Hoppers and the Theory of Human Nature: Are Humans Inherently Good?

The latest Pixar Movie Production called Hoppers, was such a fantastic and enjoyable movie for me to watch, and I had so much fun watching it! While I’m no movie expert, I personally think that while it’s important for a movie to make you feel good whilst watching it (in its own context of genre), it is equally important for movies to give meaning, no matter how big or small.

A key standing theme in the movie Hoppers that I clicked on immediately while watching is the idea surrounding human nature of good and bad. It is very simple actually: are humans inherently good or bad? Is it in our nature to be good no matter what and put the interest of the collective above ours, or are we born as selfish beings that only think of our own personal interests?

Our protagonist, Mabel Tanaka is an animal lover who has been exposed to human selfishness since she was a little kid, ranging from how teachers and students keep class pets in an environment that might not be suitable for the animals, and overall how humans prioritise their own interests above other living creatures. As an adult, we are introduced to the mayor of Beavorten, Jerry Generazzo, with a resolute objective to blow up the beaver dam (the same dam in the nature that Mabel has taken care of and find homage in) in order to build a highway extension for the people of the city.

Now here we are exposed to several sequence of events and revelations that shone a bad light upon us as human beings (and sadly, many can probably found in real life too): Mayor Jerry’s absolute resolution to blow up the dam and prioritize human needs over nature and the habitat living there; Mabel’s failure after failure in obtaining signatures for her petition against the building of the highway (does no one really cares?); and ultimately when it was revealed that the animals were unawarely forced to leave the dam and its surrounding habitats due to metal trees being intentionally placed by Mayor Jerry to emit a frequency only animals can hear, driving them to clear out of the area. Now here we can see some familiar human behaviours: humans prioritizing their own personal selfish needs and goals over other creatures; humans turning a blind eye and being indifferent towards issues that doesn’t affect them directly; and humans using sneaky means (cheating, deceiving, etc) to achieve their goals for their own personal gain.

Now, surely we cannot simply blame Mabel for her pessimism, she knows all too well what humans are capable of! But this is where the movie provides an interesting twist: a perception from the mind of a wild animal. This is where the role of King George is vitally important in this movie: a fun and playful king who truly cares about its people. King George alongside some other animal characters didn’t even know that they were forcefully driven out of their homes by humans, and not even once did they show a bad sentiment towards humans until Mabel showed up!

King George believes that they can talk things out with Jerry instead of using force, believing that he can change his mind. Mabel debunked this by saying that it is impossible to do so, and she believes 100% that Jerry will not listen and proceed in blowing up the dam, but King George still believes that Jerry can come around. King George believes that humans are inherently good, that surely after listening to others’ voices, an understanding can be made and minds can be changed for the greater good. Mabel believes that humans are inherently bad, that they will do what needs to be done in order to achieve their personal gains.

This is very interesting to me because when it comes to human nature, I believe we cannot really see it through a black and white lens. Humans are complex creatures, and while Mabel’s argument is very much logical, King George’s optimism was so very refreshing and very touching to see! To see a character having so much faith in somebody else’s goodness, a person they haven’t even met yet!

Mencius, a Chinese philosopher, claims that “human nature is good” (xìng shàn). He believes that everyone has this thing called ‘innate compassion’ in which they might not always act on it but the potential to act on it is always there.¹ According to Mencius, human nature is good and consists of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom. He believed that human nature begins and grows in the heart, where one may see the brightness of one’s inner heart and the goodness of one’s nature.²

On human nature, Mencius stated:

“All human beings have a mind that cannot bear to see the sufferings of others. The ancient kings had a commiserating mind and, accordingly, a commiserating government. Having a commiserating mind, a commiserating government, governing the world was like turning something around on the palm of the hand.”³

On the other hand however, Xunzi, another Chinese philosopher, counters Mencius by disagreeing with him and stating that human nature is evil. In a part of a book he written titled “Human Nature is Evil”, he wrote:

“Human nature is evil; its good derives from conscious activity. Now it is human nature to be born with a fondness for profit. Indulging this leads to contention and strife, and the sense of modesty and yielding with which one was born disappears. One is born with feelings of envy and hate, and, by indulging these, one is led into banditry and theft, so that the sense of ritual, rightness, refinement, and principle with which one was born disappears. One is born with the desires of the ears and eyes and with a fondness for beautiful sights and sounds, and, by indulging these, one is led to licentiousness and chaos, so that the sense of ritual, rightness, refinement, and principle with which one was born is lost. Hence, following human nature and indulging human emotions will inevitably lead to contention and strife, causing one to rebel against one’s proper duty, reduce principle to chaos, and revert to violence”⁴

King George believes that with a proper conversation and reasoning, Jerry will understand the point of view of the creatures who call the dam they are to blow up home, and by sympathy as well as understanding, gives up his plan for the highway. Mabel, on the other hand, believes that Jerry in his nature is evil and no talking and reasoning will do any good for their objective to save the dam and its habitat.

But this is where the movie shed a good light on human nature: after several course of events that consists of kidnapping, identity theft (that of Jerry), and forest fires, the movie concluded with Mabel and her furry friends saving the forest and city from a big fire, Jerry helping with the aftermath clean up (“make it look like we were never here” as he said), and Jerry eventually redirected the highway and leave the glade, now fully flushed and as a nature preserve.

I know this is a “kids” movie and maybe some people might deem this unrealistic, — I mean after all that chaos, Jerry would still have the authority and ability to take over the glade and build the highway as he intended — but it was really touching and beautiful to see human nature of goodness (although after a chaos turn of events) still winning over Jerry in the end. I do love a good movie that can shed some goodness when it comes to human nature in contrast to the many stories of human nature that are depicted as truly evil and bad, but both can co-exist and be true at the same time.

After all, it is important to understand the further argument and belief of Xunzi, in which he adds that people could become better versions of themselves by developing good manners and habits, which he referred to as “artifice” (偽). He believes that in order to become decent, people had to change who they were. This could be accomplished by adhering to customs and morals and learning from a teacher.⁵

So despite their contrasting views, what Mencius and Xunzi can agree upon was this: that human beings in their human nature are capable of change and become better, although some refused to do so.

Hoppers did such a great job in portraying that despite the inherent selfishness of human beings throughout the movie, we as human beings are capable of changing and being better. Jerry was helped by Mabel, King George, and the other animals as his “teachers” if we refer to Xunzi’s argument.

In the end, what I truly love about Hoppers was how it was able to shed a light into human nature and how we can be good, although inherently we need to work and be reminded constantly. It is a good reminder that we can choose to become better, to evaluate our own objectives and goals if they are against and/or detrimental for others, and to remind ourselves that as human beings we have to learn to co-exist with other living creatures and that we are responsible for this Earth and other living creatures.

[1] Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, accessed March 27, 2026, https://iep.utm.edu/mencius/.

[2] “伊藤仁斋”性善”思想略考,” 伊藤仁斋”性善”思想略考 — 《上海外国语大学》2014年硕士论文, accessed March 27, 2026, https://web.archive.org/web/20210210151506/http://cdmd.cnki.com.cn/Article/CDMD-10271-1014125153.htm.

[3] Selections from the Mencius: On human nature, accessed March 27, 2026, https://afe.easia.columbia.edu/ps/cup/mencius_human_nature.pdf.

[4] Selections from the Xunzi: Human Nature is Evil, accessed March 27, 2026, https://afe.easia.columbia.edu/ps/cup/xunzi_human_nature.pdf.

[5] Goldin, Paul R. 2018. “Xunzi.” Plato.stanford.edu, July. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2018/entries/xunzi/.