Essay
Children and Adults in The Lion King
Walt Disney Pictures produces movies that are meant to be enjoyed by children, teens, and adults. The company aims to provide different types of entertainment within each movie. For example, The Lion King contains humor, images, and themes that appeal to children and adults. Certain things that appeal to adults may not even be noticed by children. For example, adult humor. It will simply fly by a child’s mind and will be forgotten due to naivety. Likewise, in order to decide to which extent The Lion King appeals to children and adults, one must look in one of the most crucial scenes to any movie: The title sequence or opening scene. This specific scene out of all title sequences is extremely well-known to the masses. However, it is not outstandingly appealing to children. This can seem a bit strange, since there are so many other scenes in the movie that are appealing to both age groups. One would think that the opening scene to a family-friendly movie would do just that. However, trailers for The Lion King seem to be all inclusive, featuring shots that appeal to both children and adults. The Lion King is a family-friendly movie that features themes, songs, images, and trailers that appeal to people of all ages.
There are two scenes, out of many, that offer critical information related to appeal to children and adults in The Lion King. First, is the opening scene of the movie which accompanies the song, “Circle of Life,” where Simba is introduced to the kingdom on Pride Rock. The second is the accompanying scene to the song, “I Just Can’t Wait to be King.” The first appeals to mostly adults, and the second appeals to mostly children. “The Circle of Life” is a scene that is, essentially, the process of Simba being baptized. It starts in the morning with a beautiful and warm sunrise. Next, it moves on to breathtaking African scenery and landscapes. A few birds fly by and a few buffalos shuffle across the base of a mountain. The shots are fairly long, but peaceful. The colors are beautiful, mimicking the traditional colors of African culture. Soon, we see more animals like giraffes and elephants saunter along. It is now clear in the scene from 1:03 to 1:08 and on that the animals are following each other, probably for an event. From 2:26 until the end, Simba is officially being baptized by Rafiki. While this is an incredibly powerful moment, accompanied by a fantastically composed and inspirational song, only adults probably realize what is going on. The song symbolizes every part of the kingdom working together in harmony. Every event, from Rafiki smearing fruit pulp (water) across Simba’s forehead to raising Simba above the kingdom (a church congregation) mimics a traditional religious baptism. Unless young children have witnessed a baptism, they probably will not catch on to what is happening. Simba is now destined to be the Lion King. Additionally, there is a factor of race at play. Unless one is an adult, they would have no idea that Mufasa, Simba’s father, is played by James Earl Jones, an African American man. Furthermore, they would not know that Simba, when he is grown up, is played by Matthew Broderick, a white man (Schecher and Taymor 54). Children would not see how this relationship is slightly off. The race differences of actors, however, actually work. Since the song is about everything working in harmony despite differences, it is rather humbling that a white man and an African American man are related and love each other. Children simply could not grasp the concept. Children would most likely only see the colors in the scenery and the different animals and get enjoyment out of that. While children certainly will enjoy watching “The Circle of Life” and its opening scene, it appeals more to adults due to what is actually happening on screen and the message behind it.
In addition to the opening scene of The Lion King, the accompanying scene for the song “I Just Can’t Wait to be King” offers an example of a clip that seems to be geared mainly toward children. The whole song is about Simba expressing his excitement about becoming king. The sequence contains extremely bright colors, fast-paced movement, short shots, and kid-friendly music. The scene contains a great deal of diegetic sound coming from animals and silly actions on screen. The scene begins with a conversation between Nala and Simba about sneaking away from Zazu, their guide for the day. This, alone, is something that kids would love to be able to do. Later, at around :33, Nala and Simba are disgusted by the fact that they have to get married someday. This is definitely something that children concur with, especially if they are in the age range when cooties still exist. Members of the opposite sex are gross and can only be used as friends. Nala and Simba are best friends! Soon thereafter, Simba asserts his power as future king. While he does not seem to have the best kingly principles, it brings up the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” which children are very often asked. Additionally, “Feminist Issues in Early Childhood Scholarship” describes how movies such as The Lion King “reinforce negative female stereotypes, and tell stories in which female characters are subordinate to male characters” (Thorton, et al.). Even though this is only one clip from the entire movie, one can clearly see that Simba is the only one that appears to have ambitions in regards to his future. Simba is just there to tag along, even though, according to Zazu, she is supposed to marry him and subsequently become a queen. Thorton introduces an anti-feminist theme in The Lion King that children may not be able to recognize, but could potentially be absorbed into young viewers minds. Despite this, however, the scene is still incredibly appealing to children due to the bright imagery, fun song, humor, and future career aspirations.
In the trailer of the lion king it talks about how we are all connected to each other in this world. The trailer actually guides you as the viewer into the movie it self. The trailer shows us some of the good and bad things that are going to happen in the movie. It shows us how we are all one as people, but also that there is a need for people to rule and makes sure everything goes well in the society. The trailer also shows us how the lions rule honorably, as “royalty”, over the other animals in the animal kingdom, thus explaining the celebration the birth of future king Simba. Mufasa Simba’s father gives him a tour of the pride lands and teaching him the responsibilities of being a king and warning, places Simba should not go. The trailer shows Simba’s uncle Scar’s face when he said “Run away and never return”, which show us that all though they live in the circle of life there are bad people who want are driven by selfishness and do not care about other people. After Scar kills Mufasa and blames it on Simba, Scar convinces Simba that he killed his own father and has to run away. Trying to forget his past he runs away from his village, but was forced to face his past by going back to face his Uncle Scar who killed his father and appointed himself the king. It also talks about how wonderful the characters look for being CGI characters and also features songs by Elton john and academy award winner Tim Rice. It predicts that this movie will be one of the best animated movies ever made and will never be forgotten and as things stand now this is true. The list of actors lending their voices to the movie is full of stars like Matthew Broderick and James Earl Jones. The lion king Mufasa is played by James Earl Jones and his son Simba was played by Jonathan Taylor Thomas as a lion cub and as an adult by Matthew Broderick. The evil Scar who is the uncle of Simba is played by Jeremy Irons. It was the mannerism of these actors that often inspire the physical appearance of their characters and helped the animation be as realistic and emotional as possible. The lion king Broadway musical, The Circle of Life, is the opening scene of the lion king, which was the same in the movie. It was really interesting how they built the animation to fit the people and how the animation related to people running on the stage to see young samba. The way the sun came up is brilliant. People sang the songs of lion king on the broad way show and it was wonderful. It is great how it adapted for theater. How they created the exotic animals for the stage show is great. The image of the savanna on stage and the creation of the stampede are great. It felt like you are watching the actual movie. On Broadway the music was expanded compared to one in the movie.
Using key scenes form the film “The Lion King” I feel that it is quite obvious to identify where the film includes adult subject matter in seemingly child friendly images. There is a lot to be said about these instances in which the child and the adult are both receiving the same images however the response to these images is vastly different due to understanding of subject matter. Many issues that we face today can be represented by the characters in The Lion King. Some of the more obvious issues represented are issues involving class and race, religious parallels, and many key issues involved with maturing from a child to an adult. The film creatively integrates lessons about nature, right and wrong, as well as life and death with a colorful animation of african plaines wildlife. We chose to highlight the opening scene as a focal point for our argument that Disney’s The Lion King displays numerous adult topics through a movie that is aimed at family audiences. This is done simply by producing visually appealing factors the allow the child to overlook the significance that an adult would derive from the same image or song. There is a good balance of both adult and child related scenes, often the adult subject matter is also complimented by exciting visual content and/ or musical content that children would find appealing. This allows the child to often miss the deeper meaning due to the overpowering focus on the exciting up beat music or colorful animation.
The opening scene is “The Circle of Life” song, which is sung by Sir Elton John. In an exclusive behind-the-scenes look hosted by Robert Guillaume, Elton John speaks on the topics expressed in the song: “Its about succession, its about living, about dying, and the whole circle carrying on (Guillaume, pt. 2, 12:05).” Elton John highlights a lot of the adult topics that are relevant to the opening scene, as well as the rest of the film. The vocal part of the soundtrack for The Lion King was integrated into the film in such a way that the songs help to depict the feelings of the story as well as contribute to the plot. Another interesting take on the way children identify with the characters and subject matter of The Lion King came from the voice of young Simba, Jonathan Taylor Thomas. Thomas states “I think the character Simba is a lot like me, he’s real energetic, always looking around trying to see what real adventures, trying to see what he can do. (Guillaume, pt. 1, 6:58).” Thomas, while he might have an easier time identifying with the character Simba because he plays Simba, he simplifies what Young Simba represents and allows us to see a child’s point of view. So while the adult would keenly pick up on the representation of social class, issues of life and death, religious parallels, and the circle of live analogy, the child would be focused on the catchy music and wide variety of animals that are animated to move to the music. The child would overlook the adult material in loo of the colorful landscapes and thoughts of the african plains populated with a variety of exotic animals.
Another source that demonstrates the divide in understanding between adult and child subject matter is highlighted in the study of Children’s Use of VCR’s, an article written by Marie-Louise Mares. In this study, children are asked about the number of times they have reviewed a given disney film. They are then asked a variety of questions surrounding fast forwarding and rewinding. When children were asked about why they fast forwarded, there were several responses. One main reason was “to get through all the boring stuff, or talking parts (Mares, 127).” Another main response was “to get through the scary parts (Mares, 127).” The last main reason was “to get to my favorite parts (Mares, 127).” The last reason can also fit in the same answer bracket as the first reason. When children were asked about reasoning behind the use of the rewind feature there responses were quite interesting. Most children responded that the reason they rewinded was because “they missed part of the film due to various distractions (Mares, 128).” There was also another large part of the test subjects that said they would rewind “because they wanted to see the parts that were happy and gave them a good feeling (Mares, 128).” Most of the time if the child didn’t understand what was going on he/ she wouldn’t rewind until they understood. They would either pause and ask an adult or wait until the end to ask. The research and case studies analyzed by Mares helps to show where the interests of children differ from that of adults. More so that children know what parts they want to see regardless of wether or not complete understanding is achieved. This article really shows how the message presented in The Lion King is perceived relative to the interests that you have in the movie. A child’s interests may not involve a complete understanding of the underlying message and yet they will still be satisfied with the movie. More often than not an adult will find satisfaction in understanding why everything happens instead of just being content not knowing everything.
Throughout the entire movie there are scenes that capture the interest of both adults and children. The masterful storyline includes appealing elements that attract all ages. This attraction comes from the basis for the story, which is the circle of life. An entire lifetime is displayed in The Lion King. Simba is seen throughout all ages of life and this allows for the audience to be of any age and still find identifying scenarios within the film. The film attracts adults through the music, art, and undertone of adult subject matter, all while demanding a child’s attention as Simba faces all the problems of growing up.
The Lion King 