Disney's The Lion King

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The Lion King

“Everything you see exists together in a delicate balance. As king, you need to understand that balance, and respect all the creatures from the crawling ant to the leaping antelope,” said Mufasa, a supporting character in the film depiction of Walt Disney’s: The Lion King (1994). The Lion King is a timeless archetypal work that time after time has given youth hope and has shown them that courage is not always innate, but can be learned from just living life with a little “hakuna matata”. The Lion King, through the use of classic archetype, vivid surrealism, and iconic symbolism, shows a coming to age story that shows children that life is an adventure worth the trouble.

The Hero’s Journey is an archetype that has been used literary works and film alike for ages. The Lion King is a work that leads in the front of the pack when depicting this archetype. Simba is called to this journey at fates mercy, when his father Mufasa is unbeknownst to him, murdered by Simba’s uncle, Scar. Through a series of unfortunate events, Simba is cast out on a journey in which leads him to meet his wise mentors, Timon and Pumbaa. The viewer gets to see baby Simba grow into a fearsome but compassionate Lion. Timon and Pumbaa only further complemented what Mufasa was trying to achieve before his death. Simba has his call to adventure when his childhood friend Nala reaches out to him to let him know that the Pride is in trouble. We see that Simba is now grown up because he views Nala in a different way now. Despite seeing that Nala was desperate for Simba to return to the Pride, Simba refuses to go because the guilt of his father’s death stills lays heavy on his conscious.

Simba realizes that he’s the Pride’s only hope and crosses the t...

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...n to teach a lot of youth views the values of growing up, and the tribulations of doing so. Showing how Simba grew from a tiny lion cub defenseless in the wild with the discipline of his father, help of his two friends Timon and Pumbaa, and the words of advice from his great guidance Rafiki to the strong and powerful king that he has become shows youth what it is like to grow up. Teaching how people will always try to bring your success down is showing how it is in the real life. The use of classic archetype, vivid surrealism, and iconic symbolism throughout the movie was very inspirational, and if viewers paid close attention to them, were very simple to find. The movie The Lion King will be an inspirational movie for many more generations to come.

Works Cited

Director: Roger Allers - Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Matthew Broderick, James Earl Jones - Disney - 1994

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