Rylee Bowen, Gooding-Williams vs. Morton

The Lion King has brought on a tsunami of opinions on how Disney handled race and social identities. Robert Gooding-Williams, a professor of African studies and Philosophy at Columbia University, wrote "Disney in Africa and the Inner City: On Race and Space in the Lion King." This piece argues that the Africa Disney created is a metaphor for the U.S. "Simba and Nala are interpreted as lost in the inner-city of disenfranchised black and Latino residents (represented by the hyenas), & scar is read as empowering these denizens by giving them the political power they have lacked." (Gooding-William) His paper centers around the "invisible" social relations that push urban poverty onto unsuspecting Disney viewers. For the majority of the paper, Gooding-Williams battles the ideas of Hegel. Hegel called Africa "historyless" in which he meant Africans were unable to evolve spiritually. GW goes to explain that Disney's portrayal of Africa only solidifies Hegel's claim because the "Circle of Life" is so natural and idealized. It leaves no room for history. But do I agree with this? No! This view is a harsh view of Disney. The Circle of Life wasn't created to avoid a lack of spiritual growth, it was meant to accompany it.

John Morton begins his debate, "Simba's Revolution: Revisting History and Class in The Lion King" by ROASTING Gooding-Williams' views. He calls then "revealing" and "problamatic" and explains that Disney's Africa is "the site of history and ongoing struggle." Morton also talks about the alliance formed between "the working class," Timon and Pumbaa, and "the ruling class," Simba. I liked this paper a lot more, but it felt unorganized. While it was written to debate the claims made by Gooding-Williams, it went off on its own quite a few times. Morton kept his paper professional and unbiased where Gooding-Williams' felt very in my face. I especially liked how Morton suggested the power struggle between Simba and scar just represented the classic clash of good and evil. I agree with Morton's claims more. Reading Gooding-Williams' piece felt like I wasn't recieving all of the information and was only seeing part of the picture.