Societal Issues In Snow White, Bambi, And Zootopia

Walt Disney was the turning point in animation history as he inspired the world through the use of the characters that he drew to life. What the audiences didn’t always see however, was the strong life lesson that each film contained. Over the years, animated Disney films have been used for a way to express views on societal issues and how we can solve these problems. Three movies that have strong life lessons behind them are Snow White, Bambi, and Zootopia. Each of these movies express different societal issues that were relevant in that time period. In 1937, the first animated film was produced by Walt Disney as he called it, Snow White. When I think of Snow White, I think of a young woman with skin “as white as snow” (Snow White, Disney), who makes friends with animals and dwarfs and is poisoned by a witch like every typically princess movie made

In the book, The Man Behind the Magic, Katherine and Richard Greene describe to the audience how Disney believed that Bambi was “an exercise in believability” (87) where the animals would talk, but were drawn as realistically as possible. This time there were “no gloves on the mice or sailor hats on the ducks” (87). To help make the characters more realistic, deer and rabbits were kept on the studio lot so the artists could study their movements. Disney’s hard, conscious efforts payed off as children received the message behind this cute, animal friendly movie, which is to never give up because “Bambi is essentially a serious story, dealing with life and death” (Fanning 91). As Bambi struggles to conquer basic life functions such as walking and talking, he also has to do it all alone since his mother was shot in the beginning of the movie. This movie teaches children that although life is challenging and throws many obstacles at us, but it is how you respond to the obstacles that will influence our lives rather than the obstacle