Zootopia and gained a much better understanding of the film’s intent than before, and on the nature of persuasive messages. It all comes back to persuading people to change their attitude, according to the Theory of Reasoned Action. This in turn will possibly change their intentions and will guide their behavior. This model can relate to many forms of persuasive communication, and I’ve learned that the most successful persuasive messages can adapt to their audiences and situations. Zootopia provided a timely message that resonates with the state of tension some citizens of our country are in.
References
Gass, R. H., & Seiter, J. S. (2014). Persuasion: Social Influence and Compliance Gaining (5th ed.). Pearson.
IMDB. (n.d.) Zootopia (2016) - Synopsis.
