Is Disney’s Zootopia propaganda?
Is Disney secretly delivering propaganda to young men and women across the world through the form of cartoons and animated movies? Well, one China newspaper claims Zootopia is American propaganda. According to Fortune, People’s Liberation Army newspaper criticized Zootopia, the animated Disney movie, for spreading Western messages in the “invisible battlefield” of propaganda.
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In Zootopia, the villain is a sheep, its victims all predators, and the savior is a rabbit. The paper takes issue with the role reversal.
A rabbit counteracting its timid nature to play a savior is messaging the American Dream—that anyone can make it—the editorial said.
It’s important to point out that Chinese officials have called out Hollywood in the past for spreading Western cultural values in China through movies and TV shows. And China’s ruling Communist Party treats propaganda as a top concern. In fact, huge budgets are spent to their own version of propaganda. The major newspapers are state run and censors are always put in place of Western movies and TV shows.
Related: 6 Uses of Propaganda that Hollywood Uses to Sell Movies
Either way, the movie is a hit in China, passing Kung Fu Panda 3 and it is the highest earning animated movie of all-time and earning more than $230 million in box office sales, according to Box Office Mojo.
