Sundiata Response

Sundiata is a very mystical story that plays on certain tropes that are typical to American modern film values that are often in Disney movies. Firstly, Sundiata has a familiar family situation as Cinderella. Despite his love, his father’s death leads to Sundiata being at the mercy of his evil step-mother and step-brother. The step-mother, whose son technically had the birthright to the throne, feels slighted by the Father’s decision to claim Sundiata as the next king. Sundiata embodies certain elements found in Aladdin as well. Sundiata has the same “diamond in the rough” label that was tagged onto Aladdin. While he was still royalty, Sundiata’s inability to speak or walk left him ridiculed by society. However, the prophecies made by mystical powers show Sundiata to have an intrinsic goodness of him that will eventually lead him to success. This intrinsic good nature is shown when the witches are hired to kill Sundiata by the evil step-mother. However, the witches are unable to work their magic on anyone who does not have anger in their hard, and is simply too kind. To prove this, even without knowing, Sundiata helps the witches pick out and steal his spices rather than become angry and vengeful at their thievery. The main villain of the story, Sumanguru, is similar to an African version of Jafar, as he is known for his sorcery and power-hungry mentality, and banishes Sundiata in order to maintain power. The idea of unchanging destiny that is present in Hercules is also present in Sundiata. In Hercules, when Hades finds out that Hercules will foil his centuries long plan for world domination, he attempts at every chance to remove Hercules from the picture. He tries to kill Hercules as a baby, and then when Hades finds out that Hercules survived, he throws multiple threats such as the Hydra at him, and eventually tries to use his love of Meg against him. 

However, Hercules is able to persevere through all of these obstacles and save Olympus and the world as destiny predicted. This is apparent in Sundiata, as he is foretold to be the future great leader of Mali. When Sumanguru and his mother do not believe it when Sundiata is unable to walk or talk, or when they attempt to alter destiny by banishing him from the kingdom, it all just presents obstacles that are eventually circumvented by Sundiata to reach his original destiny as the king of Mali. The story even has some similarities to Disney movies that are more recent, such as Black Panther. Aside from the clothing of the drawings being similar, the position of “griot” in Sundiata is also present in Black Panther, in Forrest Whitaker’s “Zuri”, acting as a lifelong advisor that has mystical elements to them. As well, the idea of being able to challenge for the throne if a person has a birth right is also present in Black Panther. T’challa’s story arch is also similar to Sundiata’s, as he is banished after his father dies, and his familial counterpart, Killmonger, plans to rampage through the world with his newfound power and military. However, T’challa returns to defeat his villain. The ending of the main villain is also similar, as rather than submit to the hero, both Sumanguru and Killmonger choose their own death, although their motives are different.