The Lion King Essay

“The Lion King” is watched by children all over the world. It is a classic Disney movie that many watch for fun and entertainment, but could there be something else to this film? The plot of “The Lion King” is very similar to Shakespeare’s play,” Hamlet”. Some similarities include the lives of Simba and prince Hamlet are changed due to their evil uncles, both fathers die, and both fathers come back as ghosts. Each character in “The Lion King” connects with a character in “Hamlet”. Simba plays as prince Hamlet, Mufasa plays as King Hamlet, Gertrude plays as Sarabi, Scar plays as King Claudius, Nala plays as Ophelia, Rafiki plays as Horatio, hyenas plays as Laertes, and Timon and Pumbaa plays as Rosencrantz and

Starting off her paper, Lacroix begins with an anecdote of her visit to a theater’s premier of The Lion King. Within her anecdote, Lacroix remarks that “a toddler…began shouting with glee” for the character Timon from The Lion King, which Lacroix found concerning as the toddler “was all too aware” even before the movie started playing (213-214). Lacroix directs attention to the repeated exposure of

That is a theater "moment," and having never seen the show before it really did give me chills. The rest of the first act moves briskly and features several other spectacular set pieces and musical numbers, although the second act was prolonged. This production of "The Lion King" features an incredibly talented cast, from the leads to the members of the chorus. You know you have a fantastic ensemble when the singers in the aisle during the entrance have voices and personality to match the lead actors. The dance crew also lives up to the challenging choreography.

As a child, I can remember watching the Lion King movie several times because my family loved this timeless movie. I always just thought of it as a story about the “circle of life” that we all hear so much about in church and from our parents. However, for this assignment I chose to watch this movie once more; giving particular attention to details and thoroughly examining Simba’s life stage development in relation to Erik Erikson’s psychosocial stages and Jean Piaget’s cognitive development stages. Needless to say, I was able to find significant evidence relating to these developmental theorists. The story not only displays the hardships of maturation, and the perplexities associated with growing, but it also deals with the search for one’s own identity and responsibility.

Richard I reigned over England during the Middle Ages from 1189 to 1199 with great bravery and immense courage. Richard was born as the third legitimate son of King Henry II of England and never assumed that he would ever ascend to become the king. After leading his country in the Third Crusade, he gained the nicknames “the lionhearted” and “the absent king.” Through many heroic deeds while away at war, he deserved the nickname of “The Lionhearted” the most.

The Lion King is a true hero's journey that takes place in the savannas of Africa. The title "the Lion King" emphasizes that a lion is king, most likely referring to the main character, Simba. Simba is the main hero in the story because he regains his kingdom and defeats evil. The main character's archetype is "king"; he takes responsibility for his actions and his kingdom, he regains order and control. Simba takes part in a hero's journey by being a part of the departure, initiation, and the return.

Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a largely known tragic play with many different interpretations, one of them being The Lion King. The Lion King is a Disney film indicating that the film was targeted for children. Considering Hamlet is largely violent it would not be suitable for children, hence differences were required to make it suitable and understandable for children. However, to keep the origin of Hamlet in The Lion King similarities are also required.

Almost everyone in the world is familiar with the infamous Disney movie The Lion King, but very few have gone into detail and analyzed the rhetoric within the film. Each scene is filled with a sense of pathos that tugs on the emotions of the audience and inevitably pushes them to one side over the other. It is interesting to see how the voices, color, and actions of each character have such an effect on their personalities which then has an effect on the audience and leaves them judging the morals of the characters. For people who grew up watching the original Disney movies, this is a great film to watch in depth and really figure out the meaning behind each scene.

Fairy tales are timeless entities that will always be relevant in people’s lives. Fairy tales and stories offer entertainment, advice, and moral examples. The creation of fairy tales is important in the development of social norms. Children everywhere would read fairy tales and learn from them. As a result, these fairy tales are translated into multiple languages and allows people with different backgrounds to understand and relate to the story. People take these stories and adapt them to life around them. Within these adaptations of the same story, it is normal to observe slight differences that contribute as evidence in identifying the culture or societies in which these stories come from. Whether it is the slang of the dialogue or the change of location, modern producers and writers are known to take these classic stories and adding a significant twist to adjust to their cultural agenda. The movie, The Princess and the Frog, is a modern example of writers and directors creating a modern twist to the popular story of the Brother Grimm’s The Frog King. The Princess and the Frog and The Frog King both encode the mores, values, and beliefs of the cultures of the societies from which they come because, even though they both have similar plot ideas, the differences of the location and the differences of the overall specific plotlines attribute to understanding how their own specific cultures influence the adaptation and the actual story.

     Shadows which can make an object seem larger than it really is and make something scarier than it really is are a major part of this musical. Originated either in Greece or China this now Indonesian form of puppetry is called the wayang kulit and uses flat puppets made of wood and animal hide against a muslin screen. In The Lion King, shadows are used to portray many animals or ones that seem frightening. This wonderful combination of puppets masks and real people makes this a most wonderful sight. There are certain themes that are portrayed such as listen, remember, and learn as they teach us to be part of “the Circle of Life,” remember who we are and where we came from,

Shadows which can make an object seem larger than it really is and make something scarier than it really is are a major part of this musical. Originated either in Greece or China this now Indonesian form of puppetry is called the wayang kulit and uses flat puppets made of wood and animal hide against a muslin screen. In The Lion King, shadows are used to portray many animals or ones that seem frightening. This wonderful combination of puppets masks and real people makes this a most wonderful sight. There are certain themes that are portrayed such as listen, remember, and learn as they teach us to be part of "the Circle of Life," remember who we are and where we came from, and learn from our mistakes.

Lazarus states her thesis by saying: “The Lion King is breaking box office records. But it’s not breaking stereotypes (1)”. She discusses how at first she believes it will be different from the traditional Disney movies because it is based on a group of animals and not on sexist princess movies such as The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast (1). Lazarus says she had grown “weary of reinforcing women’s subordinate status by screening fables about a beauty who tames an angry male beast or a mermaid who gives up her glorious voice and splits her body to be with a prince.(1)”

Nala explains the wretched condition of the Pride Lands since Scar became King and urges Simba to return. Simba comes in contact with the wise baboon. He hesitates out of fear, and out of his rebellion he has a vision of his father that prompts him to return home. When he returns he challenges Scar and wins. He becomes King of the Pride Lands as his father had taught him he would. Nala gives birth to a cub of their own completing the circle of life.

Nowadays, religion is tied into pop culture from our childhood have this connection that we don’t recognize until later on in life. The Lion King is one film that is associated with religious themes due to it having a story that is similar to some texts. It is a Walt Disney animated film that incorporates a community of animals in a kingdom that is ruled by a lion king named Mufasa. Mufasa has a son named Simba and the story revolves around his adolescent growth and how he is supposed to be next in line to become the future king. The idea of the “Circle of Life” ties into several religions but most specifically it goes hand in hand with Christianity. A ritual is performed on him by Rafiki as a newborn and he is presented to the kingdom with a new life. This aspect is similar to how Christians perform baptism and the significance of having new life brought onto earth. Also the kingdom crowding around this ceremony highlights the similarities even bigger due to how many people gather for the religious ceremonies.

A musical film is a genre of movie where songs sung by characters are added into the storyline, occasionally complemented by choreography. The musical numbers in these films do not always develop the plot and characters, but they do give the films a more exciting quality. The primary difference between musical theatre and film musicals is the use of extravagant scenery that would be extraordinarily unreasonable for a stage performance. While making movies, the individuals involved have the luxury of being able to shoot multiple takes and have the time to move backgrounds around or change their entire location. Stage performances, on the other hand, must have scenery that can be easily and efficiently moved on and offstage when it is needed. In order to be able to thoroughly comprehend this relatively recent- in the grand scheme of things- form of entertainment, one should understand the history behind these musical films, be aware of some of the “big names” that are well-known, and recognize major titles that revolutionized musical film forever (Scaruffi, P., 2005).