El Capitan audiences come to celebrate. At the first Saturday morning show for “Zootopia,” I found myself sitting next to a furry. He had just purchased a Disney Nick P. Wilde cap, and both Nick and Judy plushies. He also had a fox tail and a tale of his own to tell. While the organ player was giving us his rendition of the “Frozen” soundtrack, Kei Fox, as he wishes to be known, showed me a photo of himself dressed as Nick P. Wilde. It was impressive.
Kei Fox felt that the general population has a negative impression of furries and fur fandom (e.g. “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” Season 4 Episode 5 “Fur and Loathing”). In response to my questions, he sent me the following responses via email.
A: My fox costume was made a fellow furry who has earned a decent living through manufacturing custom furry costumes, also called fursuits, for clients who wish to dress up as their own created characters, or fursonas, as they are popularly known. The Hawaiian shirt, khaki pants and neck tie were simply acquired together from a local outlet, but they are useful in portraying Nick Wilde, even without a full fox costume to accompany the apparel.
A: To see the film at the El Capitan has been a first-time experience, having known that it is owned by Disney. To see a film produced by the same company delivers a very wholesome experience of appreciating Disney’s history in the film industry and its continual inspiration to the young and the young at heart with such positive movies. In a society where personal access to entertainment is through the Internet, we may forget the origins of such works being in the theater, and the El Capitan strives to maintain that charisma of inviting us to take a break from modern technology and to enjoy the atmosphere of a movie in its most-rooted respectability.
Pasadena Art & Science Beat 