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Hitpig
Movie

Hitpig

2024 • Animation, Action, Adventure

Woke Score
6
out of 10

Plot

Hitpig, a grizzled porcine bounty hunter accepts his next hit: Pickles, a naive, ebullient elephant who has escaped the clutches of an evil trillionaire. Though Hitpig initially sets out to capture the perky pachyderm, the unlikely pair find themselves on an unexpected road trip across America that brings out the best in both of them. Hitpig's cold heart thaws as Pickles makes her first real friend. From Pulitzer Prize-winning author Berkeley Breathed's wild imagination comes an adventure about learning that sometimes what we want isn't what we need.

Overall Series Review

Hitpig is an animated road trip comedy that aims for a mix of dark humor and a heartwarming story about friendship and animal welfare. The plot centers on Hitpig, a mercenary bounty hunter who learns to value compassion over cash after being hired to retrieve Pickles, an escaped elephant. The narrative frames American institutions like show business, big business, and scientific research as fundamentally corrupt and abusive, contrasting this with the moral purity of the animal characters. The villain is a greedy, egotistical Las Vegas showman, representing a critique of Western avarice. The film features a prominent cast of figures known for their LGBTQ+ advocacy, and a secondary character is noted for having ambiguously gay mannerisms. The ultimate moral of the story emphasizes that 'friends are the family you choose,' positioning subjective, humanist ethics (empathy, friendship) as the highest good, rather than a transcendent or traditional moral code. The film uses a compelling, if predictable, arc of a flawed male protagonist being redeemed by an innocent female co-star, placing a significant emphasis on moral growth through emotional connection.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics6/10

The main conflict is the abusive, white-coded male-presenting Vegas showman villain exploiting Pickles, an elephant stolen from India, creating a dynamic of the Western male authority figure as the abuser against the non-Western 'Other.' The protagonist, Hitpig, an anthropomorphic male pig, is initially flawed and corrupted by money. The story is a redemption arc centered on an exploited creature's desire to return home rather than an explicit lecture on privilege, but the villain is a strong caricature of Western commercial greed.

Oikophobia7/10

The film explicitly frames its human antagonists—the wealthy, abusive Las Vegas showman and the scientists performing radiation experiments—as embodiments of corruption and animal abuse within American commercial and scientific institutions. Pickles, the elephant, is moral and desires a return to her family in India, positioning the non-Western origin as morally superior to the abusive Western setting. This demonstrates a clear hostility toward the corruption of the home culture and its institutions.

Feminism5/10

The core of the plot involves a flawed, money-obsessed male protagonist (Hitpig) being redeemed and morally educated by the compassionate, ebullient female co-star (Pickles). Pickles serves as the moral compass who teaches Hitpig a better way. The male lead is not completely emasculated or a bumbling idiot, but his primary virtue is discovered through the influence of his female companion. The message that 'friends are the family you choose' de-emphasizes the nuclear family structure.

LGBTQ+7/10

Two openly LGBTQ+ public figures, RuPaul and Hannah Gadsby, are given prominent voice roles as secondary characters. The Polecat character, voiced by RuPaul, is noted for having ambiguously gay and effeminate mannerisms. The central theme that 'friends are the family you choose' directly promotes the 'chosen family' narrative, which is often a key component of the queer theory lens by deconstructing the primacy of the traditional nuclear family.

Anti-Theism5/10

The moral framework of the story is entirely humanist, focusing on Hitpig's emotional journey from greed to compassion and friendship. The ultimate moral victory is rooted in subjective emotional connection and empathy rather than an objective or transcendent moral law. There is no overt attack on traditional religion, but the narrative provides a secular, relativist, 'found family' substitute for spiritual or traditional institutional morality.