The Lion King is one of the most successful movies to be made into a Broadway Musical. The musical first opened on Broadway November 13th, 1997. The success of the movie made it possible to transform the legendary film into a successful Broadway production. In the musical, the central theme pertains to the circle of life and how it affects a pride of lions, more specifically the main character, Simba. Simbas’ father, Mufasa, deals with the responsibilities of being the leader of the pride, but his brother, Scar, wants to run the pride in place of his brother. In a brilliant maneuver, Scar kills Mufasa, leaving Simba alone and Scar to become head of the pride. Simba grows into a full lion and battles to take back his father’s pride from Scar. After Scar is killed, Simba reclaims what is rightfully his. As mentioned earlier, the central theme of the movie is the circle of life. The term ‘circle of life” has many different meanings, but in terms of the musical it can be argued that it pertains to the continuum of life and death that is part of the life experience. This point is proven when Mufasa is killed in a stampede and his son, Simba, goes on a journey to find himself and become he next king of the pride. Although the main focus of the musical, and also the movie, is related to the circle of life and its effect on everyone, it can also be argued that the musical deals with the political struggle that takes over a family, resulting in the death of a king. The Lion King makes a clear reference to the political struggles that occur in any administration, or regime. Every four years, The United States becomes a frenzy of political campaigns, speeches, ads and frantic spending sprees. Just for the Democratic candidate, Barrack Obama, over 490 million dollars were spent promoting himself around the country . Nearly the same amount was spent promoting the opposition in
The Lion King tells the story of a young lion named Simba, who is the heir to his father's throne, whose name is Mufasa, also in the film is a character named Mufasa which is the younger brother of Mufasa and uncle of Simba. The movie is a Disney kids movie which can relate to many aspects and doctrines of the Christian faith. The movie starts off with a very detail segment that reminds one of a baptism right after the birth of baby Simba. “Christian symbolism is rich in this opening. It is a Baptism isn’t it? An anointing of a child of the King? The child is presented, the clouds open reminding us of the story of Jesus’ Baptism where the heavens open and the voice of God speaks; “this is my son, my beloved.” That’s how we come into the community
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
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.
Hamlet regains his throne for a few seconds, until the poison sets in and takes his life. The Lion King has a happy ending. Simba returns to his kingdom and finds Scar. He tells Scar that he knows about his father’s death. Scar lies to Simba by telling him that the Hyenas were the ones who killed Mufasa.
Through dance and movement, the storyline were expanded with the assistance of choreographer, Garth Fagan. A well-renowned choreographer for his innovative choreography primarily for Garth Fagan dance, Fagan used his unique style of choreography to the Lion King by combining a variety of Ballet, Jazz, Modern Dance, African Dance and Balinese Dance to suggest representations of nature without making a replica itself and use dance to help tell the story (Exploring the Lion King, 2010). Taymor’s idea of expanding the film by adding in choreographic elements not only will set the overall concept, it would additionally guide the visual aesthetic by allowing dance as the main element that balances musical numbers in all categories: effects, music and so on into the choreography (Bluemental et al 210:1999). Both Fagan and Taymor gave major contributions to the different styles of dance and performance techniques from around the world creating the precision and versatility that is being portrayed in the musical. In order to create the ideal staging of the hunting lionesses, flying dancers in the aerial ballet to the takeover of the hyenas at Pridelands, the collaboration between Fagan and Taymor gave suggestions of how these movements being performed with grace and poise using different dance styles and are cultural based be the forefront of the production(Taymor 148:1997). By looking at three notable dances in the musical, this chapter will analyse the presence of dance and movement being portrayed in the musical and how are these dances create the drama, still giving the idea of moving in an African Savannah. Furthermore, this will give an insight to all challenges and pitfalls both Fagan and Taymor endured during the development of the...
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.
Hamlet’s morals tell him killing his uncle is wrong, and simba feels responsible for the death of his father so he does not want to return home. Another strong theme is revenge and corruption. Both uncles in the stories are blinded by power and go as far as to kill their own family and the only solution both protagonist seem to find is revenge for the murder of their father/parents. One last theme that can be found is justice. Both characters feel the need to take matters into their own hands, which is necessary to a degree, instead of going to higher authorities or seek help from other people instead of acting alone. Hamlet’s notion for revenge nearly drove him insane. Though they do receive some justice in the death of their uncle, Hamlet being the original adult version of the book end with the death of all the royalty family. The Lion King being a movie designed for children ends with the demise of
The works of Karl Marx have had a great effect on the world. They influenced many people including Vladimir Lenin. The works of Vladimir Lenin have also been influential. Together they influenced the African Che Guevara who is named Thomas Sankara. Thomas Sankara was a revolutionary hero that enacted sweeping social and economic changes throughout Burkina Faso and inspired many people to believe that Africa could be autonomous and self reliant.
Hamlet and The Lion King shared majority of the themes that were found in each story. A theme of revenge was prominent in both the film and the original play as Simba and Prince Hamlet worked towards avenging their fathers throughout the story. Politics can also be seen in both as the stories explain to the viewer/reader that a bad king can mean a corrupt and equally bad kingdom (murders committed by the new kings). Although some harsh themes, family also seems to be mutual in both tales, more so seen in The Lion King. Shakespeare was able to show the reader the importance of family throughout Hamlet, when there is a power-hungry family member, and the rest of the family must stick together to overcome the struggle. The producers of The Lion King do a similar job as they explain the same thing, however also digging into the loyalty of Sarabi for Mufasa. The reason for a greater theme of positivity in the newer film is due to the demographics. The Lion King was primarily a children’s film, thus it required a simpler and happier tone. This also changes the overall plot by reducing the number of deaths and ruling out madness. This tone also affects the number of comic relief moments in the story. In Hamlet, there were only a few moments in which Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were able to lighten the mood of the play by offering comedic anecdotes. In The Lion
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.
What is the circle of life? In a time when the Disney animation renaissance ruled the cinema world, one movie had ruled entirely over all. In 1994 at the height of the company’s own resurrection, Disney released the epic musical drama The Lion King. It was a critically acclaimed movie that has spawned off into a Broadway musical, a spin-off show, and two sequels. I first saw the Lion King when I was three years old and to this day is one of my favorite movies. Little did I know the Lion King was much more than a movie about a young lion stepping in place of his father’s absence, but more of a spin on the Shakespeare play Hamlet. The movie resonates to me now more then ever as I am older and can identify the themes and influences in the movie.
the king of a Pride Land, who is murdered by his brother and then the
The Lion King is a movie created by Disney and was released in the summer of 1994. It is about a pride of lions that uphold the cycle of nature, or as they call it “the circle of life” (The Lion King, 1994). The lion pride is considered royalty within the “Pride Lands” and are just and fair when it comes to hunting only what they need. A young prince named Simba is introduced and he is next in line to be the future king. However, Simba’s uncle Scar had other plans. He believed that it was his right all along to be named future king and wanted all of the glory to himself. Eventually, Scar comes up with an elaborate plan to rid the Pride Lands of Simba and the current King, Mufasa and take the throne for himself.
The Lion King musical is a well-known musical that has taken the stages of Broadway, West End and the rest of the world by storm (The Lion King, 1997). Regarding the process of the musical, Artistic Director Julie Taymor’s first thoughts for choosing the Lion King as the next big thing on stage, was classed as ‘impossible’ due to the film’s lack of theatrical material (The Lion King, 1997). Therefore, staging this particular work contained a great deal of uncertainty and the need for taking huge risks. Taymor (1997) suggests how ‘the Lion King was the worst idea possible to create a stage show.’ It has become evident that a number of significant barriers had to be overcome to secure the practicality of the production. In view of this controversy, this dissertation will critically analyse the success of the Lion King by exploring two significant aspects that have helped to make the musical a success. Firstly, the essential components that make up this theatrical production will be explored and secondly, the roles of each producer within the Lion King and their combined and individual influences they have had from the production will be evaluated. By analysing these two central themes, this paper will show how and why this musical has developed and achieved its phenomenal success.
It tells the meaning and the significance of the what the story is happening and what the character are doing. It also enhance drama, when Scar kills Mufasa. And the scene comes with a lot of sadness which means that the father is dead and the son feels that it was all of his fault. It also establish character. It shows when Simba left the pride land, because of his father’s death, and got saved by Pumbaa and Timon, it showed his matured and adulthood that he would be the next pride land king. It also gives and psychological insight showing what would an animal do if it got away of his home town and what made the lion a king. It also show the intensity of drama when Simba and Scar were fighting because Scar killed Simba’s father. It also gave the film continuity when at the end of the film came out the heir of the pride