Religion In “The Lion King” Giselle Andrea Solis Giral Gwinnett Technical College RELG 1101 Reverend Dr. Jonathan Wesley. Spring 2024 Religion In “The Lion King” Abstract: This paper explores the religious motifs present in "The Lion King" and their representation through characters, settings, songs, and lyrics. The film's themes, including the circle of life, balance of nature, and journey of self-discovery, reflect diverse religious traditions such as Christianity, Confucianism, Judaism, and Islam. “The Lion King” is an iconic movie that many people are familiar with, but don't notice the religious motifs embedded within its main themes. These themes include the circle of life, the balance of nature, and the journey of self-discovery. These …show more content…
Christianity, Confucianism, Judaism, and Islam are also depicted in the movie, with characters, settings, songs, and lyrics effectively portraying various religious elements throughout the film. “The Lion King” has many depictions and representations of many religions and uses its storytelling to effectively show a variety of religions throughout the film. Christianity can be seen by observing Simba, Mufasa, Scar, and Pride rock. For example, Mary Pat Fisher and Robin Rinehart, authors of the college textbook “Living Religions” explain that in Christianity, the doctrine of the Holy Trinity emphasizes the concept of three distinct yet unified divine persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This theological framework suggests the Father's role as the sender of the Son, who incarnates in Jesus to reveal God's love to humanity. Additionally, the Holy Spirit is depicted as the active presence of God, guiding and sustaining believers (Fisher and Rinehart, n.d.). By viewing Mufasa as God, Simba as Jesus, and the circle of life as the Holy Spirit, we can draw parallels between the film's narrative
Religious imagery in the cinema is a recurring theme across genres and eras. Many directors draw from the ancient stories that endure in religion, partially because of the resonance among large groups of religious followers and partially because of the strong connection to themes of the nature of humanity. The Mission and Cool Hand Luke are two films with particularly strong images that evoke stories of Christ and the Christian Bible. Screenplay writers incorporate these stories to add depth to the protagonists and directors visualize religious imagery to add depth to the shots. Various examples of religious imagery and depictions of Christ can be found in these two films, and this paper will share and analyze these examples.
Fond of using allusions and symbols, Lewis aimed to present his ideological ideas through a non-Christian point of view. In the second chapter of the novel, Mr. Tumnus, a Narnia resident, proclaims “But I’ve never seen a Son of Adam or a Daughter of Eve before” (Lewis 11). Adam and Eve, although religious figures, are not exclusive to Christianity. This gives Lewis an opportunity to briefly address and begin to integrate his beliefs from the onset of the novel. Later one of the children says to the professor “Well, sir, if things are real, they’re there all the time” (Lewis 49). Atheists often argue that God is not real because He is not “there all the time.” To counter, Christians believe He is there and is real, if one has faith and believes as evidenced in Joshua 1:9 “ . . . for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” (NIV). Without a direct reference to God, Lewis is able to showcase his transformation to Christianity. While in Narnia, the children try to restore the power of good and overthrow the evil Queen’s reign. The power of good resides in Aslan, a lion. Residents describe this rule to the children by saying “Aslan . . . He’s the king. He’s the Lord . . . But the word has reached us that he has come back” (Lewis 78). In the Christian religion, Jesus is the king and the Lord. He is crucified and buried but eventually rises from the dead and resurrects and comes back to live on Earth. Both Aslan and Jesus lack struggle in their death. Although they may have has the power to overcome the gruesome event, they go peacefully. This is evidenced through “‘Bind him I say’ . . . he made no resistance at all” (Lewis 151). The lion is a symbolic portrayal of Jesus that allows Lewis to continue to address his strong Christian faith in an understated fashion. Christianity captivated Lewis at an older
Movies, one can argue, are one of America’s greatest pastimes. Unfortunately, after 9/11, films have become increasingly prejudiced against American Muslims. In movies Muslims are frequently portrayed negatively. According to James Emery, a professor of Anthropology, Hollywood profits off of “casting individuals associated with specific negative stereotypes”. This is due to the fact that viewers automatically link characters with their clichéd images (Emery). For Muslims, the clichéd image is of the violent fundamentalist, who carried out the terroristic attacks on 9/11. As a result, the main stereotypes involved in movies display Muslims as extremists, villains, thieves, and desert nomads. An example of a movie that has such a negative character role for Muslims in film is Disney’s cartoon Aladdin, depict...
Many experiences of daily life are experienced but not seen. Gravity, magnetism, and air are all common knowledge, but cannot be actively viewed by the average person. People have faith that these ideas exist. In The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, C. S. Lewis (1950) attempts to define the idea of faith to his readers through the voice of reason by the professor. In the story, the professor offers advice to a doubtful Peter and Susan about Lucy’s encounter with Narnia. Through the professor’s conversation, Lewis conveys the idea of faith in an intangible idea; and therefore, Lewis provides a base to which faith can be further applied to the concept of God. The example of faith mentioned in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe helps to set the idea of trust in the reality of something greater than oneself.
For this assignment I chose “Horton Hears a Who” which was based on one Dr. Seuss’s literary works. The movie is an animated movie for children, but contains elements of Christian Worldviews, which are evident as the main characters develop through out the movie. The two main Characters that stay true to their Christian Worldview are Horton the lovable elephant and the Mayor of Who-Ville. Both Horton and the Mayor of Who-Ville face obstacles and they fight to save Who-Ville from their perspective societies. As I watched this movie, I was seeing themes of faith and determination, which both Horton and the Mayor of Who-Ville consistently displayed throughout the movie. Horton is trying to convince the other animals in the jungle with him that in a tiny spec an entire world of living creatures exist, while the Mayor of Who-Ville is facing no one believing about his friend from another world and the happenings he has been experiencing.
Books, movies, and short stories can have a meaning that impact and challenge not only how the audience views the world but also themselves and their faith. The short stories “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula K. Le Guin, “The Star” by Arthur C. Clarke, and “Zaabalawi” by Naguib Mahfouz examine the reality and reason for evil and suffering in the world along with challenging how we as humans, and specifically as Christians, strive in the face of evil in the world.
Through the use of Christian symbolism, conflicts, and imagery, C. S. Lewis implements his religious background into his literary works.
...Pity 2. Self-sacrifice B. Evil 1. corruption (Gollum) 2. greed (Smaug) II. Characters, Christian and anti-Christian A. Christian 1. Comparing to Christ a. Bilbo b. Gandalf B. Anti-Christian 1. Satan a. Saruman b. The Ring III. Power of the Imagination A. Creates secondary belief B. Escape through imagination
...izable religious leaders can be wrong, as witnessed with the “Whale Rider.” A Religion is the basic practice that gives meaningful purpose to life filled with insecurity. However, what we can notice through the film is that some roles are often miscued by the gender of the assumed chosen one. At the heart of any religion is the ability for an individual
McGrath, Alister. "The religious symbolism behind the Chronicles of Narnia." BBC. N.p., 21 Nov 2013. Web. 3 Mar 2014. http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/0/24865379
Christianity in Sharkboy and Lavagirl Sharkboy and Lavagirl is a classic childhood film, one that despite its age has remained beloved by people of all ages. It’s wacky, cheesy, and unsurprisingly extremely childish at times, with an incredibly awful CGI. Yet for a children’s movie, especially one partially written by the son of the director, it’s shockingly profound and inspiring at multiple points throughout the film. However, this paper will specifically look at the more religiously aligned meaning behind the film. Particularly, this paper argues that the film Sharkboy and Lavagirl uses the character development of Max and Linus to create a religious allegory about God, sin, creationism and salvation.
On its surface, Martel’s Life of Pi proceeds as a far-fetched yet not completely unbelievable tale about a young Indian boy named Pi who survives after two hundred twenty-seven days on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. It is an uplifting and entertaining story, with a few themes about companionship and survival sprinkled throughout. The ending, however, reveals a second story – a more realistic and dark account replacing the animals from the beginning with crude human counterparts. Suddenly, Life of Pi becomes more than an inspiring tale and transforms into a point to be made about rationality, faith, and how storytelling correlates the two. The point of the book is not for the reader to decide which story he or she thinks is true, but rather what story he or she thinks is the better story. In real life, this applies in a very similar way to common belief systems and religion. Whether or not God is real or a religion is true is not exactly the point, but rather whether someone chooses to believe so because it adds meaning and fulfillment to his or her life. Life of Pi is relevant to life in its demonstration of storytelling as a means of experiencing life through “the better story.”
“The presence of God is the finest of rewards.” (Yann Martel, Life of Pi 63) In Yann Martel’s riveting novel “Life of Pi” The basic plot of survival unfolds, however, this essay will show how the hidden yet the dominant theme of religion throughout the story is what helped the main character Piscine Molitor Patel (Pi) survive.
Pi is a young man from India, who, like any other teenager growing up, is at something of a crossroads, trying to discover a grand purpose and meaning to life. Through his family and everyday life, Pi is exposed to four different religions during his childhood: Hinduism, Catholicism, Islam, and to an extent, Atheism. After being exposed to the three religions and his father urging him towards Atheism and rational though, Pi comes to the conclusion that he, “just wants to love God”, showing the audience that Pi derives his understanding of the world through God, and his idea of God through each religion. However, Pi’s complacent views of the world are challenged during his meeting with Richard Parker. In this scene, Pi seeks to discover Richard Parker’s soul, believing God will allow him to form a spiritual connection with the tiger. The connection begins to form, as close up shots of both Pi’s and the tiger’s eyes
The novel, Life of Pi by Yann Martel, talks about a sixteen-year old man named Pi Patel, who unbelievably survives a dreadful shipwreck after 227 days with the animals in a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean. Different ideas and themes in the book can be found in which the readers can gain an understanding about. The author communicated to the reader by using an ample amount of symbolisms to talk about the themes. The main themes of this novel are religion and faith. His religion and him being faithful have helped him throughout the journey, and this eventually led to an incredible precedent. The author left the reader thinking about how religion and faith can have an impact in our lives positively. Religion can affect our choices in life, and faith