Why Cats Don't Dance Works as Allegory

The film does act as a direct allegory for the racist casting practices that were prevalent in Hollywood in its "Golden Age." I didn't understand that context as a child when I watched this film. However, when I got older, it made sense. It's very much an underrated classic.

I feel like, on a related note, who framed Rodger rabbit is also a great allegory for prejudice for all of the same reasons that cats don’t dance is. The toons are literally segregated out of the city into their own town, which is under threat of being bulldozed, and I feel also work really well to show the abusive practices Hollywood took in its “”golden age”” in typecasting. I feel like the allegory is taken even further too since the toons are typecast based on whatever way they physically look; see Jessica Rabbit’s “I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way”. The toons are relegated to only what they’re physical appearance suggests they might act like with no consideration for their actual personality. I think both that movie and cats don’t dance do an amazing job to allegorically address the issues within Hollywood.

This is a problem I have with the Elementals movie that Pixar is making. It looks like it's supposed to be an allegory for race mixing, but unlike real life, there is a clear danger to doing so. Even if they go the route of "elements mixing just create new elements, like steam", it still fundamentally changes what they are, and it would actually end up aligning with what racists actually believe. The overall problems with making metaphors for different races is that filmmakers try to make the racism understandable, but that fundamentally defeats the point of the analogy because real racism isn't based on anything understandable.

Herbivores can and do fight for their survival. A rabbit's sharp teeth and powerful legs become deadly weapons when their lives are threatened. Ironically, Shirley Temple was herself very much a victim of the systems this movie is about. She was a child star, with all the baggage that implies, and as she got older, studios tried to turn her into a sex symbol. It's at least as creepy and exploitative as it sounds.

As one of the at least five people who doesn't like discrimination, this video resonates with me

Cat’s Don’t Dance is a perfect film. I think it’s the go to example that sometimes a box office flop can be the best thing ever made. I just wish this movie gets more and more attention.

I gotta say one of things that stuck out to me is that the main antagonist is a little girl, but she was actually voiced by a real 12-year old at the time. Mostly when kids are the villains in animation they’re voiced by adults, but it’s really cool seeing this young girl playing this bombastic over the top villain, with “Big and Loud” being a great number as well.

I think Guardians of Ga'Hoole owl books did the whole animal discrimination allegory thing the best with the Pure Ones. The Pure Ones were a group owls that believed that Tyto owls (owls of the Tyto genus) were the superior types of owls and that the other types of owls not in the Tyto genus were inferior. There is even a sort of power hierarchy within the Pure Ones as well, with Tyto owls like the Grass Owl or the Sooty Owl being at the bottom and Barn Owls being at the top. The Pure Ones are a good analogy for racial discrimination/ethnocentrism/fascist regimes based on racial superiority.

When I saw Emperor's New Groove, it reminded me of Cat's Don't Dance, especially when Yzma became a cat, reminding me of Darla. When Zootopia came out, it really made miss that movie even more, they both tackled prejudice and stereotype very well.

I used to be friends with the nephew of the character designer of this movie (Brian McEntee), and got to see some of the original sketches. It was so freaking cool. I love this movie so much~

I loved this movie so much as a kid. The animation, voice acting, and music holds up! I still have the VHS tape. 💛

Cats Don’t Dance is also genius because all those animal cartoon characters in old cartoons have so many roots in minstrel shows. Even Betty Boop, a white human character, was based on the Black performer Esther Jones’ high pitched performances.

Cats Don't Dance was legendary actor, singer, and dancer Gene Kelly's last involvement in a feature film during his lifetime (acting as a consultant for the movie's dance choreography), passing away the year prior to this film's release.

Cats Don’t Dance is a god tier movie.

Big and Loud was so impressive to me as a kid, and I’m glad it still holds up ok

I think that Beastars is also a great version of animal racism. Mostly because they make you understand why carnivores are discriminated against. Many still eat meat and even get addicted to it

i noticed that dr.seuss' "the sneeches" also works as an allegory for racism without having to use animals or humans at all (bcs its dr seuss). idk if that was his main intention for the story but it fits really well

While I can't say I 100% agree with Zootopia's racism allegory being sloppy, I think we can all 100% agree that Cat's Don't Dance needs a Blu-ray release!

I watched Cats Don't Dance for the first time while on a car trip. I had heard it was underrated and wanted to see for myself. I gotta say, it is underrated! The animation is really really nice, the characters are fun, the jokes land, the music is good, all that with a great message packed in. I wouldn't call it the best animated movie I've ever seen, but it's definitely a good one. It's more than a movie to put on to shut up a room full of toddlers. One can easily see that the film had lots of heart and passion put into it. If you haven't seen Cats Don't Dance, watch it. You will not regret it.

As a biologist the animal racism allegory is REALLY REALLY hard to pull off Human differences, no matter how much there are (hint: there isn’t much) Do not even compare to the differences in sex and biology even within a single species Humans really do be all the same biologically