The Lion King Film Analysis

One of the most beloved animated films of all times is without a doubt Disney’s The Lion King, for its emotional connections that viewers have with the many characters, popular musical numbers, and repeated quotes from the various characters and evil, good, emotional, and funny scenes. There are a wide variety of techniques used in establishing the themes in The Lion King, some of those include; the cinematography techniques, lighting techniques, and mise en scene techniques. The Lion King sets forth to take the viewer on a journey of coming of age of Simba, his connection to family, the role of society and class and ultimate struggle of good versus evil. It is the use of all these techniques that helped the creators and directors of The Lion

In the animated film, The Lion King, many themes were established to support the overall film’s story and plot. One theme is family; this was clear from the beginning of the film until the end. The theme of family is evident when juxtaposing Mufasa and Scar, two brothers that show two very different sides of family. Mufasa’s character shows the characteristic of kinsmanship and compassion of family, while Scar’s character shows the characteristics of manipulation and lack of loyalty of family. Another theme is coming of age; this is captured by the overall journey of Simba. According to Kegerreis (2013), the story of Simba is taken as demonstrating universal struggles to overcome Oedipal rivalry and destructive envy in order to reach maturity. He goes on to explains that in order for Simba to become King, his father must die. When Mufasa dies, Simba acts much as if he had actually killed him, which from a rational

For the theme of coming of age, the scene in which the musical number, Hakuna matata, shows the direct coming of age of main character, Simba. This is an example of a montage, which according to Goodykoontz & Jacobs (2014), is when a director cuts between many related images to create a scene or even just a visual impression. Another editing technique used to help establish the theme of good versus evil is the lighting choices used in the film. When the scenes in the film are depicting the good aspects, such as the presentation of the new hire to the throne, baby Simba, the lighting technique used is high-key lighting. High-key lighting is a lighting style marked by high levels of light, low contrast, and few shadows, (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2014). This style shifts when the scene is depicting more evil or dark scenes, such as when Scar is signing his song about his plan to murder his brother and nephew in order to steal the throne and title as King of Pride Rock. This lighting style is known as low-key lighting which according to Goodykoontz & Jacobs (2014), is a lighting style marked by low levels of light, high contrast, and very deep shadows. The overall design of the set and animation of the characters help to establish the theme of society and class. In the film, Pride Rock is