Music and the Fictive Dream-The Lion King
The Lion King
My ALL time favorite children's movie even to this day is Disney's The Lion King, which was released June 24th, 1994, exactly a month after my birthday! The Lion King was directed by Roger Allens, and Rob Minkoff- the "B" team. When The Lion King was first in production the original director left to pursue the Disney movie "Pocahontas", because it was claimed to be a hit movie and he wanted to be apart of it. Come to find out, The Lion King has grossed a total of $1.657 billion dollars in revenue! The Lion King does a really good job at keeping you very intrigued at every scene as well as emotionally involved with the storyline. It's incredible to think that this movie was completely hand-drawn. The famous 2.5-minute wildebeest stampede scene took TWO years to create and took a brand new computer program to execute the movements of the herd.
The Lion King is about a young lion cub, Simba who embarks on his life journey after the tragic death of his father, Mufasa (King of the Pride Lands). Simba was so frightened when his father died (thinking it was his own fault) he ran away from the Pride Lands-which is the place he called home. While Simba was gone, Scar, his powerful villain uncle began to overtake the Pride Lands, completely and utterly destroying it. Nala, the lion cub who was both betrothed to Simba and also one of his dear friends came searching for help when she discovered Simba. She was absolutely shocked that he was alive, as Scar had told everyone that he died along with Mufasa. There are many highs and lows in The Lion King, Nala finding Simba, Simba refusing to return home to the Pride Lands, and Simba not remembering who he truly was. One of my favorite scenes is with the wise mandrill Rafiki! I will attach it below so you can watch it, honestly a great lesson to be learned.
My Favorite Lion King Scene with Rafiki
Once Simba returns home he discovers just how destroyed his home is, due to his evildoer uncle Scar. The Pride Lands that use to be beautifully laced with greenery and full of life were now so lifeless and on fire. Simba's return catches the entire pride off guard, especially his mother Sarabi, who was still under the impression that he was dead. Near the end, Simba successfully defeats his uncle Scar and overtakes The Pride Lands just as he should of once his father passed. The story to me has many underlying messages, but the greatest one I want to mention is one of perseverance. I think many of us today are struggling for many reasons (obviously, we are in a darn pandemic) but like Simba in the story, we need to keep on persevering no matter what comes our way!
Hakuna Matata
Hakuna Matata is one of the most joyous children's songs I can think of. Hakuna Matata which is stated in the song "no worries for the rest of your days" is teaching children to live their lives to the fullest because guess what, there are no worries for the rest of your life. According to Kyle Macdonald from Classic FM ‘Hakuna matata’ is actually a phrase in the East African language of Swahili that literally means “no trouble” or “no problems”." Hakuna Matata has an extremely joyous sound and is outrageously upbeat, you can't help but dance along with it. And what's not to love about Timon and Pumbaa?! During one of my favorite scenes of the movie, Timon and Pumbaa are trying to teach Simba a life lesson when "Hakuna Matata" starts to play. Although at first, the message from the song seems superficial, I believe there is a deeper meaning behind it. I believe this song is very much pertinent to the way this world has been recently. This song reminds you to keep pushing on and not to worry too much about the things you can't control. When life get's you down, just say "Hakuna Matata" over and over again and eventually you will start to feel better. The song has many Ritardandos and Accelerandos because of the storytelling in it. The music for the song was composed by the remarkably talented Elton John with lyrics penned by lyricist Tim Rice.
“25 Surprising Facts About The Lion King.” Mental Floss, 1 July 2019, www.mentalfloss.com/article/57386/30-facts-about-lion-king.
Bailey, Jason. “What Disney Risked to Make 'The Lion King' in 1994.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 18 July 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/07/18/movies/disney-lion-king.html.
Macdonald, Kyle. “The Lion King: What Does the Phrase 'Hakuna Matata' Actually Mean?” Classic FM, Classic FM, 24 July 2019, www.classicfm.com/discover-music/hakuna-matata-lyrics-meaning-lion-king/.
Hi Candice,
ReplyDeleteI absolutely loved The Lion King when I was a little kid! I had the The Lion King on VHS back when I was about 3 years old. I watched it probably 100 times growing up and my favorite song was "Hakuna Matata". Unfortunately, I didn't take the song's advice until I hit college and I was always stressed out during middle school and high school (haha). I really like the part where you talk about the song's deeper meaning and how we shouldn't worry about the things we can't control. It seems easy to do, but it can be the most challenging thing in a person's life. Great Post!
- Josh Foster
Candice,
ReplyDeleteThe lion king is one of my favorite kids movie. It has such an amazing soundtrack that I'm sure it was tricky to choose just one song from the movie! With such classics like Circle of Life, Can You Feel the Love Tonight, and The Lion Sleeps Tonight I'd dwell on it for ages. I completely agree with you on the takeaways from the song, Hakuna Matata is a great mantra.
PS your link to the video broke!
Excellent blog post! Thanks for sharing.
Hey Candice!
ReplyDeleteGreat blog! I am a 90's baby as well and had this joyous film fill my childhood with happy memories! One of my most treasured items is a Simba stuffed animal that my grandparents gifted me when I was only about 2 years old. I love that you picked 'Hakuna Matata' because it has an amazing message to it, for anyone of any age! In 2012, this song saved my family. My mother was going through chemotherapy and my family traveled to Disney World for a talent competition. It was a VERY challenging trip with everyone's emotions running high, and after a big blow-up, we heard this song playing. From that moment on in the trip, any time things became tense, we all broke out singing Hakuna Matata! We still have fond memories of that trip, and we still use this song as a coping mechanism when things get rough. Thank you for reminding me of this great memory!
Hi Candice, I chose this film to do my post on too! When I first saw the requirements and topic of the assignment, I immediately thought of this movie because of it's fantastic soundtrack and amazing storyline! I learned some things from your post that I hadn't found in my own research such as the fact that the producer had originally left this film to put his efforts in else where! Little did he know that this would be one of the most popular films in the world! You did an excellent job at interpreting and applying the message from this movie to your own life, and I think a lot of us can learn from it as well. Perseverance is needed now more than ever during these difficult times, and I believe that you did a great job at connecting that to the movie. I love Hakuna Matata, but my personal favorite song from this film is The Circle of Life, here is the link to it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GibiNy4d4gc
ReplyDeleteCandice,
ReplyDeleteI also chose to write about the Song Hakuna Matata as it was an iconic song from my childhood. In my pot i did not go into much detail on the movie itself but i like how you did giving the reader a little history behind it. This i think really helped me realize the magnitude of work it took to put together such a masterpiece of cinema paired with such great songs. Great job.