Alex Rose Disney's The Lion King Response

I have not watched The Lion King since I was around ten years old, so watching it again was very entertaining because I had forgotten how much I enjoyed the movie.

We have spent time in class discussing how Disney characterizes the villains in their films. The first thing I thought about when I saw scar in this film was how true that description was. Scar has the long face, neon green eyes, a British accent and black hair. All of this is in addition to the way that he acts towards the bird and his brother. Early on in the film, Scar is exclusively filmed in the shadows and his claws are always excessively long. The characterization of the elephant graveyard and the hyenas. The hyenas have yellow or lime green eyes and the only colors in the graveyard are greys, the reds from the steam holes, the lime green that comes up with the smoke and there is a green tint all through the scenes in the dark part of the territory.

The music in the film is incredibly entertaining. Typically, when I am watching a Disney film I understand how the sound track fits in with the scene and the characters, but with The Lion King I really enjoyed all of the songs in the sound track and was thoroughly impress.

While this link: https://reelrundown.com/animation/What-the-Lion-King-Teaches-Children-About-Racism points out a lot of criticisms for the film, I think the author is being very overcritical. The only possible criticism I can think of for The Lion King is the hints at racism that occur. The coloration of Scar as darker while making him the villain has racist undertones. In addition, the characters with black actors voicing over them are either evil, or a monkey.

The Hyenas are absolutely hilarious. Every time they laugh I could not help but giggle a little bit. I believe that part of the reason the movie was so well received is because a majority of the evil presence in the movie still makes the audience laugh.

Another thing that we have talked about in class is the way that Disney does not show death. When Mufasa dies, there is no blood. He simply lays motionless after falling down. Simba cries and runs over to him, but Mufasa looks like he is simply taking a nap. He does not remotely resemble an animal trampled in a stampede.

One thing I did really enjoy about the film is the focus on Simba’s journey. The film spends a lot of time on setting up the exile of Simba, but then spends a large amount of time on Simba between exile and when he returns. This part greatly contrasts the written story where the reader sees an almost immediate shift.

The story of Simba blaming himself for his father’s death, losing himself, and then finding it again to return and take all of his rightful property and land. The message of The Lion King isn’t one of entitlement. The film promotes responsibility and being true to oneself. I really appreciated that because it would have been easy to make Simba seem entitled.