Information Privacy

How Nimona's Shapeshifting Subverts Surveillance

Nimona has an interesting exploration of information privacy, due to the nature of who the main characters are in their world. Ballister, once a random kid on the street, had been taken in by the queen herself. Being the only person outside the royal bloodline to ever receive the opportunity to become a knight, Ballister become a prominent public figure. It's clear from the start of the movie that everything in Ballister's life had been broadcast for all the world to see, due to a combination of his public nature and the mass surveillance. Conversely, we have Nimona, someone who originates from outside the kingdom and has no fame whatsoever. With her ability to shapeshift, the movie suggests she has been able to exist outside the kingdom's knowledge over it's people, while still living in it. 

Shapeshifting Online

We can draw parallels from these characters to different archetypes of people you might find online. Nimona could be attributed to someone who "lurks" online. A lurker just silently observes online spaces without actively participating in them. They might need to make an account to access some services, but could just use fake credentials as to not connect it to their real life. This is similar to how Nimona could shapeshift when interacting with people, to avoid from being known about. Ballister can be compared to the children of people who are already famous. Children of celebrities such as the Kardashians or the British royal family are frequently in the public eye, making it incredibly hard to be able to keep a level of privacy. In the same way, Ballister being taken in by the queen makes him a prime target for the attention of the kingdom, something that works against him when he is accused of murdering the queen.