The Lion King Response

Watching The Lion King years later seemed to have the same effect on me. I found myself with watering eyes after Mufasa’s death, and felt empowered by Simba’s return to Pride Rock. I think of any animated film I have seen, The Lion King is by far the most powerful. 

From my final paper on the power distribution in Hercules, I have started to notice more about the power distribution in other films as well. In the first 30 minutes of the movie, when Simba is still a cub living in Pride Rock, I noticed the conventional placement of power and “goodness.” Mufasa’s appearance fits her character: powerful and majestic. Similarly, though he is still a cub, Simba is cute and vibrant, fitting with his status as a prince. Contrastingly, the hyenas are dark and scrappy; they look more wild and mangy, fitting with their role as enemies. Additionally, Scar simply looks evil - he resembles Jafar in a way. This is fitting with other Disney movies where the characters who look nicer and more powerful are nicer and more powerful. In my final paper, I argue that this sort of typecasting sets a poor example to youth, as it adds to the idea that to be good, you have to look good. However, I think that argument loses a bit of validity in the case of The Lion King since none of the characters are actually human.

Timon and Pumba come into the second part of the movie, and further take away from the criticism of the correlation between appearance and power. Both Timon and Pumba are not at all glamorous in appearances, yet they are arguably the heroes of the story. They provide Simba with a home away from home and teach him to survive and live with no worries. They stay loyal to him throughout the film, and help defeat the hyenas in the battle.

I found it interesting that Rafiki is the only character with an accent - I wonder why Disney chose to do that. In terms of accents, I think The Lion King is quite different from Aladdin. In Aladdin, all of the minor characters have accent while the protagonists do not, but in The Lion King, only one character has an accent. Rafiki does sort of occupy a more spiritual and traditional role, so perhaps this affected Disney’s decision.

While I do agree with critics who say that Nala should have been given more screen time, I think Disney did a great job with her character itself. She is fierce and powerful, and Disney takes advantage of the fact that lionesses are the ones who do the hunting to send a strong message.

Overall, it’s difficult for me to find things to criticize about The Lion King especially compared to the other texts we have gone over this semester. I think the film’s overarching message of loyalty and resilience is and always will be powerful. If, as speculated, the live action version almost exactly mirrors the animated version, I will honestly be happy.