Revisiting Disney: The Lion King

Sunday, March 8, 2015

The Lion King

http://www.buzzfeed.com/briangalindo/20-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-lion-king#.lg3zWB6xQ

Here are some interesting little background tidbits from the minds behind Buzzfeed.

Now to my actually response to the Lion King: I really love it. I loved it when I was little, I loved it when I watched it on a Broadway stage, I love the score, and I just love everything about it. What I love most is that it's relatable at every age because like the boy in the movie Boyhood, you watch Simba's entire life -- his tumultuous childhood, his formative teen years, the difficulties he faces as a young adult, making difficult decisions on his own, and finally you see him as a success, with a family, ready to start the next circle of life. I related to the movie when I first watch the movie -- when I was young and care-fee and just couldn't wait to be older, to go to school, and to be a big kid. I could also relate to the movie when I was older and finally I had to begin to "adult" but didn't want to. The Lion King shows the range of one individual's life, it also shows multiple lifestyles (#teamTimonandPumbaa), multiple moralities, and multiple spiritualities. The multiple lifestyles are exemplified by the traditional heterosexual relationships such as Sarabi and Mufasa's or Nala and Simba's, while a possible homosexual relationship could be seen in Timon and Pumbaa's possibly coupling, there might even be an example of asexual lifestyle in Rafiki or Zazu's choice to never take a mate or show a true sexual inclination. There are multiple moralities that are very clearly delineated: Mufasa has an almost Kantian moral stance -- he treats all others fairly because, I assume, he would want all those within his kingdom to behave morally. On the other hand, Scar behaves like a scavenger (it's funny that he chooses to hang around scavengers like the hyena's too because he behaves like one) and behaves opportunistically, disregarding familial relationships and all that is traditionally considered "right" to achieve power. Zazu exemplifies a strict, rule-following idealism, his sense of "goodness" comes from serving and abiding by his duty. The Lion King even shows multiple spiritualities. Initially, the animals of the savannah worship the circle of life with not clear "God-like" figure. However, when Simba is older and needs advising from his father, the image of Mufasa in the sky is reminiscent of a prophet conversing with God looking for wisdom or guidance. Basically, I love the Lion King because unlike many of the other Disney movies, there's a little something for everybody, of every creed and every lifestyle, in this movie. Unlike many of the other Disney movies, I also found it didn't really subjugate any of the identities represented: it didn't represent females as weak, they were just the non-main characters, all of the sexualities were respectfully represented, and the movie fairly rewarded moral behavior. This would be one of the first movies I let my children watch, especially if movies are as influential on childhood development as the news wants us to believe. I'm really glad I got to rewatch this movie because I think it's a really valuable movie in Disney history. In my opinion, it's the turning point for Disney to become the more progressive Disney the company is still working on becoming today.

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Disney's as a Boys' Toy Too

I rarely remember that little boys, as well as little girls, watch Disney movies and look up to some of the characters. In many of the earlier films, the men/princes aren't really a significant piece of the story, but more recently males are playing a greater and greater role in Disney and Pixar movies. Males like Chang, Sebastian, and Wasabi serve as role models for young boys just as the princesses do for little girls. Because of this, it's just as important that little boys of all appearances and personality types appear in animated films. The Feminist community has been more outspoken about female representation than the male community, perhaps because women tended to be placed in a subservient position to the men of the stories in earlier Disney movies. However, if you try to closely examine the character of the men or male characters in the early Disney movies, they tend to just be place holders that allow the princess to achieve their happily ever after. In later films they are hyper masculine and tough, even sometimes emotionless, if they want to be attractive to the females in the story. The non-human characters like Sebastion, Timone, and the like can be more sensitive because they aren't the male protagonist trying to win the girl and save the world. If we're going to work to build up strong, independent girls, we should work equally hard to help develop sensitive, thoughtful boys. This begins with providing more complex characters for them to look up to and more representation in the male characters in Disney films.

Identity and Disney

Disney Characters' Race Breakdown

Although Disney is often criticized for its lack of diversity in the characters in its animated and live action films, the statistics are fairly close to those of the US census. Although in Disney, about 75% of the characters are White, and so minorities are somewhat underrepresented, the statistics are fairly close to the true proportions. In America, about 62% of the population identifies as White, while 17% of the population is Hispanic, 13.2% is Black, 5% is Asian, and 3.8% of the population identify as multiracial, Native American, or Native Hawaiian. While more diversity would be nice, especially regarding Latinos considering they are 17% of the US population and only one single Disney character is identified as Latino, the statistic is less drastic that I would have anticipated.