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Comparison of The Lion King and Hamlet
Compare and contrast hamlet and the lion king
Compare and contrast hamlet and the lion king
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The Lion King is Disney's most successful movie to date. Many believe that the Lion King is Disney's only original movie; the only movie not previously a fairy tale from one country or another. In fact, The Lion King is in on based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Disney writers conceal the basic character archetypes and simplified storyline in a children's tale of cute lions in Africa. On the other hand William Shakespeare’s Hamlet was based on the Epic of Son-Jara or Sundiata. This lead to the debate is the Lion King based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet or the West African story, the Epic of Son Jara. Simba, Hamlet, and Son-Jara are all heroes in their own story. All of them must take on a villain that knew very well, but who does Simba’s journey resemble the most Does Simba represent Hamlet, the prince of Denmark, or Son-Jara, the lion king.
The characters in The Lion King closely resemble the characters in Hamlet. Simba, the main character in The Lion King, embodies Hamlet. Simba and Hamlet are the son of kings and both are the rightful heirs to the throne. “By pairing the play Hamlet with the Disney movie, The Lion King, students discover that both Hamlet and Simba represent the mythical archetype of exiled child whose role is to restore world order and who has an heroic task. Students also realize that they too are unique individuals on heroic journeys.”(Gavin 55) Hamlet and Simba, when he was a lion cub, were banished from their homes. Simba exiled himself because he believed that he killed his own father but, it was in fact his uncle scar that killed him. Hamlet, on the under hand, was sent off to college by his uncle Claudius. Claudius became the king of Denmark after death of Hamlet’s father. Claudius believed that Hamlet played a h...
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...ng. Dir. Roger Allers. Walt Disney Pictures, 1994. Flim.
Simon, Peter Ed. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Shorter second edition, Vol.I.
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Nobumitsu .The Epic of Son-Jara. Simon 1552-1587
William Shakespeare. Hamlet. Simon 1782-1872
Gavin, Rosemarie. The Lion King" and "Hamlet": A Homecoming for the Exiled Child. The English Journal 3rd ser. 85 (1996): 55-57. Print.
Paterno, Domenica R. "The True Lion King of Africa: The Epic History of Sundiata, King of Old Mali." Annual Meeting of the National Council of Teachers of English. Orlando. 16-21 Nov. 1994. Speech.
"Q&A WITH THE DIRECTORS OF DISNEY'S THE LION KING!" Interview by Victor Medina. Q&A WITH THE DIRECTORS OF DISNEY'S THE LION KING! Web. 3 Apr. 2012.
the king of the jungle in Walt Disney Pictures= animated The Lion King - people
Niane, Djibril Tamsir., David W. Chappell, and Jim Jones. Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali.
No story is entirely original. Authors, playwrights, and songwriters all pick and choose elements from stories regardless of whether they intend to or not. Some stories mirror those of the past more similarly than others while adding a fresh, new twist. The Disney movie The Lion King contains many similarities to Shakespeare's play Hamlet, some of which are more obvious than others. Similarities in the character complexes of the three hyenas and Polonius's family, betrayal from Scar and Claudius, and the kingdoms deterioration and resolution are a few examples of the likenesses of the movie and play.
The Lion King is a Disney animated movie portraying the life and times of Simba, who later becomes the greatest lion king known in the land. Simba's rise to the throne is a journey fraught with perils and hardships that make it an absolutely trilling story for the whole family! Although The Lion King is an exciting and entertaining movie, the movie is also a good illustration of several psychology concepts.
The main characters in both The Lion King and Hamlet are perceived in the same way by the audience as they share many of the same character traits and personalities. The original
Hamlet and a popular amount of Disney movies share many parallels. The Lion King was actually based entirely off the play Hamlet. There are many themes in this play that are relevant in many other pieces, such as Beauty and the Beast, Mulan, and Hercules. Beauty and the Beast helps convey betrayal among people who care for each other, while Mulan allows people to see a deeper meaning in Hamlet’s own personal passion. Furthermore, Hercules allows one to connect the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia to a romance that is almost as complicated. While constructing this essay, I was able to discern a deeper meaning from the wise words of Shakespeare by taking the minute details, and linking them back to something similar and familiar.
Although the movie The Lion King is often times viewed as nothing more than a child-based movie, in actuality, it contains a much deeper meaning. It is a movie that not only displays the hardships of maturation, and the perplexities associated with growing, but it is also a movie that deals with the search for one's identity and responsibility. As said by director Julie Taymor, "In addition to being a tale about a boy's personal growth, the `Lion King' dramatizes the ritual of the `Circle of Life'." Throughout The Lion King, Simba must endeavor through the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth to take his place in the circle of life, as king of the pridelands.
Soniak, Matt. “The Life and Times of the MGM Lion.” Mental Floss, 21 Oct. 2012. Web. 24 Feb. 2014. .
The Lion King is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, with some minor differences and a happier ending. Both narratives follow the Hero’s Journey, but The Lion King follows all twelve steps flawlessly. Simba’s experience in the belly of the whale is perhaps the shortest of the three examples, only really encompassing his fight with his uncle. It is Scar that initiates the fight, throwing embers into Simba’s eyes, they fight for a few minutes, and just when the audience thinks Simba is doomed, collapsed on the ground as his uncle pounces on him out of the flames, he throws Scar over a nearby cliff and into a group of vengeful
The leading roles in each of the stories had a corresponding role in the other. The corresponding characters shared a number of similarities, but it was the ways in which they were different that determined their fate and that of the kingdom. In Hamlet, the prince is Hamlet. He is in deep grieving of his father’s death. He is angry because he believes that everyone has already forgotten how great of a king his father was. Hamlet does not know for sure who is responsible for his father’s death, but he suspects Claudius who is his uncle and the new king. Hamlet decides that if he can convince everyone that he is insane, then maybe he will be able to get someone to tell him more about his father’s murder. In The Lion King, Simba is the prince. Simba’s father, Mufasa, is killed after he falls from a cliff into a herd of hyenas. Simba falls into a deep depression after his uncle Scar twists things around and convinces Simba that he is the one responsible for the Mufasa’s death. Simba can not deal with what has happened and he runs away from the kingdom.
Sundiata developed into a great leader of Mali through hardships, religion, and core/tributary/periphery relationships of states. The djeli who transmitted this information to the translators, is also a manifestation of an institution important in Sundiata’s epic, because without djelis these stories would be lost forever. Sundiata learned about the formation, running and maintenance of African states through interactions with the communities he was introduced to.
King Hamlet and Hamlet compare in that they are both upset by the Queen’s marriage, they both hate Claudius, they are both brave, and they are both dead by the end of the play. They contrast in that while Hamlet’s father was king, Hamlet will never have the kingship, Hamlet does not leave a legacy and they die differently. Hamlet looked up to his father because he felt that he was a great leader and the bravest man that he knew, as Hamlet mentioned, "so excellent a king” (I. ii.149). He wanted to be so much like him, but couldn't because of a couple of barriers that he had to deal with. He became a lot like his father in the end. Hamlet was very disappointed with his life because he knew that becoming king was one thing that he didn't have in common with his father, because his stepfather was king, “married with my uncle, my father's brother" (I. ii.
Today we can see remnants of Hamlet throughout modern literature and TV. Before kids even know who Shakespeare is they are learning the underlying theme of Hamlet while watching “The Lion King.” When sitting down for the Monday night drama Heroes, millions throughout the world are watching revenge stories based off of Hamlet, come to life.
Many perceive The Lion King, Disney's most successful movie to date, as Disney's only original movie; the only movie not previously a fairy tale from one country or another. This, however, is not the case. While The Lion King seems not to be beased on a fairy tale, it is in fact strongly based on the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare. Disney writers cleverly conceal the basic character archetypes and simplified storyline in a children's tale of cute lions in Africa. To the seasoned reader, however, Hamlet comes screaming out of the screenplay as obviously as Hamlet performed onstage.
Even though Lion King is a common children’s movie it is also one of the most racist disney movies around. The antagonist of the