I have certainly read a lot of fics that trivialize her abilities and accomplishments, but I've also read some that seem to blow them out of proportion, like she's invincible. Anyway, I do get your concerns about the differences in their physical capabilities, and I'll try to address that more in the future.
I suppose I just didn't really understand what you meant by "reducing." I thought you meant that she was one-dimensional, like her idealism was the only thing coming out, and that's why I brought up her flaws. Perhaps I should've been more detailed about her positive traits as well, but I guess I thought they were all wrapped up under the banner of idealism, so I didn't think it was necessary. Seems to have been an error on my part. Anyway, her prejudice is an important aspect of who she is/was--in fact, it was an important characteristic of literally every character in Zootopia, as everyone was both a victim and a perpetrator of it, and they all had to deal with the consequences--but no, I don't plan on emphasizing it more than everything else about her.
Anyway, I can tell that you really care about Zootopia and everything that makes it wonderful, and I can appreciate that. Believe me, I care about it, too.
I'm curious--have you written any stories yourself? I don't ask as a challenge, but to see how you would write them. I'm open to learning from other writers.
Wildehopps (Guest)
on Chapter 2
Sun 11
Feb 201812:20AM UTC
Reducing characters is something that we see happen in fanfic and politics. Taking a whole, interesting, beautiful and flawed person like Nick or Judy (or a real person), and cutting out most of what they are to emphasize one or two traits that supposedly "define" them, usually to make a specific point. It makes a person less colorful and less interesting because they aren't themselves, they're a description of a couple of things they feel. Now, prejudice is something that every character showed, and at least the main characters experienced, but if we go there with Judy we have to go there with Nick too. Judy was small-minded, in her own words, but Nick was an active bully. Also when I started reading fanfic I was so confused about why everyone seemed to have decided to ignore the fact that Judy's parents did the Zootopia equivalent of giving her a bottle of Mace to help keep her safe against the kind of mammal that hurt her before, because that's textbook sexual assault phrasing, down to the "predator" label.
I haven't posted any Zootopia stuff myself. It's not that I don't have ideas, but I'm prolly not a good enough writer to do my favorite characters justice. I have some bits of fic written, but without a plot, all I have is bare-bones character interactions. I likely would write an exploration of Judy's recovery from her own childhood trauma, though, since the movie's secondary plot was largely about Nick's recovery from his.
I'm sorry, I don't have time to fully reply to this right now, but I'll address it all in the email that I send you.
I will say this real quick, though: You've written out your comments here very well. I know it's different from writing a story, but I suspect that you'd be a better writer than you think. Anyway, one of the great things about fan fiction is that it's a wonderful way to practice with minimal to no risk. Perhaps you wouldn't care for my input, since we've already disagreed about several things, but if you wanted it, I'd gladly offer it.
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orphan_account on Chapter 2 Sat 10 Feb 2018 11:23PM UTC
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Wildehopps (Guest) on Chapter 2 Sun 11 Feb 2018 12:20AM UTC
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