| The
cycle of Life
“The Lion King”
Disney recently
released in DVD one of his major classics, “The Lion King”. The specialists
consider that this animation is very important
because it allowed Disney to conquer a new public
after some years in which the company was not producing
new cartoons. It is true that it only happened
because they were successful a few years before
with “The Little Mermaid”.
The profile of the new productions were, however,
quite different from what Disney had produced until
the 1970’s. It kept some of the good qualities
of the old times such as the high level on the
drawings and edition as well as the stories that
had lessons to the young audience and a lot of
emotion. To all of these standarts the new cartoons
added important elements such as agility in its
stories (action and adventure), famous actors as
the voices of the main characters, music created
by known composers and aggressive marketing campaigns.
It is very important to say that, despite all publicity,
animations such as “The Little Mermaid” and “The
Lion King” only became big hits because of
the qualities they had as cinema productions, particularly
its stories that touched people’s hearts
and the meaningful ideas that were divided with
children, teenagers and also adults.
“The Lion King” is an example of what
I just wrote because it conquers the spectator
as it works in its story the close relationship
between father and son, owner and inheriter of
the throne of the lions. The birth of the inheriter
is presented to the community in a cerimony and
the circunstance is really important to everyone.
Simba represents the son that every parent has,
the realization of a dream. The baptism of Simba
is the public recognition of the inheriter, the
sacralization of the birth.
The existence of vilains, among which we find Scar,
uncle of Simba, that intended to inherit the throne
from his brother Mufasa and that, with the birth
of his nephew loses this condition, gives to the
story the necessary dramaticity to make the spectators
get involved with the movie and cheer for a happy
ending.
The comicity comes with the couple Timon and Pumbaa.
Animals that turn out to be Simba’s best
friends in his voluntary exile. They create a sincere
and fraternal friendship.
In a time that everyone talks about ecology and
defending life, “The Lion King” turns
out to be very useful for the community to give
information to children about these subjects and,
in addition, allows reflections about justice,
friendship, family,...
The Movie
The birth of Simba opens a new era among the animals
that live in the kingdom of Mufasa. It is time
for renewal, it is time to think about the future.
The recently born lion brings with him the hope
that tomorrow will be renewed with the serenity
of his father, a fair king. Because of that the
celebration of his arrival is filled with animals.
Everyone seems to be there. Giraffes, elephants,
turtles, snakes, birds of all kinds and all of
the animals that live in Mufasa´s kingdom.
They all want to see the future king.
Everyone is there but Scar. And Scar is important,
after all, he is the brother of the king. But this
close relative cannot hide his deception because
he is not going to be the next king. According
to the local laws, if Mufasa didn’t have
a son, his brother would be the next king, the
new soberan. But now, he was being exchanged for
a baby…
What could be done?
Simba had to be taken out of the scene. He had
to be eliminated somehow, be killed or expelled.
But how could Scar do that? After all, the little
lion always had someone older and more responsible
with him.
And if we could solve the problem with Simba, what
could be done with Mufasa? The ideal situation
would be arranging the dissapearence of them both…
The revenge and cruelty transformed in plans to
destroy the kingdom of Mufasa and his son Simba
are the lines that conduct this amazing story.
The characters turn out to be real heroes and villains,
friends and enemies. “The Lion King” became
a classic because of all its ingredients that made
this story be remembered and retold for different
generations of children.
For Teachers
1- The cycle of life is one of the best ideas worked
in this movie. It must be used in school either
with children or teenagers. The explanations given
to Simba by Mufasa about this subject can be used
to make students create material about the cycle
of life, beginning with plants and small animals
and ending with the human beings. The most important
besides the subject is to stimulate the creativity
of the students by asking them to use various materials
such as crayons, glue, scissors, newspapers, magazines,
colored pencils,…
2- Another important theme that is shown in the
movie is family relation. We must talk with the
students about this subject, ask them to research
about their parents, who are they, where do they
work, what are they beliefs, what do they like,
who are their friends… I recently realized
that children and even adolescents have only a
few opportunities to understand who are their parents.
It is a disturbing conclusion. This relationship
should be reviewed to be improved… It is
essential for them and also for education!
3- The environmental question should also be explored.
In what way man has interfered in nature, what
are the species that are endangered of extinction,
what can be done to change this scenery, which
animals had already disappeared and many other
questions. Students can search for information
in libraries, newspapers, magazines and in the
internet. They can also try to interview specialists
in this subject to know the problems and perspectives.
4- In what ways can we learn from our mistakes
and our past? Rafiki and Simba had an interesting
discussion about this subject. Use this dialogue
to begin the same conversation with your students.
Make it all happen as natural as possible and try
to develop it just like an interview. Ask the students
to write down the answers and to tape the dialogue.
Tell them to give examples of situations lived
or known by them that turned out to be real lessons.
To make this activity more productive ask them
to find out historical situations that fit in this
idea.
João Luís
Almeida Machado
Master Degree in Education,
Arts and History of Culture (Universidade Presbiteriana
Mackenzie, in São Paulo); Professor at Faculdade
Senac in Campos do Jordão; Middle and
High School teacher; writes weekly columns for
the website Planeta Educação
Send e-mails, comments, suggestions and critics
for:
profjoaoluis@planetaeducacao.com.br
Technical Information
The Lion King
Country/Year
of Production:- USA, 1994
Lenght of Time/Gender:- 88 min., Cartoon
Directors: Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff
Screenwriters: Jim Capobianco and Irene Mecchi
Cast (voices):- Matthew Brodderick,
Rowan Atkinson,
Whoopi Goldberg, James Earl
Jones, Jeremy Irons,
Moira Kelly,
Jim Cummings,
Niketa Calame.
Links
- e-pipoca.cidadeinternet.com.br/filmes_zoom.cfm?id=444
- www.cineguia.com.br/index.shtml?cod_filme=CNA3514&rg=0
- cineclick.virgula.terra.com.br/cinemateca/ficha_filme.php?id_cine=8670
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