Grossmont Cuyamaca Perceptions and Prejudice in Disneys Zootopia Essay 2 Texts Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. “The Danger of a Single Story.” TED. 10 Mar 2014.

Grossmont Cuyamaca Perceptions and Prejudice in Disneys Zootopia Essay 2 Texts Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. “The Danger of a Single Story.” TED. 10 Mar 2014. Web. Allport, Gordon W. “Chapter 2: Formation of In-Groups.” The Nature of Prejudice: Unabridged.Basic Books, 1979. Bodenhausen, Galen V. and Jennifer A. Richeson. “Prejudice, Stereotyping, and Discrimination.” Advanced Social Psychology: The State of The Science. Ed. Roy F. Baumeister and Eli J. Finkel. Oxford University Press, 2010. Demby, Gene. “In Tackling Bias In Policing, ‘Zootopia’ Veers Into The Uncanny Valley.” Codeswitch, NPR, 14 Mar. 2016. Oriqat, Haneen. “At 13, I Didn’t Expect My Teach to be Afraid of Me.” The Manifest-Station, 16 Oct 2015. Sapolsky, Robert. “This is Your Blame on Nationalism: The Biology of Us and Them.” Foreign Affairs, March/April 2019 Issue. Zakaria, Fareed. Interview with Robert Sapolsky. GPS, Season 3 Episode 10: “What Neuroscience Has to Do with Nationalism.” 10 Mar 2019. Zootopia. Directed by Byron Howard, Rich Moore, and Jared Bush, Walt Disney Animation Studios, 2016. Counter Argument
& Refutation
For Argument Essays
Counter Argument
? A Counterargument is a contrary/opposite point of view
? Where you introduce the opposing argument to your own
? They Say/I Say calls this planting a Naysayer in the text
Importance
? Novices often mistakenly believe that including
counterarguments or concessions weakens their
arguments, thinking that readers will be more inclined to
agree with them if they don’t reveal these “weaknesses.”
? But in scholarly writing, these elements generally make
your argument more compelling.
Importance
? Why? First, they enhance your ethos—how your readers
feel about you as an author; when you seriously address a
counterargument, when you discuss a study or other
evidence that runs counter to your claim, when you
explain how your claim doesn’t hold for certain situations,
and so on, your readers get the sense that you’re
knowledgeable about your subject and that you’re being
straightforward.
Importance
? Second, scholarly audiences often know something
(maybe a good deal) about the subject; as they read, they
think of objections — reasons why your claim might not
hold. Since you won’t be there to answer their objections,
the best you can do is try to anticipate objections and
respond to them in your paper.
Refutation
? Where you refute the opposition’s claims showing they are
incorrect or inconsequential–not a real problem.
Templates to Use
? Here are some common phrases used to introduce these
moves. Use them freely in your own work, and add to the
list as you find others.
? Also feel free to use any of the templates that They Say/I
Say introduces for planting a naysayer.
Counterarguments
? [some person or group]
claims/argues/suggests that…
? ________’s argument implies
that…
________ interprets these results
to mean that…
? According to [someone], …[claim
about science]
? Critics/supporters of ________
argue that…
Refutation
? However, …
? Yet…
? But this interpretation is
flawed/questionable…
? Yet the bulk of studies on the
subject suggest…
? But what they fail to
acknowledge is…
Concession
Refutation
? Of course, …
? But this does not mean…
? I concede that…
? Nevertheless, …
? It is true that…
? However, it is also true that… In
spite of this …
? It may well be that…
? Have there been contrary findings?
Yes,…
? While we acknowledge that …
? Critics of ____ are right that…
yet/however…
? There are in fact published studies
that suggest…
? It is possible that…
? The results could be interpreted to
mean…
? But…
? we should not overlook the fact
that… But
? what they fail to recognize is…
? Yet these results are contradicted
by…
? But it is more likely that…
? But a more compelling
interpretation is…
LastName 1
Student Name
Professor Kelly Allen
English 120
30 April 2019
Try Everything in Zootopia
Those who fear the challenge of mountains, will forever live in the darkness of
the valleys. Everyone should understand that success comes not by chance but, by
perseverance and hard work. It takes courage to show no reluctance in making the right
choices when facing any situation. In the animated, humor-filled movie, Zootopia, many
issues are directly presented or hinted at throughout. Some of the most prominent issues
are discrimination, prejudice, and stereotyping. Advanced Social Psychology: The State
of the Science, a book published by Galen V. Bodenhausen and Jennifer A. Richeson in
2010, goes more into detail about these concepts in the tenth chapter. The two authors
discuss how these important issues that have a heavy impact and negative affect on
society. These issues usually fall on officer Judy Hopps, a female bunny trying to achieve
her life-long dream of becoming the perfect cop. This bunny challenges all the racist and
biased forces that see her as weak and incompetent. She turns all expectations upside
down to become a bright police officer with her fox partner. Even though this movie is
lighthearted and fun to watch, it holds two very serious issues that also occur in current
society. Discrimination and prejudice against people that are considered “different” can
limit people from realizing their dreams.
LastName 2
Everyone faces discrimination at least once in their lives. In the movie Zootopia,
there are many ways that discrimination was hinted at. When officer Hopps first joined
the force, she was treated differently and less than she deserved just because she was a
bunny. In Zootopia’s society, bunnies and other small creatures were considered weak
and insignificant, while the bigger animals were considered more powerful, not only in
strength but also in social class. This is exactly like the current society, with the rich
keeping most of the power and control while the poor have almost no power or control.
Bunnies have always been treated with little to no respect in Zootopia’s society. For
example, a little fox once said to Judy, Young Gideon Grey: [laughs, nudging Travis,
who is eating peanuts] “Bunny cop! That is the most stupidest thing I ever heard.”
(Zootopia). Many animals in Zootopia looked down upon bunnies. Even when Judy first
stepped foot into the city, she was automatically judged because she’s super small, which
made her look different from everyone else. Everyone—even the chief of police—didn’t
take her seriously, which hurt her deeply. For example, when the chief gave her the first
assignment, it was not what she expected, to say the least, Chief Bogo: “…Officer
Hopps… [Judy anxiously awaits for her assignment; Chief Bogo sighs, giving a blank
stare] parking duty. Dismissed. [Judy shows signs of confusion.]” (Zootopia). Judy
probably felt humiliated and disrespected by everyone around her. With this much
discrimination there was no room for her to live out her dream. There was no place for
her to succeed.
Prejudice is a darkness that chokes hopes and dreams, making them almost
impossible to achieve. In chapter ten of Advanced Social Psychology: The State of the
Science, the authors explain, “…prejudice is an antipathy based on a faulty and inflexible
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generalization. It may be felt or expressed. It may be directed toward a group as a whole
or toward an individual because he is a group member” (Bodenhausen and Richeson,
342). The reality is that prejudice happens every day in different places around the world.
There is not much people can do to stop this. In some ways, people are just wired to
judge without thinking at all beforehand. A lot of these judgments are, unfortunately,
negative. Prejudgment has many harmful consequences on individuals and whole
societies that can tear them apart. People that are prejudice have fixed mindsets about one
person or group of people. For some people, there is nothing and no one that can change
their minds no matter how long they try. For example, in Zootopia, an elephant says to
Nick Wilde—the fox Judy becomes partners with—Jerry Jumbeaux, Jr.: “Look, you
probably can’t read, fox, [takes out a sign and points to it] but the sign says, ‘We reserve
the right to refuse service to anyone’, so beat it!” (Zootopia). In this scene it was as if
everyone forgot what it means to accept others no matter what they look like or who they
are said to be. This just goes to show that no matter what time, species, or universe,
where there is life, there is always going to be some form of prejudice, discrimination, or
stereotyping.
In life, people have different kinds of stereotypes that they believe about others.
This causes a single view of people of different races and environments. In their book,
Bodenhausen and Richeson state, “A stereotype can be defined as a generalized belief
about the characteristics of a group, and stereotyping represents the process of attributing
these characteristics to particular individuals only because of their membership in the
group” (345). Stereotypes can be unfair to individuals of specific groups because it may
hurt their feelings and cause them despair if people only look at them from a single view.
LastName 4
Many animals in Zootopia have single views about others. One of the times this is shown
is when Hopps and Nick go back and forth about Hopps saying something offensive
about the animals turning savage, Judy Hopps: “I just stated the facts of the case. I
mean, it’s not like a bunny could go savage.” Nick Wilde: [upset] “Right. But a fox
could, huh?” Judy Hopps: “Nick, stop it! You’re not like them.” Nick Wilde: [gets
angry] “Oh, there’s a them now?!” (Zootopia) This is clearly an example of how even
friends, though they might not say or even realize it, still have a slight prejudice towards
each other.
Some people might say that sometimes it is good to use prejudice and
stereotyping since it could help them. However, that point is not important because
prejudice and stereotyping affect any society in a negative way. For example, the mayor’s
secretary in Zootopia is a sheep. No one would suspect her to be evil because of her
innocent image created by society. The single view about this kind of animal is that they
are gentle and would never hurt anyone. In the film, the biggest surprise is that the villain
turned out to be the pure and helpful sheep.
Overall, the film had many different controversial concepts, and yet it still
managed to stay child-friendly. This movie was wonderful not just for the children, but
for adults as well. The world of Zootopia is a miniature picture of our world today. The
concepts included in the movie, and explained in the book Advanced Social Psychology:
The State of the Science are discrimination, prejudice and stereotyping. All these
elements can lead people to fail in achieving their dreams, even with all the work they put
into them. In the movie and the book, it is hinted at that the only thing causing people to
look at others differently is themselves. Many people use their single view to judge others
LastName 5
who are from different ethnic, racial, and religious backgrounds. If everyone looked back
at their mistakes and tried to fix them, it would lead people to not judge others and live in
peace forever. We live under the same sky, and on the same earth. Why do we fear our
differences? Once people realize that discrimination, prejudice and stereotyping are not
in their DNA, they can improve their attitude towards others and maintain what little
peace is left in this world.
LastName 6
Works Cited
Bodenhausen, Galen V., and Jennifer A. Richeson. “Prejudice, Stereotyping, and
Discrimination.” Advanced Social Psychology: The State of the Science. By Roy F.
Baumeister and Eli J. Finkel. N.p.: Oxford UP, 2010. 341-83. Print.
Zootopia. Dir. Bryon Howard and Rich Moore. Walt Disney Animation Studios, 2016. DVD.
Allen 1
Essay 2: Perceptions and Prejudice in Disney’s Zootopia
Introduction
Prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination, while are infinitely part of our existence as humans,
have become magnetized words in our current political climate. Often times, we have trouble or
don’t understand the foundations of our tightly held beliefs (that help us see the world around
us) are based on prejudice or stereotypes we have formed. These biases most often are learned
from the family and culture we come from, and if we can understand and share them we can
become a more integrated community, and we are able to share our authentic selves.
As we become more critical readers and citizens, it becomes beneficial and quite the powerful
tool to recognize our own prejudice as well as prejudices of those around us so that we might
understand these stereotypes and biases and why humans think the way we do. Part of the
journey to becoming a critical reader and writer is to understand our own thought process, our
own logos, and reckoning with the gaps in logic. When we can recognize those gaps in logic, this
builds our foundation as critical thinkers.
By focusing on the movie Zootopia, we can discuss the social, racial and identity issues that
shape our world and delve into the thought processes and beliefs that shape these biases and
beliefs.
With this assignment, we will continue to look at and participate in academic conversation
between scholars as they, and we, attempt to discuss and analyze the roots of prejudice,
stereotyping, and discrimination and how we can recognize it and combat it today.
Reading and Writing Skills
Over the course of this assignment, we will continue to work on developing key academic
reading and writing skills, which you will use throughout your career as a student and which
constitute the basis of most scholarly writing. We will be annotating and close reading texts,
dissecting parts of argument, analyzing and critiquing opposing points of view and finally
creating our own arguments by developing strong thesis statements, incorporating sources into
our argument and thoroughly explaining and analyzing evidence.
As we now know from our previous essay, academic scholars do not write in a vacuum—their
arguments are typically in response to other arguments about the same topic. With this
assignment, you will get the chance to participate in the academic conversation once again. We
will begin by watching the movie Zootopia before delving into the texts and videos attached to
this unit.
Focusing Questions
Now that you briefly understand what we are doing with this assignment and why we are doing
it, I will now introduce our guiding questions. Through our reading and writing over the next
few weeks, we will be considering and discussing the following: What are ingroups and out
groups? How do ingroups and outgroups shape how we discriminate? What is the difference
between conscious and unconscious bias? How as a society should we treat these biases? How
do these groups and biases play into certain social or identity issues present today?
Allen 2
Assignment Overview
The section below outlines the specific requirement of this assignment.
Purpose
The purpose of this assignment is to:
1. Read and respond to college-level texts.
2. Compose college-level writing.
3. Produce an academic summary of an article.
4. Respond to a topic with an original argument.
5. Create a well-developed counter-argument and refutation.
Goals
This assignment will help students meet the following Student Learning Objectives, as
stated on the course syllabus:
1. Use active/critical-reading strategies to produce accurate, concise
summaries of college level/academic texts.
2. Synthesize researched material from multiple texts to create and
support an argument in response to a prompt. Draw direct
evidence from texts in support of claims and analyze how that
evidence supports the claim.
3. Utilize the various phases in the writing process—prewriting,
writing revision, and proofreading—to produce clear, articulate,
well-supported, well-organized essays.
4. Avoid plagiarism by properly citing quoted, summarized, and
paraphrased material using MLA format.
Texts
• Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. “The Danger of a Single Story.” TED. 10 Mar 2014.
Web.
• Allport, Gordon W. “Chapter 2: Formation of In-Groups.” The Nature of
Prejudice: Unabridged. Basic Books, 1979.
• Bodenhausen, Galen V. and Jennifer A. Richeson. “Prejudice, Stereotyping, and
Discrimination.” Advanced Social Psychology: The State of The Science. Ed. Roy
F. Baumeister and Eli J. Finkel. Oxford University Press, 2010.
• Demby, Gene. “In Tackling Bias In Policing, ‘Zootopia’ Veers Into The Uncanny
Valley.” Codeswitch, NPR, 14 Mar. 2016.
• Oriqat, Haneen. “At 13, I Didn’t Expect My Teach to be Afraid of Me.” The
Manifest-Station, 16 Oct 2015.
• Sapolsky, Robert. “This is Your Blame on Nationalism: The Biology of Us and
Them.” Foreign Affairs, March/April 2019 Issue.
• Zakaria, Fareed. Interview with Robert Sapolsky. GPS, Season 3 Episode 10:
“What Neuroscience Has to Do with Nationalism.” 10 Mar 2019.
• Zootopia. Directed by Byron Howard, Rich Moore, and Jared Bush, Walt Disney
Animation Studios, 2016.
Allen 3
Task
Compose an essay, between 5-6 pages in length, which presents an argument about
social, racial or identity issues present in Zootopia.
More Specifically:
• Your essay must include an academic summary of the movie and two core articles
and cited evidence from at least tw0 of your assignment texts. (Academic
Summary of Anchor Text and Supplemental.)
• Your essay must also include your argument about the social, racial, or identity
issue you have chosen to cover. That means you need a thesis and topic
sentences, which state your claim and reasons why. You also need support for
your argument in the form of cited material. You will be using PIE paragraph
structure as you did in previous essays.
o Your argument should include at least one counter-argument, or point
your opposition could raise, to which you respond with a refutation. You
support for the counterargument can come from one the texts we cover for
this essay
• You must include a total of at least six direct quotes from at least two sources for
the essay.
• Your essay needs to have a creative title.
NOTE: Since you are citing the article, and possibly your own sources, don’t
forget your Works Cited page.
Requirements for Assignment Being Complete:
1. Essay Conference with Thesis Proposal
2. Rough Draft for Peer Review with Tutor, Pink Sheet from Tutoring/Questions for
Tutoring Session
3. Final Draft
Allen 4
Final Draft Rubric
Not Yet
Critical Thinking Skills
Authors uses a critical voice to
answer all parts of the essay
prompt and show substantial
critical thought about the topic
Critical Thinking Skills
Author discusses complexities
of the topic and does not make
the subject seem less complex
than it is.
Main Points
Essay has one controlling idea,
stated in a thesis statement
early in the paper that answers
the prompt and contains both
limited subject and attitude.
Main Points
Essay has multiple paragraphs
with topic sentences that
develop the thesis.
Main Points
Essay includes a sufficient and
successful counter argument
and refutation paragraph that
address one claim/point made
by the author.
Support (I in PIE)
Author cites relevant support
from both texts—direct
quotation and/or paraphrase—
to illustrate the main point.
(At least 6 direct quotes in
Body Paragraphs.)
Support
Author introduces cited
information as specified in
MLA style. Quotes are
integrated and introduced
properly with
signal/introductory phrases.
Developing
Adequate
Skillful
Outstanding
Allen 5
Support (E in PIE)
Evaluation explains the
connection between the
example (I in PIE) and the
claim (P in PIE) by explaining,
analyzing, and signifying the
importance (significance) of
the information.
Support.
Author summarizes and
explains the ideas in the
text(s) for your readers who
are unfamiliar with them.
Organization.
Author organizes ideas
logically and follows a clear
pattern of development.
Organization.
Essay contains a clear
introduction, body, and
conclusion.
Organization.
Author utilizes effective, wellchosen transitions between
and within paragraphs and
pieces of information.
Mechanics.
Essay has limited proofreading
and spelling errors that do not
impede clarity and
comprehension of the essay.
Mechanics.
Author uses a variety of
sentence structures.
Mechanics.
Essay has a complete Works
Cited page that demonstrates a
working understanding of
current MLA citation
requirements.
Final Essay Packet is Complete
with Rough Draft Peer Review
and Thesis Proposal
OVERALL SCORE
Yes
No

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