The Lion King
Sep. 18th, 2011 11:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ericadawn16I saw it today and...wow, just wow. I think The Lion King is one of those things, like Star Wars, that you just take for granted and then, something happens and you just see it in a whole new light.
Over fourteen years ago, I was finally able to see Star Wars on the big screen and it was the first time that I realized that those things I had learned for English: symbolism of color, foreshadowing, names having meanings and other deeper hidden meanings and ideas could be found in movies as well.
I had an epiphany that day and today, I had a new one. It was like seeing one of my favorite movies for the first time as though I didn't know it at all.
Yep, I've noticed how it's basically a retelling of Hamlet and thus, more ambitious than the norm but I didn't realize how ambitious it truly was. In fact, it was the most ambitious animated film since Fantasia and there hasn't been an equal since.
Oh, I know there's been advances in technology and there's been some brilliant films but not on the same caliber as The Lion King.
What makes The Lion King above everyone else is that practically every frame has been carefully planned. It combines Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice, Joseph Campbell studies, actual animal behaviour and symbolism; tons and tons and TONS of symbolism. When a scene takes place was definitely planned because certain types of scenes take place in the morning while others can only take place at dusk or night. I also can't even picture such a story being green-lighted now.
Can you imagine it?
"Okay, we're going to have this cute little boy. We're going to show how adorable he is with his father and how loving they are...then we're going to kill his father AND make the boy think he killed him!"
I blame![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
goldenmoonrose. I totally want to write an essay that goes on for pages and pages dissecting everything from Simba's anointment ceremony to the fact that they have shooting stars streak in the same direction as Pride Rock when Simba decides to go back.
Of course, there's also the nostalgia factor of remembering when it first came out and the JTT crushing and Simba having the same parents as Eddie Murphy in Coming to America. I forgot Chris Sanders had worked on it or that part of it had been animated in Orlando. Then, at the end, it's dedicated to Frank Wells which brings to mind all the mess that ended the second golden age of animation at Disney...
Also, since I was still in such a good mood from the film and had been thinking about it before, the Disney Store employee suckered me into the Pre-Order. I wonder if my lithographs are different from those I got in 2003. I think they are...
Over fourteen years ago, I was finally able to see Star Wars on the big screen and it was the first time that I realized that those things I had learned for English: symbolism of color, foreshadowing, names having meanings and other deeper hidden meanings and ideas could be found in movies as well.
I had an epiphany that day and today, I had a new one. It was like seeing one of my favorite movies for the first time as though I didn't know it at all.
Yep, I've noticed how it's basically a retelling of Hamlet and thus, more ambitious than the norm but I didn't realize how ambitious it truly was. In fact, it was the most ambitious animated film since Fantasia and there hasn't been an equal since.
Oh, I know there's been advances in technology and there's been some brilliant films but not on the same caliber as The Lion King.
What makes The Lion King above everyone else is that practically every frame has been carefully planned. It combines Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice, Joseph Campbell studies, actual animal behaviour and symbolism; tons and tons and TONS of symbolism. When a scene takes place was definitely planned because certain types of scenes take place in the morning while others can only take place at dusk or night. I also can't even picture such a story being green-lighted now.
Can you imagine it?
"Okay, we're going to have this cute little boy. We're going to show how adorable he is with his father and how loving they are...then we're going to kill his father AND make the boy think he killed him!"
I blame
goldenmoonrose. I totally want to write an essay that goes on for pages and pages dissecting everything from Simba's anointment ceremony to the fact that they have shooting stars streak in the same direction as Pride Rock when Simba decides to go back. Of course, there's also the nostalgia factor of remembering when it first came out and the JTT crushing and Simba having the same parents as Eddie Murphy in Coming to America. I forgot Chris Sanders had worked on it or that part of it had been animated in Orlando. Then, at the end, it's dedicated to Frank Wells which brings to mind all the mess that ended the second golden age of animation at Disney...
Also, since I was still in such a good mood from the film and had been thinking about it before, the Disney Store employee suckered me into the Pre-Order. I wonder if my lithographs are different from those I got in 2003. I think they are...
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-09-19 03:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-20 04:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-19 03:53 am (UTC)And I also just recently thought about the Hamlet parallels and I feel so silly for not having noticed that sooner, considering I've seen the movie probably several hundred times over the last 17 years.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-19 04:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-20 04:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-19 11:20 am (UTC)Do it. Write an anlaysis of Lion King! It is ripe for the pickings. :)
no subject
Date: 2011-09-20 04:50 am (UTC)