Project 1: Video/DVD Analysis

As for the first project video analysis, I want to choose a trailer of a recent
popular Disney film called Zootopia to analyze. Zootopia is one of my favorite
movies so far that I have watched in 2016. There are animals from different backgrounds
and races that live in the modern and civilized metropolis city called Zootopia. In this
movie, animals are divided into two groups: predator and non-predator. The main
character of this movie is named Judy who is a rabbit, and she has a dream to become a
police officer. Because of her race, many animals do not think she will be able to achieve
her dream since most of the police officers are the biggest animals, and most of them are
strong and powerful predators. However, she is very determined and put lots of effort to
become the first rabbit police officer from where she is born. When she enters the police
force, she is assigned to do the parking duty. Then she meets a fox who is named Nick.
Later, for some reasons, they become partners and solve a mysterious case together. In
the end, the case is successfully solved. Judy earns everyone's respects and Nick becomes
the first fox officer.
In the views of sociology perspective, there are three main paradigms to help us to
gain a better understanding of society. Emile Durkheim who is one of the founders of
sociology and he is interested in structural functionalism, believes that in order to
maintain a stable society, people have different roles and responsibilities to work
together. Most importantly, they share similar beliefs, symbols and languages. People are
interdependent in a society. And there are also various social institutions such as
education, political system and healthcare to keep a society regulated. In Zootopia,
although there are animals from diverse backgrounds to live in the city, they establish

police departments, shops, restaurants and schools just like humans do. Animals need to
go to school to acquire knowledge. And the police departments have a duty to protect
every animals safety and punish animals who violate the laws. On the other hand,
through the lens of Comtes perspective, he would think that knowing the Laws of
society can help us to hold the society together and maintain a social order. And there
are three stages of law: theological, metaphysical and scientific. In the last stage, Comte
believes that people will solve problems rationally based on observations, laws and
scientific knowledges. In the movie, when Judy and Nick solve a mysterious case
together, they go to several places to collect information. When they put all the evidences
together, the case is solved and the animals who commit the crime are sent to prison.
I think the paradigm that is most represented in this film is conflict theory. Karl
Marx considers society is unequal that people have to compete for limited resources.
Individuals are divided into different groups based on their power, race, resource, social
status and so on. While in the movie, Judy is being judged by everyone about her race
and power. No one believes Judy can be a police officer. And Nick has a similar situation
with Judy. Even though Nick is regarded as a predator, many animals consider foxes are
sly and dishonest. Despite all the doubts of animals, two of them work really hard in
order to prove the public is wrong about them.