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More Zootopia thoughts (spoilerish)
9 years ago
So I'd been thinking about some subtle things with how Nick's portrayed.
For someone who at first blush appears to be very much committed to the role of shifty, cunning fox, and he's clearly smart enough to try hustling people, he sure doesn't go for the big time; the biggest stunts we know he pulls are selling someone a skunk-butt-rug, playing on sympathy to get a Jumbo Pop for free, and selling pawpsicles and pawpsicle sticks (and these are incredibly, incredibly legal). I think his heart was never in being a scam artist; he's a frustrated Boy Scout, and for someone with more than enough reason to distrust police officers, he certainly drops being a scam artist very quickly in favor of getting to be one of the official good guys.
Also, we find out that "cute" is really an iffy word for non-bunnies to use before Nick drops c-bombs on Judy, multiple times, and before we learn that Nick spotted the Fox Repellent immediately. It's my guess that he spotted her specieism immediately, and decided that this would be a great way to really dig right back at her; he can easily claim he doesn't know just how offensive that is, and it fits with the intentionally hurtful digs he makes at her.
For someone who at first blush appears to be very much committed to the role of shifty, cunning fox, and he's clearly smart enough to try hustling people, he sure doesn't go for the big time; the biggest stunts we know he pulls are selling someone a skunk-butt-rug, playing on sympathy to get a Jumbo Pop for free, and selling pawpsicles and pawpsicle sticks (and these are incredibly, incredibly legal). I think his heart was never in being a scam artist; he's a frustrated Boy Scout, and for someone with more than enough reason to distrust police officers, he certainly drops being a scam artist very quickly in favor of getting to be one of the official good guys.
Also, we find out that "cute" is really an iffy word for non-bunnies to use before Nick drops c-bombs on Judy, multiple times, and before we learn that Nick spotted the Fox Repellent immediately. It's my guess that he spotted her specieism immediately, and decided that this would be a great way to really dig right back at her; he can easily claim he doesn't know just how offensive that is, and it fits with the intentionally hurtful digs he makes at her.
The "c-word" thing is really clever, a nice subtle illumination that works for multiple levels of awareness in the audience.
And I forget if it was you, Kyell, or someone else who pointed out that the tableau of Nick's "Do I...SCARE YOU?" scene was a mirror of the scene with kid Judy and Gideon Grey.
I wonder though if there is more to Nick's relationship with the mob boss than he is telling. Certainly selling him the skunk rug was the end of it...but perhaps before that incident they had known each other for a time? Maybe there was once a time when Nick considered being a more serious, big-score hustler, but found his heart wasn't in it?
Better stick to small-scale scams that remain under Mr Big's notice.