Review of The Lion King (1994) by Michael H — 23 Jun 2014

I had issue with The Lion King.

In Beauty and the Beast the big production number "Be My Guest" used flatware, dishes, et cetera to good effect as decorative and design elements creating pattern and motion complementing the music. The Lion King reproduced the big production number using animals as the decorative and design elements. I found this objectification of living creatures as decorative objects pretty offensive.

Second, just as Pocahontas has been criticized because it "almost seemed to imply that everything was okay-hunky-dorey between the Native Americans and the Europeans after the end of the movie", in The Lion King, as soon as Simba becomes King plants immediately begin to grow and everything is OK - BEFORE HE HAS DONE ANYTHING TO CREATE CHANGE.

This very much echoed to me the feeling among many people at the time that if a "good guy" is in charge everything will be fine. The movie was released two years into Bill Clinton's first term so was likely in development during the last year or two of Reagan's presidency and during Clinton's campaign. I knew a lot of people who believed that if Clinton was elected the nation's problems would be solved. The message I saw in the ending of The Lion King reinforced for it's massive audience (and through repeated viewings over the years could really cement it) the belief that having the right leader can solve all ills.

The key offensiveness of "the belief that having the right leader can solve all ills" but (to me) is that that leader doesn't have to have be the right leader by having any particular competency or even actually do anything - he just has to be a "nice guy" and everything will be all right.