okay so @writerxwren âs farawyn/anti booktok post made me come back to this line of thought Iâve had for a while so itâs not wholly my idea BUT
I think one of the reasons wildehopps as a ship is so beloved amongst fans of these films (and just in general on the internet) is because they are the quintessential booktok romance done right. they are the best version of what everyone goes to booktok looking for. In fact, Iâd go as far as to say theyâre the most Jane Austen-coded couple Iâve seen in a long time. Hear me out okay Iâm going somewhere with this
I donât personally frequent booktok (I donât have the TikTok app, I get all my info from YouTube or Tumblr), but as a writer who knows sometimes ya gotta dig into bad stories in order to figure out what makes them bad, I know enough about what that side of the internet enjoys in the way of tropes. Normally, Iâm not someone who would suggest writing a story based on tropes alone, but even I can agree that having one in mind can be helpful in figuring out your charactersâ dynamics and arcs. The most widely talked about romantic tropes on the clock app to my knowledge are enemies-to-lovers and banter and grumpy/sunshine and slow burn and an MMC who would ruin the world for his love, to name a few. The problem Iâve found with most booktok promoted books, however, is that these tropes are taken and written without an understanding of what makes them work. Enemies become lovers in 50 pages, the banter is spiteful and mean or just downright not clever (the âshould I call you Prince, or pathetic?â âYou couldâve just called me yoursâ audio I hear on YouTube drives. Me. Insane.), the sunshine is almost always a ditz or a show-off who falls head-over-heels for the grump, a controlling manchild who just wants someone to sleep with, and the âburning of the world to protect herâ becomes so unhealthily close to obsession that itâs frightening for the girl in question.
all of these ideas are used without digging any deeper into why they originally clicked with readers, before they were so overdone that everyone sort of rolls their eyes at just hearing about them. theyâre the frosting on a hollow cake: you might have something that tastes sweet at first, but thereâs zero depth, and youâre left unsatisfied.
and hereâs why I think wildehopps does it all right where many others get it wrong.
think about it for a second. Judy is the optimistic, bubbly girl boss who takes no bull from anybody. sheâs witty and intelligent and would fight the sun if she were capable and angry enough. Sheâs what all the booktok FMCs want to be, but what makes her different is that sheâs also kind. She can be gentle with those around her. Sheâs emotional, she allows herself to cry and embrace her loved ones. She likes to dress up (as seen in the z2 gala scene) and enjoy more feminine things, sheâs a girlâs girl (âI love your hair!â as a seemingly innocuous moment that ends up saving hers and Nickâs life), she always sticks her neck out for someone in need, she is so very invested in doing the right thing no matter what. She is not a stoic soldier who only thinks of herself and how powerful she could be. And what else? It makes her flawed. She bore hurtful biases against Nick in z1, even if she didnât realize it. She has a savior complex that gets her in trouble, a tiny thirst for glory she doesnât truly recognize in herself. Sheâs prideful and pushes herself too hard because sheâs scared that the world could perceive her as weak and unskillful. A dumb bunny. Despite being a rabbit, she feels incredibly human. Real.
And Nick! He is the textbook example of the snarky MMC with a dark past but a heart of gold buried beneath his tough exterior. He can be shifty, he behaves as though nothing anyone says can wound him, and he would do anything, even give up his own life, to make sure Judy is safe. He smirks nonstop, but his sincere smiles vastly outshine them. He even does the âlean against the doorframeâ thing thatâs so popular right now, but in more of an endearingly awkward, âI canât let Judy see my shrine of her just inside my apartmentâ than seductive way. He is what everyone tries to write the Perfect Boyfriend as, yet like Judy, what makes him different is that his flaws are not treated like points of attraction, but like traits he must work on and learn to overcome. His inability to open up with Judy about his past and his fear of losing her isnât expressed as though he were the dark and brooding bad boy, the tortured prince who was dealt a rotten hand in life (though never actually tries to fix it). His silence is a problem in his partnership with Judy. Itâs something to sympathize with but it isnât a characteristic of being attractive, it isnât good that Nick bottles his feelings up and plans never to share them with the best thing that ever happened to him. The films correctly portray Nick as hurting himself because heâs choosing not to be honest with his partner. It doesnât make him mysterious, it makes him relatable, someone you actively root for to improve.
Even better, when he does decide to take the leap, he ends up being incredibly vulnerable with JudyââI make jokes about your ears and I tell you that you try too hard, when the truth is I just donât want you to get hurt.ââwhich she reciprocates because she knows she can trust him with her emotions. Nick has endured hell and back and does not want to be alone any longer, but never once is this conveyed as âuwu soft morally gray Prince Charmingâ by the narrative. He is not a SJM type character, heâs just a decent guy whoâs attempting to turn himself around by virtue of his altruistic partnerâs faith in him.
Furthermore, Nick isnât controlling or manipulative of Judy. Heâs sly and sneaky in the first film, but he never does anything that could hurt her, even before they were friends. He never throws her into danger and expects her to find her own way out of it, he never coerces her into situations she would be uncomfortable with (apart from the Naturalist Club, though he gives Judy an out before they even go in and she doesnât take it), he never uses her for his own means. His love isnât based on what she can do for him. It isnât self-centered. She is not his plaything, she is his person.
Speaking of that, unlike several, confusingly popular booktok couples (Rhysand and Feyre, Paedyn and Kai, Violet and Xaden, etc.), we actually comprehend as an audience why Judy and Nick love each other. While yes, it is a family-friendly series so you canât go too deeply into it regardless, and physical attraction is necessary to an extent, Nick doesnât love Judy because sheâs âhotâ or âsexyâ. Thereâs no ogling of her physique, no fixation on outer beauty. He dislikes her a great deal in the beginning, but what wins him over is her compassion, her resilience, her idealism, and her belief in who he could be. Sheâs passionate and sheâs brave, smart and relentless. And she gave him a chance, showed him there was more to life than just surviving. And when it comes to protecting her, yes he does it because he doesnât want to lose her, but he also cannot stomach her being in pain. He stands up for her when her career is threatened, he is always looking for a way to comfort her through gentle touches. Instead of âburning the world down for herâ, he shields her from the fiery darts by taking them for himself. He doesnât take away her agency by stopping her from doing her job just because itâs dangerous, rather he walks through the mayhem with her, even whilst being afraid. He is ride or die for his bunny without a doubt, and I know we as a fandom like to joke about them being codependent, but Nick isnât snarling at anyone who so much as looks at her (in z2, he only began to show his jealousy when Pawbert was actively flirting with her). He isnât romanticizing being feral or insane about her. He loves her for who she is, and she for him. They would do anything for each other. Selflessness.
Same with Judy. She loves him because heâs intelligent and cunning, he believes in her when no one else does, he brings her back down to earth when her head is in the clouds, and heâs a profoundly considerate person as well as fairly emotionally intelligent when heâs encouraged to be. Heâs good, and she wants to see him be good, she wants him to excel to his fullest potential. Like Nick, she would give up the rest of her days in a heartbeat if it meant he would be safe from harm; in Zootopia 2âs climax, she throws herself off a wall to reach him without having any idea Gary was behind her to catch her. She was willing to die with him if she couldnât rescue him. She wants whatâs best for her fox without asking for anything in return.
Then thereâs the age gap. From what Iâve seen, people on booktok love age gap romances. Specifically if itâs between a 19 yr old human girl and a 500+ yr old faerie man. Good stuff, for sure (I say in complete sarcasm). Not only is it incredibly creepy that an eldritch god would be dating a teenager just because sheâs âthe chosen oneâ, it also adds a power imbalance that makes it so he is always in control over her, and she must go along with whatever he decides is best for her. He labels it as being protective, but itâs nothing more than abuse given the girl literally cannot fight back, or sheâll be punished in some magical, Lovecraftian way. Because these MMCs are never emotionally stable.
Nick and Judy, though? Boom, baby, 8 yr age gap. Far more reasonable than hundreds of years in between. As of z2, Judy is 25 and Nick is 33. Both are well into adulthood, thus nothing creepy can be construed, and there is no power imbalance because they are equal partners. They work together, they share the weight of the world together. She may be leading the team but she does not boss him around or force him to do whatever she says because sheâs saying it, and he most certainly doesnât follow like a subservient puppyâŚhe goes where she goes so that he can keep her safe. In the second movie, when Nick proposes running away together to Outback Island about a dozen times during the mystery, to Judyâs consistent refusal, at any moment he is free to walk away. She wants him with her, but she isnât keeping him there against his will. Still, Nick doesnât leave her. The age gap is wonderful too because it allows Nick to have some knowledge of life and the way the world works that Judy doesnât without it seeming as though he has an advantage over her. Her view of the city needing someone to help make it better is her hopeful mindset not having been crushed by the cruelties of reality yet, and Nick insisting the world is what it is, Carrots, is his reality rearing its ugly head. She gives him hope to dream, he reminds her not to let her imagination run away with her. Time and past trauma has cultivated who they are, but together, theyâre learning they can be more than that.
Oh, and the banter. âItâs called a hustle, sweetheart.â âI think youâd actually make a pretty good cop.â âUgh, how dare you.â âI was small and emotionally unbalanced like you, once.â âHar har.â âDarling, I think youâre giving me white hairs.â âOh, Iâm sorry, is my fear hilarious to you?â âNo, of course not. Weâre partners, and whenever Iâm uncomfortable, youâre always very considerate of my feelingsâLOOK OUT SNAKE SKIN!â âWhat is your problem? Does seeing me fail somehow make you feel better about your own sad, miserable life?â âIt does, 100%.â âLove ya, partner. But I am still me, so youâre only getting that once a decade.â âHopps and Wilde?â âWilde and Hopps!â Listen, I could go on forever, okay?
And unlike dozens of booktok stories that claim to be âslow burnsâ yet get the main two characters together 3/4 of the way into the first book, Nick and Judy are a genuine slow burn. The way itâs looking, they wonât officially be together until around the end of the final movie in their trilogy! Unless Disney decides to make more than three installments in the franchise, itâs going to take almost the entirety of their story to come together. Thatâs a freaking snailâs pace and I love it, itâs torturous.
wildehopps is the enemies-to-lovers, grumpy/sunshine, slow burn, girlboss/chill guy ship booktok goes nuts over, but theyâre characterized with depth. theyâre fleshed out, they behave like actual people, they arenât obsessed with physical appearances (again, family movies, but even still), and their love for each other is based on self-sacrifice. Judy is not a power-wielding boss babe who demands praise and worship from absolutely everybody, Nick is not a violent or possessive dark lord who hurts his partner but calls it love. They didnât like each other upon first meeting, but mutual understanding and fondness shaped them into friends, and unwavering loyalty through hardship further shaped them into what we can safely assume will one day be romantic partners. They look after each other. They are best friends that are also in love. As Jared Bush himself has said, they are soulmates.
yes, Iâm very aware itâs a disney movie, made to primarily be enjoyed by kids with families around. you have different guidelines when you work with animated films, I get it. nevertheless, what makes these two so compelling is the fact that they are what so many look for in fictional relationships done healthily (minus the smut but tbh, is that really necessary?). so, uh. writers on booktok, do better. Read more Jane Austen. A fox and a bunny are outpacing yâall. anyway thank you for coming to my ted talk
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