Assembly Objective:
- Can we create a perfect world? This assembly explores what the Bible teaches about utopia.
Film:
- Zootropolis (Disney, 2016) certificate PG, click here to buy the DVD online.
Bible:
- Isaiah 11:6-9 (International Children’s Bible)
Supporting Values Education:
- There exists a wide variety of beliefs about human destiny. This assembly seeks to foster within all children mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. Zootropolis conveys a strong anti-discrimination message and shows the functioning of a democratic society, where peaceful protest is permitted and elected representatives who misuse their power are called to account.
OPENING ACTIVITY
Zoopedia (Ice Breaker)
- Download the Zoopedia Animal Cards for use with this exercise.
- Volunteer(s) try to communicate the name of the animal on card to partner/group with/without speaking. How many can be successfully communicated in a minute?
FILM CLIP 1
- Play the clip from Zootropolis (Disney, 2016) certificate PG
- Start time: 00:09:32 (The station announcer says, ‘Now arriving: The Zootropolis Express’.)
- End time: 00:12:43 (After the billboard image of Gazelle says, ‘Welcome to Zootropolis’.)
- Clip length: 3 minutes and 11 seconds.
- If you cannot play this clip from the DVD, say instead, ‘Judy Hopps has completed her training to be a police officer and has been assigned to District 1 in Zootropolis. She is being seen off at the railway station by her parents and her 275 siblings. She is sad to be leaving her home town of Bunnyburrow but excited to be moving to Zootropolis. On the train, she puts on her headphones and listens to a song by her favourite pop star, Gazelle. Zootropolis is divided into different climate zones. The train first passes through the Desert Zone where Judy sees camels running next to the train. Next the train enters the Polar Zone, where snow cannons explode. In the Rainforest Zone, rain falls on the glass roof of the train and Judy watches a huge flock of birds fly overhead. Finally, she arrives in the centre of Zootropolis, where animals of many different species are on their way to work. Judy is welcomed to the city by an enormous billboard image of Gazelle, her favourite pop star.
FILM CLIP 2
- Play the clip from Zootropolis (Disney, 2016) certificate PG
- Start time: 01:33:25 (Judy says, ‘When I was a kid…)
- End time: 01:34:46 (After the new police officers throw their hats in the air.)
- Clip length: 1 minute and 21 seconds.
- If you cannot play this clip from the DVD, instead say, ‘Judy has been chosen to give the speech at the graduation ceremony of the new Zootropolis police officers. This is what she says. “I thought this city would be a perfect place where everyone got along and anyone could be anything. Turns out, life’s a little bit more complicated than a slogan on a bumper sticker. Real life is messy. We all have limitations. We all make mistakes. Which means, hey, glass half full, we all have a lot in common. And the more we try to understand one another, the more exceptional each of us will be. But we have to try. So no matter what kind of animal you are…I implore you: Try. Try to make the world a better place. Look inside yourself and recognise that change starts with you. It starts with me. It starts with all of us.” At the end of Judy’s speech, all the new officers throw their hats in the air.’
TALK
Scripted Talk
Download the A Perfect World? PowerPoint for use with this talk.
- [PowerPoint slide 1]
- Welcome, everyone, to this assembly. Our theme this morning is ‘A Perfect World?’ It is based on the film, ‘Zootropolis’. In the film, Zootropolis is the name of a city where animals of all different species appear to live together in perfect harmony. So let’s begin first by playing a short game I am calling…
- [PowerPoint slide 2]
- Zoopedia. [Ask for two volunteers. Give one volunteer a set of animal cards. How many can be wordlessly communicated to the other volunteer in a minute? Alternatively, more than one volunteer can mime the name of an animal to the whole cohort or the volunteer(s) with the cards can describe the animal without using its name.]
- [PowerPoint slide 3]
- [Congratulate the volunteers on their performance.] The film Zootropolis follows the story of Judy Hopps who, from being a very young rabbit, dreams about joining the police force in the nearby city of Zootropolis. In her mind, Zootropolis is a place where animals of all different species live together in perfect harmony and where ‘anyone can be anything’. After successfully completing her police training, she sets off for the city.
- Play the first clip from Zootropolis (Disney, 2016) certificate PG
- Start time: 00:09:32 (The station announcer says, ‘Now arriving: The Zootropolis Express’.)
- End time: 00:12:43 (After the billboard image of Gazelle says, ‘Welcome to Zootropolis’.)
- Clip length: 3 minutes and 11 seconds.
- If you cannot play this clip from the DVD, say instead, ‘Judy Hopps has completed her training to be a police officer and has been assigned to District 1 in Zootropolis. She is being seen off at the railway station by her parents and her 275 siblings. She is sad to be leaving her home town of Bunnyburrow but excited to be moving to Zootropolis. On the train, she puts on her headphones and listens to a song by her favourite pop star, Gazelle. Zootropolis is divided into different climate zones. The train first passes through the Desert Zone where Judy sees camels running next to the train. Next the train enters the Polar Zone, where snow cannons explode. In the Rainforest Zone, rain falls on the glass roof of the train and Judy watches a huge flock of birds fly overhead. Finally, she arrives in the centre of Zootropolis, where animals of many different species are on their way to work. Judy is welcomed to the city by an enormous billboard image of Gazelle, her favourite pop star.
- [PowerPoint slide 4]
- In other countries in the world, the film Zootropolis is known by its original title, Zootopia. This original title is a pun on the word ‘utopia’. Does anyone know what ‘utopia’ means? A utopia is an imagined place where everything is perfect. Judy quickly discovers that Zootropolis, however, is not the utopia that she thought it was. There is crime, corruption and prejudice, mostly aimed at the fox population. Most worrying of all, though, is an undercover plot to turn back history and to set the predators against the non-predators. Although initially discouraged by her experience of the real Zootropolis, Judy, assisted by a new friend, Nick Wild, is determined to help make the city a better place.
- [PowerPoint slide 5]
- For many people who study the Bible, Zootropolis would remind them of a particular passage in the Book of Isaiah. This book was written approximately 2,500 years ago at a time of terrible hardship for the Jewish people. After being slaves in Egypt, they were now prisoners in a country that is today known as Iraq. Their writers dreamt of a time in the future when the Jewish people would return home and, under a new king, the whole of creation, humans and animals, would come together in peace.
- Read Isaiah 11:6-9. Do the children see the similarities between this passage and Zootropolis?
- [PowerPoint slide 6]
- For Christians, Jesus is the king who will bring this future utopia into existence and they look forward to His return. But, rather than waiting for that time and doing nothing, Christians believe that they should try, with God’s help, to make the world of today a better place. This same idea is very well-expressed in Judy’s speech at the end of Zootropolis.
- Play the second clip from Zootropolis (Disney, 2016) certificate PG
- Start time: 01:33:25 (Judy says, ‘When I was a kid…)
- End time: 01:34:46 (After the new police officers throw their hats in the air.)
- Clip length: 1 minute and 21 seconds.
- If you cannot play this clip from the DVD, instead say, ‘Judy has been chosen to give the speech at the graduation ceremony of the new Zootropolis police officers. This is what she says. “I thought this city would be a perfect place where everyone got along and anyone could be anything. Turns out, life’s a little bit more complicated than a slogan on a bumper sticker. Real life is messy. We all have limitations. We all make mistakes. Which means, hey, glass half full, we all have a lot in common. And the more we try to understand one another, the more exceptional each of us will be. But we have to try. So no matter what kind of animal you are…I implore you: Try. Try to make the world a better place. Look inside yourself and recognise that change starts with you. It starts with me. It starts with all of us.” At the end of Judy’s speech, all the new officers throw their hats in the air.’
- [PowerPoint slide 7]
- Humans may not be able to create Utopia, but we can all try to make the world in which we live a better place.
Headings and Bullets
- [PowerPoint slide 1]
- Welcome.
- A perfect world?
- [PowerPoint slide 2]
- Zoopedia.
- [PowerPoint slide 3]
- Judy Hopps.
- Background to story.
- Play clip 1.
- [PowerPoint slide 4]
- Zootropolis/Zootopia.
- What is a utopia?
- [PowerPoint slide 5]
- Isaiah 11: 6-9.
- [PowerPoint slide 6]
- Jesus: The coming King.
- Play clip 2.
- [PowerPoint slide 7]
- Try to make the world a better place.
Photo Copyright for A Perfect World? PowerPoint: Slide 1 Disney / Slide 2 Giraffe Hans Hillewaert, Goldfish Elma, Hamster Public Domain, Koala Brian W. Schaller / Slide 3 Disney / Slide 4 Disney / Slide 5 Bureau of land management Slide 6 Lumoproject.com / Slide 7 iStockphoto.com
RESPOND
Reflection
- What would be your idea of Utopia?
- What could you do to make your classroom/school a better place?
- What event are you most looking forward to in your life?
- What could politicians do to make the world a better place for children?
- What job would you like to do when you are older? Why?
Prayer
- Dear God, we thank you for giving us the ability to imagine a world that is perfect. But, being human, we acknowledge that we are not able to make it on our own. Help us not to be discouraged but to work hard in trying to make our classrooms, our school and our world better places for everyone. Amen.
YOU WILL NEED:
- Zootropolis (Disney 2016, certificate PG), click here to buy the DVD online.
- A Perfect World? PowerPoint.
- Zoopedia Animal Cards.
Ethos Education 