History Fridge / Zootopia

* Mr. Big gets offended when he learns of the source of the rug Nick sold him, and cites that he buried his Grandmama in that rug. But mafiosos generally use rolls of carpet for disposing of *enemies*. So was there some internecine warfare in the Shrew family? And if so, is he only offended about burying Grandmama in a skunk-butt rug because she was an HonorableOpponent?

** Clawhauser was likely aware at the point of Judy's loud desperate greeting that he had missed the alarm for a while. Someone as scrupulous as Clawhauser would undoubtedly feel disproportionate guilt over the deaths for months, years, or even the rest of his life. "If only I'd noticed the call sooner, he/she/they'd still be alive..."

* So apparently about three months (at least) pass between Mayor Lionheart's arrest (which is followed with moving the savage predators from the asylum to the hospital and the conspiracy finally being taken down and the savage predators cured. One little tidbit of horror here: Bellwether is mayor during this period, which means she has full control over the city's facilities. Including the hospital. For those savage predators to remain feral during those three months while being incarcerated in the hospital, what are the chances that instead of being cared for or treated, they are instead constantly being drugged with Nighthowlers? That also leads to one potential long-lasting disaster: Depending on the substance, chronic substance abuse may eventually lead to irreversible physiological change (including organ failure and brain damage). Had Bellwether remained mayor for longer, is it not possible that those savage predators might become ''incurably, permanently'' feral without hope of salvation?

* So apparently about three months (at least) pass between [[spoiler:Mayor Lionheart's arrest (which is followed with moving the savage predators from the asylum to the hospital]] and [[spoiler:the conspiracy finally being taken down and the savage predators cured]]. One little tidbit of horror here: [[spoiler:Bellwether is mayor during this period, which means she has full control over the city's facilities. Including the hospital. For those savage predators to remain feral during those three months while being incarcerated in the hospital, what are the chances that instead of being cared for or treated, they are instead constantly being drugged with Nighthowlers]]? That also leads to one potential long-lasting disaster: [[spoiler:Depending on the substance, chronic substance abuse may eventually lead to irreversible physiological change (including organ failure and brain damage). Had Bellwether remained mayor for longer, is it not possible that those savage predators might become ''incurably, permanently'' feral without hope of salvation]]?

*** [[It's actually]] [[http://satwcomic.com/like-a-cloud]] [[a well known]] [[http://www.africaspeaks.com/reasoning/index.php?topic=7483.0;wap2]] [[phenomenon]] [[http://everydayfeminism.com/2015/09/dont-touch-black-womens-hair/]] [[in some places.]] [[http://newsone.com/1417375/natural-black-hair-touched-by-whites/]]

*** [[It's actually]][[http://satwcomic.com/like-a-cloud]] [[a well known]][[http://www.africaspeaks.com/reasoning/index.php?topic=7483.0;wap2]] [[phenomenon]][[http://everydayfeminism.com/2015/09/dont-touch-black-womens-hair/]] [[in some places.]][[http://newsone.com/1417375/natural-black-hair-touched-by-whites/]]

* The Natural History museum having a mammoth (bearing a striking resemblance to a certain other CGI mammoth) and saber-toothed small rodents as the predecessors to the film's current animals makes a lot of sense as a meta reference to Ice Age, the first CGI feature film to star animals (well, mammalian animals).

* The SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan dynamic between Chief Bogo and Officer Clawhauser subtly reinforces that stereotyping is wrong. Bogo is a prey animal and Clawhauser is a predator animal, but the former fits the stereotype of "predator" far better than the latter does. Meanwhile, the latter fits the stereotype of "prey" far better than the former does. Had Judy been asked to pick which of those two was more likely to go savage, if she'd thought about it, she might not have chosen the predator over the prey. The fact they chose two species that live in the same specific environment, where even their ''primitive'' relationship involves the predator usually avoiding the prey due to the prey's tendency to curb-stomp the predator when they don't, makes the disparity even more apparent.
** Except that adult cape buffalo aren't prey to cheetahs. Lions? Yes. Cheetahs? No. Cheetah kill their prey through throat holds and neck snaps/teeth in vertebrate. A cape buffalo is likely too large and thick of skin for a cheetah to kill it, nevermind their aggression. However, cheetahs are known to be the bullied carnivore on the savannah; reinforcing the prey comparison.

* It seems strange at first that out of the original 14 missing animals, all of them were caught before they could be seen as feral and have the news story spread, especially since Bellwether's plan was for this to be become a widespread media issue. As the assistant mayor, she probably found out right away that the mayor was working to have them detained, and this played right into her hands. It was more beneficial for her to wait for a cop to expose him, and once the mayor is exposed and arrested, the cases of predators going berserk seems to happen much more publicly. That's why every earlier case had been designed to not be public; after all, it would have been very easy for Doug to tag a poor predator in broad daylight and watch him cause havoc. Better for her that all of the missing predators get media attention at the same time as they're discovered, since it makes for a much bigger media story. It was good luck on her part that Judy "solved" the case, but if she hadn't, then Bellwether would have likely had the case to be solved by herself at some point, since it all hinged on her becoming mayor in the first place. All she would have to do is create some evidence against Lionheart and submit it to the police herself. The case getting cracked open by a rabbit (i.e. prey) was just icig on the cake.

* It seems strange at first that out of the original 14 missing animals, all of them were caught before they could be seen as feral and have the news story spread, especially since Bellweather's plan was for this to be become a widespread media issue. As the assistant mayor, she probably found out right away that the mayor was working to have them detained, and this played right into her hands. It was more beneficial for her to wait for a cop to expose him, and once the mayor is exposed and arrested, the cases of predators going berserk seems to happen much more publicly. That's why every earlier case had been designed to not be public; after all, it would have been very easy for Doug to tag a poor predator in broad daylight and watch him cause havoc. Better for her that all of the missing predators get media attention at the same time as they're discovered, since it makes for a much bigger media story. It was good luck on her part that Judy "solved" the case, but if she hadn't, then Bellweather would have likely had the case to be solved by herself at some point, since it all hinged on her becoming mayor in the first place. All she would have to do is create some evidence against Lionheart and submit it to the police herself. The case getting cracked open by a rabbit (i.e. prey) was just icig on the cake.

* A more subtle horror: when the elephant ice cream parlor cashier refuses service to Nick, he 1) does so specifically because Nick is a fox and 2) rudely asks whether there are "fox ice cream parlors" in the city. When Judy wants to do her part to fight racism, she has to invoke health regulations ''rather than antidiscrimination law.'' Since she knows the law backwards and forwards, it's telling she doesn't invoke it: Zootopia has racism but lacks antidiscrimination laws and could very well be ''de facto'' segregated beyond the artificially maintained biomes.

** At least one fanfic ran with this and had a rhino assassin doing his jobs via trampling and being so reviled that [[EveryoneHasStandards the mafia thinks only scum with more money than morals hire him]].

*** Until there isn't. Zootopia is, in all likelyhood, set on a spheroid, earth-like planet. This is the kind of situation that starts wars, overpopulation, limited resources, and a very easy to manipulate population (especially via fear).

* After Mancha's attack, when Nick steps in to defend Judy after Bogo demands her badge, it has been noted that he uses both of his four fingered paws to indicate they have 10 hours left. The viewing audience would interpret a character holding up all fingers of both hands as 10 and the animators likely used that visual shorthand to indicate that. However, there is an entertaining alternative. Nick did what he did to deliberately hustle Chief Bogo. Since Judy said they had 36 hours remaining when they left the Mystic Oasis nudist club, he either worked out the math and came up with 8 hours or just winged it and even when holding up 8 digits he said 10 to extend the deadline. That fits his con man personality and he gets to pull something over on Chief Bogo after he just gave Judy an embarrassing dressing down in front of her peers and made a remark about the trustworthiness of foxes.

* 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 irrascible, impatient for red tape and eager to vent their frustration on someone.

** Other than being an obvious and brutal visual pun, right down to the bright blue end product (as Cinema Sins puts it, 'Know what this is a reference to? Breaking '''Baaa''d.'[[note]]I'm so sorry.[[/note]]), organic chemistry to get concentrated herbal extracts sometimes requires some brutal solvents. Once the solvents are removed in the multi-part distillation columns as shown, however, the PPE is not necessary.

*** I recognized the pepper spray implications too by coloring it pink; but...if Zootopia predators don't eat their "prey"...[[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil then what do they do?]]

** Other than being an obvious and brutal visual pun, right down to the bright blue end product (as Cinema Sins puts it, 'Know what this is a reference to? Breaking BAAAd.'[[note]]I'm so sorry.[[/note]]), organic chemistry to get concentrated herbal extracts sometimes requires some brutal solvents. Once the solvents are removed in the multi-part distillation columns as shown, however, the PPE is not necessary.

*** I recognized the pepper spray implications too by colouring it pink; but...if Zootopia predators don't eat their "prey"...[[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil then what do they do?]]

* Doug's gun resembles a paintball marker more than a conventional firearm or even a real-world tranquiliser dart gun. And while this could be FamilyFriendlyGuns it actually makes sense when you think about it [[spoiler: a dart gun would leave darts at the scene of the crime breaking the charade that the Nighthowler attacks are pred’s going savage, whereas the small fragments of a paintball casing could be easily overlooked by the police or designed to rapidly dissolve after they break.]]

* Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde are trying to stop species-based bigotry in Zootopia. The main antagonist, [[spoiler: [[CuteIsEvil Bellwether]], while mistreated and genuinely sees the predators' dominance in Zootopia as bad, her entire plan revolves around ''enforcing'' it.
* The BigBad. [[spoiler: Her plan is to have the 90% of the population act against the remaining 10%, that she sees as oppressive. She doesn't try to accomplish that by having them start thinking on their own, but by trusting them to follow her lead without question. Of course, she's a ''sheep''.]]

*** FridgeSadness: [[spoiler: of course he kept the Junior Ranger Scout scarf: he probably couldn't afford to throw clothes away given it's established he was extremely poor growing up.]]

* The zoologically minded may find it grating to keep seeing foxes and bears being threatened with "going feral" on account on them being predators - what with neither ''actually being an obligate carnivore'' in real life (both foxes and bears are omnivorous, and the former may, out of necessity, even live for long periods of time on nothing but vegetable matter). This is actually foreshadowing that the HatePlague [[spoiler: has nothing to do with an animal's natural diet and is made of a toxin that would've turned anyone, even a herbivore, "savage".]]

*** Which gets even better when one takes into account that in nature, both big reptiles and birds of prey are the apex predators of the natural habitats they appear in and only get trumped by humans, which as established don't exist in the Zootopia universe.
*** Three buildings ("Fishtown Market", "Clark Halibuts", and "Blubber Chef") seen in Tundra Town when Judy rides the train through the city) imply that they sell fish. Which admittedly doesn't stop reptiles and birds ''also'' being non-sapient and thusly a food source for predatory mammals, seeing as how, like fish and bugs, they do fall under WhatMeasureIsANonCute
* Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde are trying to stop species-based bigotry in Zootopia. The main antagonist, [[spoiler: [[CuteIsEvil Bellwether]], while mistreated and genuinely sees the predators' dominance in Zootopia as bad, her]] entire plan revolves around ''enforcing'' it.

*** Also, foxes are one of a sheep's natural predators, so the way Nick paws her hair and practically drools as he does so might well creep out some viewers.

** At first glance, Bogo appears to be a BadBoss who prefers dumb muscle to smart cops; but once you look deeper at his interactions, you realize how much of a ReasonableAuthorityFigure he truly is. He has every reason to be the way he is with Judy in the first act - she's a rookie cop straight out of the academy with little experience walking the beat, and she goes after a thief without backup or a weapon, and does endanger the civilians of Little Rodentia with the chase. His attempt to 'remove her' from the force using their wager is in reality an attempt to rein in her impulsive tendencies, which could cost her further down the line, as cops need to be rational and level headed when on the job. His attempt at firing her was completely justified, as she was a probationary officer who refused to follow direction or commands. However, once she locates all of the feral victims, not just the one she was assigned, he doesn't chastise her or steal the credit, but gives her the respect she deserves. The fact that he treats Clawhauser with the utmost dignity and respect despite his obvious eccentricities is in contrast to this apparent BadBoss behavior, and only confirms that he merely has high standards for his officers to meet.

** His rough treatment of Judy seems to be based of her being a "bunny," yet throughout the movie there are hints of an antagonistic working relationship between Lionheart and Bogo. Bogo's low approval of Judy may not be her only being a bunny but because she's the latest in a long line of Lionheart's political schemes to gain public favor. He can't take it out on Lionheart directly because he's on top of the food chain, literally and figuratively, so he takes it out on Judy by being a product of one MANY "political inclusion programs." This also suggests that Bogo doesn't see his superior as a credible authority figure but more as someone who preys upon the oppression and resentment of minorities to gain the populace's vote, a predator. Lionheart exploits the broken system Bogo detests to his advantage. But that begs the question whether his later and much better treatment of Judy is because found the animals or gratitude she got rid of a pain in the ass for Bogo?

** Chief Bogo, a big, no-nonsense cop secretly loves pop idols.