The Lion King: the Realm of the Wild essay
All through the Lion King Disney cartoon one can observe the beauty of African landscapes: jungles, deserts, plains and many more. The nature is depicted through lively colors and amazing animated sunsets. The very first sequence gives a tone for the remainder of the movie. One can observe a marvelous sunrise and a vast variety of animals that move over shadowy plains passing spectacular waterfalls with a multitude of flamingos. All of the animals are approaching the rock to give honors to the newly born lion king who is to rule all ranks of creatures. The sequence shows how chivalrously the animals bow to honor the new ruler. Africa in this motion picture is depicted as a splendid landscape where all sorts of animals live and interact with each other. The theme park depicted in the movie is comprised not only of all sorts of plants and animals, but the whole objective world. This is how nature is improved upon in this animation.
Nature here forms the entire content as the film itself is meant to be about wildlife and landscape in particular. It is significant to mention that this movie combines a vision of Arica as total wilderness and complete absence of human characters (Finch 90). Another way of how Disney improved upon the nature lies in the fact that this movie is somewhat uneasy in relation to such natural aspect as the circle of life. Although it clearly shows that it is possible and natural for a lion to eat other animals, there are a number of jokes in regard to the food chain. Thus, the meals of Pumbaa and Timon are nothing else than brightly colored beetles and worms. This is what makes their eating habits different from the real world animals. And hyenas in the Lion King are the only characters that are depicted as eating other animals. However, taking into account that hyenas in the movie are shown as living in shadowy and dark places, they are defined as being something opposite to natural. In fact, many aspects of nature in the movie including certain characters and places are seen as unnatural.
The concept of family in this Disney’s cartoon is of great importance both in relation to the target audience and as a major factor of the corporation’s worldview. Family in this movie plays a central role as this animation is itself family oriented. It is highly appealing to children and instills the instincts of protection in parents. Parents and their children watch the Lion King together and this movie makes them think of all the pains of separation. The importance of family is the key point of the Lion King animation. It narrates about how the child is becoming adult and emphasizes the role of a father in the up-bringing of a son (Forgacs 369). Disney focuses on the fact that a father plays a crucial role in the way a son becomes mature and gradually enters the adult world. This aspect of father-son relations is vividly depicted throughout the whole movie.
One of the most important family related aspects of the movie is the introduction of the period of adolescence lived through by a child as an individual experiencing certain crisis. It reflects the personal journey of a young child who faces a number of challenges and deals with various family related problems. The crisis is viewed as not touching upon the splits within the family, but rather emphasizing the very fear of the separation from the family and the fear of living in a non-complete family with only a single parent (Forgacs 370). It raises an anxiety related to the absence of the role model of masculinity in case of the single motherhood. The Lion King is a reflection of all these concerns and fears, thus emphasizing the importance of the masculine role model and the need of reconstructing the distorted family union. This is a significant social problem that exists even in the contemporary society. The Lion King focuses on a number of common concerns in regard to family crisis with a special emphasis on the relationship between a father and a son.
Furthermore, the Lion King provides a strict hierarchical structure of animal ranks. Lions in this movie are presented as kings of the whole animal community. However, Simba’s father and uncle are depicted in a different way. The movie focuses on the depiction of physical attributes of the muscular and powerful father of Simba who rules over the whole animal world and his skinny uncle who governs the violent hyenas as outcasts of the animal community (Myers 47). The world of the Lion King is strictly structured, not only in relation to patriarchy, but the general hierarchically divided society which is based upon the life circle with the lions above all animals bearing the power of the kings. The movie is focused not only on the depiction of physical attributes of the lions, but also the hierarchical roles they play within the society. Thus, the Lion King exemplifies the conflict of powers that results in the victory of the greater good.
Disney’s animation depicts the hierarchy where hyenas are viewed as outcasts of the society. They are a kind of a street gang that lives beyond the life circle. However, their leader is the lion as a representative of the upper class. This hierarchical conflict penetrates the whole narrative showing the clash between good and evil power. Uncle of Simba is viewed as evil, while his father exemplifies good. These two powers struggle against each other reflecting the eternal conflict between good and evil. The Lion King shows that the followers of the Simba’s uncle Scar are stupid and violent cowards. This is added with the effect of the movie’s authoritarian hierarchy existing in the natural world. The natural hierarchies include those of the position in society and those exemplifying gender differences (Schickel 152). On the basis of these hierarchies, the morals and values are vividly depicted throughout the movie. In this regard, it needs to be said that the perception of the environment has greatly changed over time and the Lion King movie shows a totally different attitude to the natural world and wildlife.
The visual imagery of the Lion King represents the culmination of realistic aesthetics in animation that started with the introduction of Bambi, Snow White and True Life adventure series in the 1930s. All of Disney’s animation movies rely on the live-action tendencies which are the signature of the traditional realistic narrative. The three-dimensional characters, depth of short, movements of characters and zooms in Bambi, Life True adventures series and the Lion King follow two tendencies that are the simplicity of graphics and the thoroughly detailed naturalism (Myers 47). All this is what makes these movies so reflective of each other. The previous portrayal of the wildlife in Disney cartoons was somewhat simpler but at the same time more natural. In this regard, the Lion King differs from the previously released Disney animations.
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