10 Best 2016 Movie Fan Theories

On the surface, Disney blockbuster Zootopia might seem like just another cutesy animal populated animation with vaguely interpretable moral lessons about not judging a book by its cover and getting along with everybody despite your differences. Not according to some fans who believe the movie works on a much deeper, more political level than that.

Let’s quickly recap the movie’s plot. Set in the titular city, a metropolis populated by anthropomorphic mammals, the film follows an unlikely duo – newly recruited rabbit police officer Judy and con artist fox Nick – as they attempt to solve the mystery behind several disappearances of Zootopia’s predator inhabitants. After a few red herrings, it turns out the predators have been unwittingly injected with a drug that causes them to go ‘savage’ and revert to their predatory ways. This in turn is revealed to be part of conspiracy crafted by Zootopia’s mayor to turn its predator and prey inhabitants against each other.

Some fans have pointed out the similarities between Zootopia’s plot and a popular conspiracy theory surrounding the crack cocaine epidemic that took hold in 1980s America. The theory alleges that the drug was manufactured by the US government and purposefully distributed to black communities in order to destroy them and incite white fear.

It might seem unlikely that Disney would even so much as touch such a contentious issue with a bargepole, but Zootopia’s race relation themes are undeniable and there’s even a Breaking Bad reference, for god’s sake, so it’s arguably a lot edgier than most Disney films. Could it indeed be that Zootopia is a not-so-subtle allegory for the supposedly CIA-induced crack epidemic?