Some of the animated works of 2025 tackled very thorny issues of inclusion and identity.
Zootopia 2, Elio, Little Amelie, or the Rainy Character, and Arco all delve into deep meditations on self-identity, inclusion, and even racism. So how do artists express this through animation?
Jared Bush, co-writer and co-director of Zootopia 2 with Byron Howard, said that from day one, he and Howard were hired to work on Zootopia 14 years ago, “Byron and I talked about animation’s ability to speak to people. And specifically, there’s something about the animal world that allows us to hold up a mirror to human nature and the patterns that we tend to fall into, and that allows us to tap into some deep themes and things.” It’s hard to talk about sometimes, but it made it easier. ”
In Zootopia 2, Gary de Snake (voiced by Ke Huy Quan) works to restore the snake’s ancestral home. These habitats were destroyed by wealthy lynxes who greedily moved into colder lands suitable for their species, and the snakes were driven out. Anti-snake propaganda and habitat destruction have caused the remaining inhabitants of Zootopia to no longer question the status quo.
Bush, who had to stick to the central theme of the differences between Nick and Judy, now full-fledged law enforcement officers, said their animal studies showed that snakes are the opposite of mammals in almost every way, and that most mammals have an inherent fear and prejudice against snakes.
“But what’s interesting is that our production designer Cory Loftis discovered a very special species of pit viper, the Thai tree pit viper, and that’s because of its bright blue color,” Busch says. This is a blue color not found in mammalian colors. “So we wanted this character to immediately be an outlier, even an outlier among reptiles. That was very important to us.”
On the other hand, Bush said, “Viper vipers have an incredible superpower: the ability to sense heat, which gives them another way to manipulate the world.” It later becomes important when Gary becomes a hero “because of his difference, his otherness.”
Bush added, “These were all really carefully constructed and thought-out ideas that went back to the concept of what we were trying to say with this story.”
But Gary is still a snake…
Director Busch says that the character designers and Loftis really worked hard when it came to the reptiles and not-so-furry animals that appear in the film, such as the fact that snakes don’t have eyelids. So how can we create emotions through the most important window to the soul? Director Bush once again credited the animators, citing Adam Green, saying, “We spent a lot of time finding ways to find emotion in Gary. We spent a lot of time making sure he was vulnerable and that he was an incredibly sympathetic and empathetic character.”
The study also found that pit vipers’ scales are also feathery. “So when he smiles or expresses emotion, you can actually see some of that parting. That’s what gives him specificity. And it’s not that he’s adorable, but maybe it’s the extra texture on his face that makes him more adorable than other snakes,” Bush says.
He also credits Quan’s voice actor. “There was no other candidate for this role. He has such a wide range of emotions. The moment he speaks, you lean in and you want him to succeed and you want him to be happy. And I think that’s a really important part and the reason the character of Gary works is because he’s important to you,” says Bush.
“Little Amelie, or Rain Character” is about a Belgian girl growing up in post-war Japan.
“Little Amelie” animators and co-directors Mairis Valade and Lien-Cho Hung adapted the film from Amelie Nottombu’s memoir, which chronicles the childhood of a Belgian diplomat’s daughter in Japan. The film begins with Amelie’s birth and follows her until she is about three years old, exploring themes such as identity (Amelie considers herself Japanese), class, and the scars left by World War II.
“It’s the late ’60s, so it’s a specific point in her life,” Han says. Ms. Nishio, a young Japanese woman, becomes Amelie’s companion, brought in to help around the house and cook. “And this little girl actually chose to be Japanese. She feels that she is Japanese. And we thought this was a very powerful and symbolic story and wanted to appeal to both an adult audience and a child audience. So we felt it was a very deep message about death, grief, and acceptance,” Han says.
One key scene that shows the diversity of animation is when Mr. Nishio explains to the infant Amelie what happened to his family in the war. In the book, Valade says it’s pretty graphic. “We didn’t want it to be too violent, so we adopted her cooking as our solution.” Using a pot of boiling water and rice, Nishio describes the bombing of his home and the death of his family. “So we got to feel a little more inside her mind and her emotional state. It was a tough job finding that balance between adult (theme) and kid-friendly,” she says.
Since this book is about early childhood, the character designs reflect a warmer, more rounded style. Han points out that the pair had worked with animator Remi Chaiet (director of Calamity and Long Way North, and did the backgrounds for Amelie), and his style of bold outlines was consistent with what they were doing in their own films. “It’s a texture with a little bit of pastel to make the character feel like it blends more into the background,” says Han.
Director Valard added that the connection between late 19th-century French Impressionist painters and the Japanese artists who created a movement called “Japonais” also influenced the look of the film. “This is a connection to Impressionism, where we try to create simple shapes that can give a lot of emotion by choosing very specific colors and moods.”
Although “Arco” is set in the future, its environment will be familiar to audiences in 2025.
Ugo Bienvenu’s hand-drawn “Arco” tells the story of a boy named Arco who accidentally travels from a future Earth to the year 2075, where he is adapting to the harsh climate. “Animation, for me, gives you more subtlety and depth. You can feel more in 2D than in 3D. I think it’s also because we as humans are more aware of our failures and failures than we are of our accomplishments,” he says.
“I’m a painter and I’ve been working in comics and illustrations for 15 years, but I never tried to find a new look,” Bienvenue said of “Arco’s” style, which incorporates bright backgrounds and friendly characters, including a humanoid robot.
His near-future world is still familiar to audiences in 2025, as is the world of Arko, who lives in a pod-like dwelling with a garden in the sky. Although it is science fiction, he wanted to incorporate elements that everyone is familiar with. But that’s the point. Our future will be similar to today, only with advances in technology.
“To be honest, tomorrow is not going to be better. So I thought, if you want the best thing to happen, you have to imagine it first. So ‘Arco’ for me was a way to say, ‘Let’s spread better ideas into the future so we can make them happen.’ The whole purpose of “Arco” is to tell people, “Imagine something good.” And let’s make something better a reality. ”
