This
past week I watched Zootopia with my children, ages 2 and 1. Within the first
20 minutes of the movie Officer Hop, a female rabbit had an encounter with
another officer, not sure of his name, but he was an over sized Cheetah. In the
midst of their conversation, the Cheetah officer said that the bunny was cute.
Officer Hop immediately replied that when a bunny calls another bunny cute, it’s
ok, but when another species referred to them as cute it was offensive. The
Cheetah apologized for offending the bunny.
This
stuck out to me because prior to her encounter with the Cheetah, Officer Hop
had been assigned to parking patrol. Officer Hop mentioned the fact that there
were multiple cases to be solved and that she had graduated at the top of her
class within the academy. Even with that information though, the assigning
officer told Officer Hop that she could not handle those cases, [because she was
a bunny, and too cute], and would remain on Parking patrol.
Both
incidents are examples of microagression. Even within a children’s movie, there
were visible examples of stereotypes of what a woman, often small and cute was
capable. This image was portrayed through a rabbit that ultimately, proved
everyone and their stereotypes about her, wrong.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteThat was a great example of a microagression. It is interesting to see that it happens on television and with shows that children watch and have access to and in some ways that can be bad because then the child may start to pick up on the little microagressions in the tv and may think it is ok, A lot of the times we are not aware that childrens shows have this, and it may not be as bad but its still there. It was great that you watched this with your children and noticed this.