Document Type : Original Article

Authors

• Garineh Keshishyan Siraki ¹
• Javad Mavizchi ²

¹ Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Relations, Faculty of Law and Political Science, Islamic Azad University South Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran.

² PhD Student of Political Science Orientation to Iranian Issues, Faculty of Law and Political Science, Islamic Azad University South Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Zootopia is a fascinating animation that, beyond its childish and entertaining theme, is full of themes of political philosophy, especially the embodiment of some of Thomas Hobbes’s theories. Zootopia tells the story of an animal utopia in which predators do not hunt animals, but all mammals live together in peace, with the slogan “Everyone can be what they want to be”. At the same time, this utopia is very much in line with the practical and theoretical limitations of the real world and is very prone to turmoil and crisis. In this article, while preserving the theoretical framework of Hobbes’ ideas in measuring and evaluating socio-political phenomena and issues, some of the signs and themes of this animation, which are similar to the views of this thinker, are tried to be measured. And sometimes the transitions from her thought, within the framework of the desired system of the creators of the work, are deciphered and at the same time, some of the themes of this seemingly childish animation are analyzed from different cultural-political dimensions. Some of the most important issues under discussion are the natural state and the fear of returning to the pre-civilization period and the place of the category of entertainment in the utopian system. This article uses hermeneutic methods to read the text and extracts Hobbesian realism from the side of Zootopia animation.

Keywords

• Thomas Hobbes
• Realism
• Fear
• Natural State
• Zootopia