The Lion King Myth, Religion, and Race

The Lion King as Myth •  “The link between the sacred and myth is important… for the

primary myths from which The Lion King draws are religious, with roots in Biblical stories. They include the stories of paradise, the fall, desert wandering, the reign of Satan, the need for a savior, and the cataclysmic destruction of the earth, followed by the return of the savior who restores peace and the beginning of his full reign as rightful king…. Following in the Disney tradition, the film aspires to offer a positive lesson for children about behavior that Disney values by associating itself with deeper myths; in a sense it is sacralizing Disney’s (some would say American) values.”

Ward, p. 14

Myths in The Lion King •  Garden of Eden •  Temptation/Fall from Grace •  Wandering in the desert •  End times, apocalypse •  The Peaceable Kingdom •  Cyclical pattern, circle of life, eternal return

Myths in The Lion King •  Joseph Campbell’s Hero of a Thousand Faces •  Call to adventure •  Refusal of the call •  Wise guide •  Finding allies •  Encountering the goddess •  Confronting the shadow •  Facing death •  Return to world with “boon”)

Theology in The Lion King

•  Salvation/Savior •  Mufasa as God •  Simba as Christ •  “He Lives in You.”

– God as immanent? Opening sequence, The Lion King II

Religious Archetypes in The Lion King

•  Circle – wholeness, cosmic harmony •  Rafiki – shaman/priest •  Simba/Nala - Adam/Eve •  Darkness (Scar’s mane, Hyena’s coloring, elephant graveyard) -

death, evil •  Family/Mother/father - stereotypical mother role, “’90’s” involved

father role, child should be obedient? - side issue, is The Lion King sexist?

•  Mountaintop - midway between heaven and earth •  Fire - cleansing of evil Rain - spiritual renewal

Ritual in The Lion King

•  Baptism

Ritual in The Lion King

•  Journey – Pilgrimage (travel, penance, ordeal,

leveling of statuses, community, experiencing the sacred, return)

– Rite of Passage (separation, liminality, return)

Values in The Lion King?

•  Accepting responsibility •  Relatedness of all members of society •  Circle of life - life, death, new life… •  Other values: mystery, cleanliness, family (patriarchal?),

friendship, good/evil exist, reality of death, life goes on, guilt inhibits growth, hakuna matata NOT enough, honesty is the best policy…

An African Narrative? •  “The Lion King demonstrated that, after all the

decades of caricature and stereotype, it was indeed possible for Disney… to reach beyond the Western experience and the Judeo-Christian construct. With the critical help of the studio’s writers, producers, and animators - and African American artists - they could encounter a different culture and successfully adapt it to the Disney tradition.” Pinsky, 159.

Simba as Mandela? •  “For these viewers [African viewers], Simba’s restoration may

resonate in a special way, although they are themselves still living with the divisive consequences of colonial-era borders. The same year The Lion King was released, Nelson Mandela, an African leader himself of royal lineage, was elected president of South Africa in that nation’s first free, multi-racial election.” Pinsky, 159

•  Hyenas as western colonialists, stripping Africa bare of wealth and resources, propping up false European governments, finally supplanted by rightful African rule?

Symbols of European corruption?

Nazis, fascists, and (Godless) communists

(and rightful African rule)?

Triumph of the Will, Nazi propaganda film

Racism in The Lion King

•  “The demented and dangerous hyenas, whose leader is voiced by Whoopi Goldberg, reproduce stereotypes about black Americans that should be out of place in the revisionist Disney corpus of the mid-1990’s… [The Lion King reveals] the less loudly proclaimed reluctance [of Disney] to represent black people as people at all, African or otherwise.” Byrne & McQuillan, pp. 100-101

Blacks as comic relief, child-like, unthreatening,

subordinate? •  “The strategy of using well-known black actors to voice cartoon animals in

Disney’s more recent films confirms [both the absence of African-Americans as people from Disney films and the racially motivated ideological structure of the Disney kingdom]… confirming the specific interest Disney has in… disarming the destabilizing potential of America’s racial fantasies and fears.” Byrne & McQuillan, 104.

•  So - blacks as threatening the social/moral order, or blacks as trivial side-kicks?

•  Does The Lion King uphold this analysis?

The Lion King’s Voice Actors

Nala:Nikita Calame / Moira Kelly

Simba: Jonathan Taylor Thomas / Matthew Broderick

Mufasa: James Earl Jones

Scar: Jeremy Irons

Sarabi: Madge Sinclair The Hyenas: Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin, Jim Cummings

Rafiki: Robert Guillaume