The Lion King

An interesting take.

I was always told that this was Disney doing Hamlet. But Hamlet begins when Hamlet returns to find his uncle on the throne. The Lion King joins Hamlet with an inkling of Nazism.

The movie opens with the rising sun, the singing in Swahili and no words. I think it is honestly my favorite thing. The words were just not needed and it gives such power to the words. We recognize that words have power, but many a time we fail to realize that words not in our language have power; words we don't understand can evoke such amazing emotions. Just think about the opening few words and try not to have your skin awakened or your mouth creep into a smile.

We have the introduction of the different characters: Mufasa, Scar (who apparently had no other name until he was maimed), Sarabi, Simba (who's name means "lion" in Swahili), Nala, Zazu and the hyenas Shenzi, Banzai and Ed. We have some fun songs - "I Just Can't Wait to be King", "The Morning Report" - and then we get to the real lessons. The fact that the kings of the past watch over us from the stars is so important for the rest of the story. The fact that Simba is incredibly impressionable is incredibly important.

The song "Be Prepared" shows a vast change from the story of Hamlet. The marching, the way Scar is talking to the hyenas, is all meant to showcase that Scar is like Hitler. Which is incredibly interesting to me. As a kid, I never recognized that (but then again, this came out in 1994 - had I heard of Hitler or the Holocaust yet? I'm not sure). Watching it again, I absolutely recognized it but also had to ask why, when Scar tells the remaining members of Mufasa's pride that he's now king, the hyenas are such a terrible addition. The questions begged themselves, if this is who Scar associates himself with, 1) is he the same? and 2) what is wrong with trying to get two groups of creatures together to live together in harmony? Sweetie and Lola informed me its because hyenas eat and destroy everything.

Next we have Scar setting up so that Mufasa gets killed and Simba runs away (should have been killed, but the hyenas don't want to get hurt on the prickly plants). We meet Timon and Pumba (who's name means pig in Swahili) who introduce us to "Hakuna Matata" (which of course we know means "no worries") and living the good life. It is here that we truly see Simba's childishness come out. Because he did something wrong (well, not really, but he thinks he did), he knows he can never go home. I am curious to know whether that had to do with Scar saying "run away and never return" or if he was just that angry with himself. Mistakes can be forgiven and that becomes a large part of the rest of the story, but it takes Simba quite a while to realize this.

Timon and Pumba become family with Simba and all is going swimmingly until Pumba is attacked by a lioness who turns out to be Nala. Something interesting to note. When Nala is chasing Pumba, her eyes are as bright green as they can possibly be, the color of Scar's eyes, especially during the "Be Prepared" scene. Once we realize that she's on the side of good, her eyes become a lovely shade of blue. I suppose this is done to confuse the viewer as we should think she's evil, but its very interesting. Why green? Why not jet black or brown? What is so interesting about green that it should be the color of evil?

We have the reunion of two friends. We see that Simba has stayed a child almost all of his life: "I just needed to get out on my own. And I have. And it's great!" Only a selfish prince would say that. And when Nala responds with "we've really needed you at home" he responds with "yeah right." He really doesn't understand anything and they have a fight.

Simba runs to an open grassland area and begins to yell at the sky. It is now that we hear a familiar voice singing "asante sana squash banana" over and over again. The monkey from the beginning (who has no name yet mind you) tells Simba that he knows that he's Mufasa's boy. Simba needs to see for himself and fallows "old Rafiki, he knows the way" to a pool of water where Simba is told "see, he lives in you."

The skies open up to reveal Mufasa talking to Simba, reminding him of his familial duties and telling him never to forget who he is. Simba runs after him, learns a valuable lesson from Rafiki: "the past can hurt, but the way I see it, you can either run from it, or learn from it."

Simba goes back to Pride Rock, Nala follows as do Timon and Pumba (Rafiki helps as well). They fight off Scar who lies to Simba saying that it was the hyenas idea to kill Mufasa. Betrayed, they are able to get their revenge when Scar falls and is defeated by Simba. I think this really lessened the character of Scar. I really wish he had just taken the blame and then, I don't know, pulled a Disney death (falling to his death) instead of taking the cowards way out.

The movie ends with the birth of Simba and Nala's daughter and you can see the circle continuing.

This movie is incredibly hard for me to watch. I am incredibly close to my dad and just the thought of the situation here being mine just makes me lose it. I cried while writing this post so you can see just how much it affects me.

On another note, thank you to Mel Brooks for putting Ernie Sabella as the drunk in the cafe that Bialistock and Bloom (Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick) go to in the Producers. It was the first time since The Lion King that they had all been on screen together.