the lion king

Title: The lion king
Director/ creator: Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff
Cultural perspective: African/ American
Gender of creator/ perspective: Male

This movie is about a young lion cub and his journey to becoming king of Pride rock. Simba is the son of Mufasa and Serabi, king and queen of Pride rock. Life goes well for Simba, playing in the sun and growing bigger and stronger each day, testing his boundaries with his friends Nala and Zazu. Untill one day, Simba's uncle Scar grows jealous of Mufasa and Simba. He hatches a plan to get rid of both of them once and for all so that he may become king. He sets up an extremely dangerous suituation (a stampede of wilderbeast in the gorge) with his band of hyena followers and puts Simba right in the middle of it. Scar sends for Mufasa, knowing that Mufasa would put himself in danger trying to save Simba. Scar watches as Simba and Mufasa struggle to escape. Mufasa climbs the steep face of the gorge and places Simba on a ledge but Mufasa is dragged back down into turmoil. Mufasa breaks free as Simba watches with panic and concern for his father. Mufasa is injured and climbs the rock face, reaching for his brother Scar to help him. As Simba tries to find a route to his father his attention is diverted and he doesnt see Scar push Mufasa to his death. After the stampede Simba finds his father's body and thinks he is responsible for his father's death. Scar gives him the advice to run away and never return, sending Shenzi, Bonzai and Ed (his three hyena minions) after Simba to kill him. Simba evades them and finds himself in the company of a meercat called Timone and a warthog called Pumba who's personal motto is "Hakuna matata" - No worries. They tell Simba to put his past behind him, "when the world turns its back on you, you turn your back on the world". The three of them live in a lush pardise where Simba grows up into a true lion but he has been living in carelessness with no responsibilities, when he runs into his old friend Nala hunting for food for her starving pride of lions, Simba's family, it is a shock for him. She tells him he needs to go back to Pride rock and challenge Scar for kingship because Simba is the true king and Scar treats the pride unjustly, the hyenas have taken over. Simba refuses to accept responsibility until Rafiki knocks some sense into him. Simba, Rafiki, Timone and Pumba go to Pride rock to confront Scar and his hyenas. Simba finds out that Scar was the one who murdered his father and they fight, Scar's hyenas turn on him. Simba is king and back home once again. All is well.

The main characters in this movie are Simba, Mufasa, Scar and Timone and Pumba. I think these characters made the film very interesting to watch because of the relationships between them. Scar and Mufasa are brothers but Scar (the villain) is bitter and twisted beacuse he believes he should be king, not Mufasa or Simba (Simba is Mufasa's son and Scar's nephew). Mufasa is very protective of Simba but he is king and has other responsibilites. He finds it hard to keep an eye on Simba all the time so wherever Simba goes, Zazu (Mufasa's trusted advisor) goes also. Timone and Pumba are the comical relief with their carefree atitudes and relaxed and humourous personalities (an example of this is when Timone and Pumba are singing about Pumbas past troubles when he was a young warthog). My favourite characters would be Timone and Pumba, when i was a child they particularly appealed to me because of thier goofy facial expressions, the fact that they eat bugs and worms ("slimy, yet satisfying!"-Timone) and because of thier humourous dialogue.

Another character i found interesting was Scar because he is so intent on getting the throne for himself that he has no problem killing off his family members to get what he wants. He is jealous, bitter and twisted but also clever and cunning, thinking up the perfect plan (trapping Simba in the gorge during the stampede and telling Mufasa, knowing one or both of them would get killed in the process) to get rid of Mufasa and Simba and making helpful alliances with the hyenas in order to gain kingship for himself. I think scar makes a good villian because of these personality traits he has demonstrated throughout the film.

I think the target audience for this film would be any children from the ages 3 and up because of the characters, the easy to understand plot, the colourful animation and the simple, child-friendly dialogue. The purpose of this text was maybe to help children learn how to deal with the idea of life and death. the way this film was made shows death as something that happens to everyone but it's not something to be scared or worried about. Also maybe how to deal with problems in their lives by listening to the motto Hakuna matata- no worries. Forgive and forget. Also the idea of taking responsiblity and how friends and family are very important and valuable- we can see this by Simba taking up kingship even though he was already happy where he was, to do this he needed the help of his family and friends to gain triumph of good over evil. In my opinion, the best thing about this text is that i can keep watching it over and over throughout different stages of my life and it still brings out the same emotions and high level of interest in me, the ideas and messages in this film are still relevant to me.

I wouldn't change anything about this movie even though every time i watch the part with mufasas death, my eyes tear up just a little. I would recommend this movie to anyone who is still in touch with their inner child and is having trouble taking responsibility or has had someone close pass away.