Cosmopolitan and Border Experiences in the Global City of Zootopia
Keywords:
Film Studies, Zootopia, Global City, Cosmopolitanism, Borderlands, DiversityAbstract
This paper analyses the Walt Disney’s animation film Zootopia (2016) within the context of contemporary cinematic representations of global cities as borderlands but also as bordering, exclusive, diverse and cosmopolitan places. Zootopia is a film about the city space, in this case, about the global city of Zootopia. The film reflects contemporary global cities in which the negotiation of space is a constant issue. It portrays a modern metropolis formed by different neighbourhoods with contrasting habitats such as Sahara, Jungle or Tundra, all comprised in the same space and separated by physical walls. Animals from every environment, size and form cohabit together in the city, but physical and metaphorical borders are erected between them. The film brings an inclusive message breaking with borders inside the global city and portraying moments of openness between the protagonists, a bunny and a fox.
Downloads
Metrics
References
ALLEN, John, Doreen Massey, and Michael Pryke. Unsettling Cities: Movement/Settlement. Routledge, 1999.
ANDERSON, Elijah. The Cosmopolitan Canopy: Race and Civility in Everyday Life. W.W. Norton, 2011.
ANZALDÚA, Gloria. Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. Aunt Lute Books, 1999.
BEAUDINE, Gregory, Oyemolade Osibodu, and Aliya Beavers. “Disney’s Metaphorical Exploration of Racism and Stereotypes: A Review of Zootopia.” Comparative Education Review, vol. 61, no. 1, 2017, pp. 227-34.
BONAL, Xavier. “Editorial.” Monograph City, Social Inclusion and Education, edited by Xavier Bonal, vol. 5, International Association of Educating Cities, 2014, pp. 4-5.
CASTELLS, Manuel. The Rise of the Network Society: The Information Age: Economy, Society, and Culture. Blackwell, 2010.
DAVIS, Mike. Magical Urbanism: Latinos Reinvent the U.S. City. Verso, 2000.
DEBRUGE, Peter. “Film Review: ‘Zootopia’”. Variety, 12 Feb. 2016, https://variety.com/2016/film/reviews/zootopia-film-review-1201703504/, accessed 13 January 2013.
DELEYTO, Celestino. From Tinseltown to Bordertown: Los Angeles on Film. Wayne State University Press, 2017.
DELEYTO, Celestino and Gemma López. “Catalan Beauty and the Transnational Beast: Barcelona on the Screen.” Transnational Cinemas, vol. 3, no. 2, 2012, pp. 157-175.
DYER, Richard. The Matter of Images: Essays on Representations. Routledge, 1993.
FOUCAULT, Michel. The Order of Things. Vintage Books, 1971.
HASSLER‐FOREST, Dan. “Life isn't some Cartoon Musical”: Neoliberal Identity Politics in Zootopia and Orange is the New Black.” Journal of Popular Culture, vol. 51, no. 2, 2018, pp. 356-78.
KEEBLE, Arin. The 9/11 Novel: Trauma, Politics and Identity. Mc Farland & Company, Inc, 2014.
MASSEY, Doreen. World City. Polity, 2007.
MENNEL, Barbara. Cities and Cinema. Routledge, 2008.
MULJADI, Hianly. “Discrimination in Zootopia: A Critical Reading.” EduLite: Journal of English Education, Literature and Culture, vol. 4, no. 2, 2019, pp. 236-46.
OSMOND, Andrew. “Zootropolis.” Sight and Sound, vol. 26, no. 5, 2016, pp. 94.
SANDLIN, Jennifer, and Nathan Snaza. “‘It's Called a Hustle, Sweetheart’: Black Lives Matter, the Police State, and the Politics of Colonizing Anger in Zootopia.” Journal of Popular Culture, vol. 51, no. 5, 2018, pp. 1190-213.
SASSEN, Saskia. “Whose City is It? Globalization and the Formation of New Claims”. Public Culture vol. 8, no. 2, 1996, pp. 205-224.
SASSEN, Saskia. The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo. Princeton University Press, 2001.
SASSEN, Saskia. “Global Cities and Survival Circuits.” Global Woman: Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy, edited by Barbara Ehrenreich and Arlie Hochschild, Holt Paperbacks, 2002, pp. 254-274.
SASSEN, Saskia. “The Global City: Introducing a Concept.” Brown Journal of World Affairs, vol. 11, no.2, 2005, pp. 27–43.
SHIEL, Mark. “Cinema and the City in History and Theory.” Cinema and the City: Film and Urban Societies in a Global Context, edited by Mark Shiel and Tony Fitzmaurice, Blackwell, 2001, pp. 1–18.
SKRBIŠ, Zlatko, and Ian Woodward. Cosmopolitanism: Uses of the Idea. Sage, 2013.
SMITH, Neil. “New Globalism, New Urbanism: Gentrification as Global Urban Strategy.” Antipode, vol. 34, no. 3, 2002, pp. 427-50.
TAFOYA, Scout. 2017. "Zootopia.” Magill's Cinema Annual 2017: A Survey of the Films of 2016, edited by Brian Tallerico, 36th ed., Gale, 2017, 429-431.
WASKO, Janet. Understanding Disney: The Manufacture of Fantasy. Polity Press, 2020.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Accepted 2021-07-05
Published 2021-10-08
- Abstract 601
- pdf 485
