Why We Love the Lion King (Even though it's Trash)

I love The Lion King. 

As a kid, it was my favorite Disney movie. I loved all the movies in the franchise, even the sequel and the Timon-centric midquel. I would reenact the plot with my stuffed animals. At nighttime, I would imagine more Lion King stories in my head until I fell asleep. With its epic story, brilliant animation, and catchy songs, this movie captured my imagination. It's baby's first Lord of the Rings.

Now, I have grown up. And I've started to think that the flawless diamond that was The Lion King is not the masterpiece I remember.

To simply summarize, the plot of The Lion King has some negative and dated implications about how society should function. 

Sit back, relax, and allow me to crack my knuckles as I sacrifice my sacred cow.

Part 1: The Cynical Analysis

When looked at with a cold eye, The Lion King promotes divine right monarchy and segregation between classes. 

Divine right monarchy is an obvious one. History has shown us countless times that kings and queens aren't as noble as they might want us to believe. I'll admit that I have a bias as a citizen of the United States, since I was raised in a culture that doesn't give a crap about royal blood (fun fact about that scene, it's Mufasa and Sarabi). The authority to rule should come from the consent of the governed, and that includes having the right to protest and dispose of unsatisfactory leaders.

Okay, I'll stop using other movies to illustrate my points.

What I mean to say is, royal families are problematic for multiple reasons. It prioritizes blood relation and birth order over qualifications on what truly makes a good leader.

Bringing it back to The Lion King, what about Simba tells us he should be king? Nothing, except the fact that he is Mufasa's son. Did Simba spend many seasons learning about diplomacy? Did Simba train hard to hone his battle skills? Simba's status as king is an heirloom, it's not something he truly earns.

I'll talk more about that later.

On the opposite side of the coin, what is it about Scar that tells us he's a bad king? I won't argue that he's a good one, as this scene with him and Zazu shows us that he is lazy, apathetic, and overall unconcerned about his people. Some fans like to give Scar the Wicked / Maleficent (2014) / Twisted treatment and imagine there is an untold story of him as a beneficial ruler. I'm not about to make Scar sympathetic, but isn't it interesting how the landscape itself has become barren and lifeless since his reign? It's as if the land itself knew that Scar was not the "rightful king." It has led some fans to theorize that Mufasa's own spirit has become the weather itself. 

I'm not saying that Scar did nothing wrong, but I am saying that his time as king is marked by a drought that he had no control over. He had no fair shot.

Well, I guess life isn't fair. Especially if you're not the first-born son of a king.

When some people argue that Scar is actually a good guy, they often point out that he's anti-segregationist. The hyenas in The Lion King were subject to controversy back in the day, with some critics claiming they are racist characteristics owing to their callous behavior and their voice actors. The lead hyena of the trio, Shenzi, is voiced by African American actress Whoopi Goldberg. The hyena Banzai is voiced by Mexican-American actor Cheech Marin. The third hyena, Ed, cannot speak like the others, which can be interpreted by some as a character with a mental disability. All three of these characters are not only villains, but they are treated as second-class citizens by the Mufasa and the other lions, exiled to uninhabitable lands. Full disclaimer, I'm not from any of those three groups, so I really don't have the authority to say what's right and what's wrong about the hyenas. I'm just pointing out what other people have said before.

In real life, hyenas are misunderstood scavengers, written off by other researchers and popular culture for being "ugly." Regardless if this was the filmmaker's intention or evidence of bias that slipped through the cracks, the hyenas are portrayed to be stupid villains who deserve to be separated from the rest of the animals beneath Pride Rock.

So...what moral is The Lion King really trying to tell us here? People with sacred bloodlines are naturally superior, and we should keep certain people out of our neighborhoods.

Okay, that's not really the moral of the story. 

The intended moral is executed just as poorly.

After Simba receives his pep-talk from his father in the clouds, Rafiki then delivers us what seems to be the movie's theme: "The past can hurt, but you can either run from it or learn from it."

The implication here is that Simba made a mistake and needs to own up to it. Simba must take responsibility for his actions. Only then can he truly cleanse the darkness in his past and rise to become the hero he was always meant to be.

Good lesson, right?

Wrong.

So what is the mistake that Simba is owning up to? 

There is none.

Scar manipulated Simba into believing Mufasa's death was his fault. When Simba grows up and finally confronts Scar, Scar then uses this lie to turn the lionesses against him. Nobody stands up for Simba. It's not until Scar reveals the truth that he killed Mufasa are the scales tipped in Simba's favor.

So the moral of the story is...Don't face up to your mistakes, unless you know the mistake wasn't actually your fault?

Or is it that when you admit to a mistake, don't expect anyone to stand beside you?

Good message for the kids, guys.

Granted, this could also be spun into a narrative of standing up to abuse, but that's more of a complex and internal struggle that can't really fit into a 90s Disney musical. 

This plot point could have been easily fixed with a few rewrites. When Simba admits to the lionesses that it was his fault Mufasa is dead, his mother Sarabi could come to his side and say that he was just a cub and he didn't mean it, and that his family still loves him. Or you can actually have Simba be responsible for Mufasa's death in a more direct way. You could also take the element of manipulation out and just turn it to a simple "stand up to the bad guy" story. 

One thing that always bothered me, ever since I was a little kid, is that it never is clearly stated how Simba is "responsible" for "killing Mufasa." I would rewrite it so that (with Scar's encouragement) Simba was trying to show off to his father how brave he was by hunting a wildebeest, his presence causes the stampede, and you know what happens from there. That way, Simba needs to forgive himself for what he's done, which is a moral that I think children need. Adolescence and adulthood is full of ugly moments and fuck-ups. I think a large problem that happens in our culture is when people punish themselves for their actions, instead of letting go and choose to live a happier life. Trust me, I'm definitely guilty of that one.  

So...that's it. As the credits roll, Simba has nothing to learn from his journey other than he did nothing wrong, and he was always born to win. This movie is secretly trash. 

I'll never watch it again and I'll never listen to the soundtrack.

Except...I'll watch this movie a thousand times and I will bleed my ears out to Elton John and Lebo M. 

I still love this movie. 

And part of me believes I don't really have a choice. There is something irresistible about The Lion King, and I think I know how to reverse engineer it to find out exactly what that is.

Part 2: The Science Behind our Love

To do this part correctly, I'll have to flex my English major muscles and dive into some literary theory. 

So, now that we know it's not a perfect film, why do I still love The Lion King?

Because it's a story that's deeply rooted in the human psyche. 

One of my favorite studies of literature is the study of comparing stories from all around the world. Scholars like Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung identified similarities between mythological stories from every culture across Earth, even cultures that never came into contact with one another. 

For example, the myth of a great flood. The bible has the story of Noah's Arc. The Incans have the story of Unu Pachakuti, a flood that devastated the world and left two to rebuild. The Koreans have the story of Namu Doryeon, the story of a fairy boy who survived a flood by floating on a tree that was his father. The list goes on. While the details are different, flood stories appear everywhere. Does this mean there was once a flood that covered the whole earth, and every group of human remembered it in story?

I like to think that it's because water is a cleansing symbol. When we read about floods in stories, we are really reading about the ending of an old era and the beginning of a new one. The sins and mistakes of the past are washed away, and the chosen survivors continue on wiser than their ancestors.

So, what is The Lion King really a story about?

The Lion King is the story of a young boy who looses his father and becomes a nobody. The boy truly becomes a man when he realizes that he is his father's reflection into the future. 

This story has been done before many times. (Not all of these examples are perfect fits but I do think they support the "I am my parent" motif.)

I believe this is rooted to the idea of "the Sky Father." We often hear of Mother Earth or Mother Nature, because archetypically mother figures nurture us and give us life. Often parallel to Mother Earth is the Sky Father, the god who is above his children as a guiding light. From the Christian capital-G God, to Greek mythology's Kronos, patriarch gods and father figures are often associated with the sky.

If the flood is a symbol of renewal, then what does the Sky Father symbolize?

Perhaps it is what early humans thought of their own fathers. Without paternity tests or monogamy to keep track of who everyone is related to, our ancestors knew their mothers but not their fathers. So, the father figure was a mere projection in the sky, an unobtainable image.

Jump cut to the 1950s United States suburbia. The staple was that every family was a unit with a father who went to work and a mother who stayed home and took care of the children. This is just one example, but it is a reflection of the Earth Mother and the Sky Father. The father leaves the house, the unseen supporter of his family. He is the role model for his sons to follow in his footsteps. (Let it be known I'm not speaking about this as if it's factual for every family, obviously everyone's relationship / lack of relationship to their father / father figure is unique. I'm just speaking more in terms of cultural archetypes often reflected in media.)

Jump cut to The Lion King. 

Simba tragically looses his father. He looses a part of himself. It isn't until he sees the spirit of his father - a projection in the sky - and realizes that his father lives on in him. 

The Lion King is the story about finding yourself by reaffirming who your parents are. It's about surrendering yourself to the status quo. Simba does not create great social change, he makes no great innovation. He follows in his father's footsteps and is rewarded for it.

This is weird, because as I said earlier, the moral of this movie is supposed to be "learn from the mistakes of the past." 

But the emotional climax - Mufasa's voice rumbling, "remember who you are," tells us to become our past.

It's a bit of a broken moral, yet, we love it anyway. We subconsciously love the story of becoming our own parents, because it is a story rooted in human culture. 

I'll never be a kid again, but I can still enjoy my own children's youth by watching them grow up.

I am the child, following my Sky Father, until I become the Sky Father, guiding my children.

It's the circle of life.

Conclusion: The Bittersweet Symphony

The Lion King is many things. The production behind it is enough to fill a novel. As for aftermath...we are still living in The Lion King aftermath. Don't even get me started on the Kimba controversy. 

In short, The Lion King has dazzling animation and an epic, sweeping score. In my opinion, a good enough coating to cover the ill-thought-out story. 

But the theme....oh boy, the theme. 

The symbol of a young person growing up and taking the place of their parent is universal. It's irresistible. The story of The Lion King is hard-wired in our brains in the same way that our brains are hard-wired to know that rotten fruit is inedible. For being the story about talking animals, The Lion King is a human story about the pains of growing up.

And as I grow up, and as I begin to see the perfect movies of my childhood for what they really are, I still can manage to turn the critic in my brain off and enjoy something without thinking too much about it.

Because no matter how much I tell myself it's bad, as soon as I hear that first vocal cry as the sun rises, I know the next eighty-eight minutes will make me happy.

But when I think about the 2019 movie...

THAT FUCKING PIECE OF TRASH MOVIE AWFUL CASHGRAB SOULLESS ARTLESS PIECE OF FUCKING SHIT THERE WAS NO LOVE NO PASSION NO CARE NO GODDAMN FUCKS GIVEN THEY JUST WANTED FUCKING MONEY THEY CREATED A SCENE-FOR-SCENE REMAKE OF A MOVIE THAT ALREADY EXISTSS AND PEOPLE STILL WENT TO GO SEE IT ANYWAYS CAN'T PEOPLE WAKE UP AND REALIZE DISNEY IS AN AWFUL COMPANY AND DOES NOT DESERVE OUR MONEY BECAUSE THEY GAVE UP ON ARTISTRY AND INNOVATION AND ARE NOW JUST REMAKING THE SAME MOVIES THAT WERE FINE BEFORE GAAAH I FUCKING HATE LION KING 2019 MORE THAN ANYTHING