"Predators" vs "Prey" dynamic. Predators were violent savages in the past, but learned to be civilized. Many Prey discriminate against them because they still believe that predators are inherently violent.

The carnivores were presented as 'historically savage', and the prey presented as "historically civilized". And the underlying assumption made by all the characters is that it's 'it's in their nature', clearly a reference to social darwinism. At one point it turns out that the mayor of the city is running a concentration camp/experiment lab that kidnaps predators, and runs experiments on them to figure out why they're violent.

And the city depicted in the movie appears to idealize a literal segregated society, in the Jim Crow sense. Sure, no group is put at an obvious disadvantage, but each group/culture lives in its own neighborhood, works a specific set of jobs, etc, and overall everyone seems to casually accept (and be very happy with) self-segregation.

The message is supposed to be "predators are normal people and shouldn't be treated differently from prey" and "all cultures should be respected", but the way it's presented is "we should do that by ignoring the biological traits and historical interactions of the groups" which is unintentionally really racist.

I've watched it, and I don't think everyone's giving you enough information.

Fundamentally, the artists explored racial tensions in a genuinely honest way, without using any group as a stand-in for some real life counter part. There is no "orcs are blacks" argument here.

Zootopia is effectively a multi-species city state with extra-ordinary influence. However, in order for it to function, it requires significant collaboration between different species and their ecosystems.

u/AlwysHideUrPowerLevl is wrong to call it Jim Crow segregation, or for that segregation to be idolized. There is no such social authoritarianism. However, the writers aren't delusional, they & the animators make it clear that in this society, you social divisions are emergent. Mice and Elephants simply can't have a homogeneous society where anyone can literally do everything that everyone else can.

This recognition that pure equality is impossible is a major part of the story line. Impossible as it is, some people want to try and push the boundaries of the social order. That is embodied in the primary female protagonist: Judy Hopps, a rabbit that wants to be a cop. She faces, not discrimination, but a significant lack of affirmation and support because she's attempting to do something very difficult. Rabbits can't physically coerce Polar Bears. They are not all equal. However, if you are truly clever, you can get a little further. Nothing's truly impossible to achieve at least a few times, it's just not at all easy, and you can't expect anyone to pave the way for you.

The secondary protagonist is a male Fox that Judy has to manipulate into working with her to solve a series of disappearances: Nick Wilde. Where Judy represents naive optimism that is 'filled with determination', Nick is the flip side of that: demonstrating a highly cynical view of both the city and it's system. He's quite blunt about the fact that you can't just be anything you want, but he also doesn't think that you can be anything outside of your stereotype.

The character interaction is that Judy's naivete is confronted by Nick's realism, and Nick's pessimism is confronted by Judy's perseverance.

The general lesson overall is that it's okay to inhabit some part of the system, and that we are not all equal to the point of homogeneity; but it's okay to try and be something extra. Just as long as your realize that that thing that makes you special is going to cost you something substantial, and you're not at all guaranteed to be supported in your efforts.

That's the general philosophy of the movie, which is sound, but the racial tension of the movie is also valid. The society keeps telling itself that it is a completely unified society of good and happy people, but as Nick points out, this simply isn't real. Underlying tensions between every group exist, and it's not always shared. People tend to rely on their own underlying stereotypes to their own harm without ever looking at the individual.

Over and over again we see people making reasonable assumptions based off of stereotypes, but failing to understand that those assumptions are not necessarily true. Judy is a stereotyped as a dumb bunny, but she is clearly one of the more clever and intelligent individuals in the move. Nick is a sly Fox, a bit of a rogue, but is shown to be fiercely loyal and caring. The Mayor, a lion, is seen to be in charge and commanding, but this stereotype is used explicitly as a weapon against him to have him be overthrown by his assistant (a sheep and the antagonist), who he has been disrespectful to and ignored the threat she posed. The predators generally are seen as highly dangerous because of their innate violent nature, but the prey animals are the one pushing these stereotypes out of fear. Even the antagonist sheep points out that predators tend to dominate positions of power and control, and that it's basically the sheep's time to take over as a result of this.

The movie attempts to point out that the Stereotype Threat, is a real threat that you should simply rely on because it seems to make sense at first glance, and that those who keep doing that, are going to get ... heh, the wool literally pulled over their eyes.

The movie attempts to genuinely push their created setting to it's limits by making it's individuals in conflict with the expectation of the collective. The expectation, the stereotype, isn't even fully wrong, but it isn't actually useful on the individual level where it may genuinely count the most.

I admit, I tend to view the world in a similar way, so I greatly appreciated the movie for that reason.

It sounds absolutely bonkers to say, but when it comes to addressing racial tension, I'd put Zootopia up with "In The Heat Of The Night". As well received as it was, I think it's still under-rated.