Henry Schneiderman
Sports Editor
Recently, I visited my girlfriend at her college in Kentucky. While there, we made
our way to the local theatre to see Pixar’s newest film, Hoppers. Following the movie’s
completion and a hearty amount of popcorn, we exited the venue both giddy at the
charming work we had just viewed, ready for discussion. Our conversation first praised
the feature’s remarkable qualities such as its animation, its soundtrack, its humor, and
more, before we eventually shifted our attention to another quality aspect of the film,
one not as often seen in Disney media — its political commentary. This topic soon
piqued our interest as we shared with one another multitudes of scenes and
interpretations that seemed to echo the contemporary political sphere of the United
States.
Spoilers ahead for Hoppers (2026).
The first, and most apparent example of American politics we recognized in the
film came through one of the picture’s antagonists, Mayor Jerry Generazzo, a clear
stand-in for Donald Trump. Jerry — as he is referred to in the film — bears a multitude
of resemblances to the U.S.’s 47th president, particularly with how he is depicted to
handle civilian criticism, and with how his supporters treat him.
First, Jerry is on multiple occasions depicted as not handling criticism of his
policies and actions well, often resorting to screaming matches with dissenters rather
than constructive conversation. This is demonstrated particularly well in an early scene,
in which Mable — the movie’s protagonist — challenges Jerry’s attempt to construct a
highway through a stretch of nature that holds great significance to her. Rather than
listening to her concerns, Jerry immediately engages in a screaming match with the
college student before then saying, “We can’t keep having this argument, Mable,” thus
prompting numerous flashbacks of the two having this same heated debate in several
settings. The sequence is constructed with comedic intent — a goal that it succeeds in
— however, the resemblances to how Trump has frequently handled public challenges
throughout his presidential tenure are uncanny with the President time and time again
being known to publicly ostracize political opponents and to hoist child-like insults upon
many who disagree with him rather than engaging in productive discussion that would
be of mutual benefit to all — as is seen as the end of Hoppers in which Jerry finally
communicates with Mable and both come away with a solution they are pleased with.
A second example we noted of Jerry’s likeness to the U.S.’s 47th president, is
the unrelenting support of his fans in spite of his continuous outrageous claims. In the
movie’s climax, the royalty of the animal kingdom flip the script, forcing the scientists
behind the Hopping devices — machines that allow humans to inhabit realistic
robot-models of animals in an effort to better study them — to construct a life-like robot
of Jerry for the insect king to control. Their goal: to kill, or as they say in the film, “to
squish,” all humans in attendance of Jerry’s upcoming political rally through the
utilization of speakers to play an unbearably loud noise — a similar strategy Jerry
used to remove animals from their home so that he could build a new highway in that
location earlier in the feature. At the rally, the robot Jerry takes the stage and, after
some incoherent rambling, tells his audience that he will soon “squish” them. This
ominous message briefly stuns the mayor’s once energetic crowd into silence, allowing
movie-viewers hope that they will attempt to flee the scene. This optimism is quickly
shattered, however, as one crowd member shouts, “We love you, Jerry,” and sparks the
soon-to-be-doomed group into cheering for their “squisher.” Fortunately, some quick
thinking from Mable, the real Jerry, and friends, subverts the tragedy and sees the robot
Jerry ousted. Despite the extreme nature of this scenario, this unrelenting support of a
political leader in spite of outrageous claims is not too far off what is seen within the
current presidential administration. Trump has historically been known for his
problematic statements that yield him little to no repercussions from his supporters. One
particular example includes his recent assertion that, “A whole civilization will die
tonight, never to be brought back again,” in reference to Iran and the recently waged
war. Despite the utter insanity of a statement such as this, and like the continued
encouragement that robot Jerry enjoyed in Hoppers, many of Trump’s supporters have
continued their relentless support of the country’s president despite his continuous
beyond problematic rhetoric.
When writing this viewpoint, I wanted to first present Hoppers as an excellent film
that I highly recommend given its high quality of animation, score, and storytelling.
Secondly I wanted to write this piece with the intent of likening the film’s themes to
reality. Political messaging in Hoppers goes beyond its Trump stand-in with various
other problematic aspects of the U.S.’s political sphere making their way into the feature
such as the film’s depiction of American policies and advancements coming at the
knowing cost of environmental wellbeing. With Jerry, however, audiences are forced to
face the fact that many actions of the United States’ current president are so
unbelievable and outrageous, that they can be effectively translated into a children’s
movie through the utilization of a cartoon villain. This is a frightening reality, and is one,
that should continued inaction be taken on the subject from the public, then, like John F.
Kennedy said in a 1958 speech addressing a previous instance of American political
and public complacency, “the future is very dark indeed.”
