Analysis Of The Lion King

As humans, we constantly find ourselves engaged in the act of story telling. We are story telling and story creating animals—we act by stories, teach by stories, and learn by stories. A narrative is best described as a representation of a particular situation, process, or idea, in such a way to reflect on or communicate a set of overarching ideas. In short, narratives can be used as mechanisms to domesticate the wild world around us, and have influential value. In the social sciences, narratives are useful as a means of interpretation and finding meaning in the context of a culture. Through a holistic study of how individuals apprehend the world by finding meaning, the concept of a narrative carries great significance, demonstrated through

In exploring a myth, Wendy Doniger describes our understanding of truth as sages who become hunters. By entering into the body of the hunter, sages understand things about stories that tell things about themselves (Doniger). Myths, such as The Lion King, typically follow a circular structure with three defining parts: separation into a threshold of adventure, which in turn evokes a transition, and following this transition there is a return of the changed individual to normalcy, following Van Gennup’s model of mythic progression (Turner). In The Lion King this idea is well represented by he overriding theme of the “Circle of Life”. Separation is marked by Simba’s father’s death, where Simba leaves the normal society and reaches the so-called ‘threshold of adventure’. Thus, in his transition state, he learns many life lessons while in the threshold of adventure with Timone and Pumba at his side. In his return to normalcy, Simba came back to reclaim his place in society. He atones with himself, and the guilt he felt as a result of his father’s unfortunate death is washed clean. During his transition, a major theme in the myth of The Lion King is the value of friendship. Simba’s relationship with Timone and Pumba communicates the importance of friends in leadership and accomplishments. Also, responsibility is

Narratives are transmitted through myths, where they tell a story to us about ourselves. These messages are reenacted and performed through rituals, which embody the narratives that we hold close in a culture, containing the core set of values, morals, and traditions that make a society unique. Through this physical performance, narratives enact changes within us through rites of passage, specifically, taking place in the transition state. Narratives and belief systems both function as tools to organize a culture and aid its participants in making sense of their world. By exploring and appreciating the significance of narratives in a culture, we are able to learn about a way of life, both our own and of ‘exotic’ or foreign