The Lion King is arguably one of the
most famous Disney movies ever! The Lion King is about a prince cub named
Simba. Mufasa, Simba's father tells him that when he dies his son Simba must
take over the thrown, because it is his duty and he would be the rightful king.
Scar, Simba's father kills Mufasa. We learn that Scar is going to kill his
brother Mufasa in his big song "Be Prepared." This is a
song about Mufasa dying, and Scar becoming the King over Pride Rock. In this
scene Scars companions are not Lions, but Hyenas, which are known for being
very aggressive animals. The Hyenas are at the bottom of the cave, not
marching, but goose-stepping! For those of you who do not know what
goose-stepping is; it is a march that Nazi soldiers were known for.
A Nazi is the member of the
National Socialist German Workers Party; they were under the rule of Hitler. Remember
him? Yea that’s the jerk that was responsible for killing of 6,000,000 Jews
(1.5 Million of them being Children). Disney put Hyenas goose-stepping in their
most famous Disney movie. There is also a line in this scene where Scar says “Stick
with me and you’ll never go hungry again,” this is seriously the same way
Hitler came to power! He promised the German people, who were suffering after
WWI, that they would have better lives if they brought him to power. Honestly
you have to be blind to not see the similarities.
It was rumored that Walt Disney,
himself was a fascist, and he was even called upon the House of Unamerican
Activities Party, but only as a witness. Although it was never actually proven
true that Disney was a fascist, it is still very arguable. Goose-Stepping is
not the only thing that Disney has done to make people think that a lot of
Disney is based on fascist views. In the 1932 version of the “Wayward Canary”
there is a lighter with a swastika on it. I have posted the video at the bottom;
it is 3:31 into the video.
Disney is putting Nazi representations
in their movies and shows, and so it can definitely be argued that Disney is in
fact encouraging Nazism by displaying it to the younger generations. This is
absolutely appalling because it symbolizes violence and hate. Disney didn’t
even try to hide these subliminal messages, and yet people are still so willing
to allow Disney to persuade them that they have the best interest in mind when
it comes to their children.
YouTube Video for your
enjoyment and hopefully disgust!
“History
of the Holocaust-An Introduction”. Jewish Virtual Library. Michigan
This is
a website that is specifically dedicated to the history of the Holocaust. It is
filled with facts from the time the Holocaust started til the time it ended.
The sight is goes along with what you can learn at the Holocaust Museum.
Janessen, Paul. “Hyena”. Out of Africa. African Wildlife
Foundation
This website is specifically dedicated to Hyenas! It gives a
lot of different facts about Hyenas and their character traits.
Eutychus. “Was Walt Disney a Fascist”. The Straight Dope
Science Advisory Board. 2005
Seriously, one has to ask. How is Disney encouraging Nazism by displaying it as evil and under the control of the "bad guy" that eventually dies at the "paws" of good??
ReplyDeleteIf anything, it's condemning it..
I am having some trouble holding back my distaste for your reasoning here because in all honesty it is completely moronic to say the least. So sorry if I come off as a bit, or perhaps even very mean. But you need some tough love my friend, otherwise I fear you will fall further down the pit of idiocy until it is entirely inescapable. So here is a correct examination of what you allege is a subliminal message, or even pure indoctrination.
ReplyDeleteFirst off let me state you are absolutely right to draw similarities between the hyenas, and the Nazis. You are spot on in that account, so don't feel too bad, at least you are not 100% wrong on this post. It is when you speculate the intentions of Disney you fail to pin-point the correct answer. Let me first point out that Nazism in "The Lion King", is not by any stretch of the imagination glorified. The Hyenas are allied with the main antagonist of the story. Scar, if you weren't sure is the main antagonist, or as Joseph Campbell would say in his redound theory, "The Hero's Journey", The Shadow. You are NOT supposed to sympathize with Scar, you are supposed to be against Scar, because in simple terms, he is the bad guy. He is not the hero of the story, he is the villain! Do you understand now. The audience is not supposed to like him, or anyone associated with him, for example, the Hyenas.
So now that we are on the same page, how about I explain to you as best I can why there are indeed Nazi references. It is actually quite simple, the Hyenas represent the Nazis, and Scar represents Hitler. The Elephant Wasteland, or graveyard? That is Germany post WW1. Actually I might be a bit ambitious to claim that, but you see the point. The writers of this fantastic film drew similarities between the bad guys and Nazis not to indoctrinate Nazism into our children. It is actually the opposite. It was a way to portray Scar and his Hyena minions as really, really bad characters, with really selfish, and evil intents. They are trying to convey that to the older audience mostly. The kids are already sold on Scar being pure evil with just the way he talks, and looks. It's the older audience that needs the convincing that Scar is not just selfish, he is evil. That is why there are Nazi references in a part of the movie. Nothing more, and nothing less.
You are also far off on your history when it come to Walt Disney. He is not really accused of being a fascist, in fact there is absolutely no way he was a fascist given his tremendous success with capitalism. No, Walt Disney was accused of antisemitism because he at one point was host to an infamous antisemitic man. And Disney was probably antisemitic, racist, and sexist, but to claim that translates into "The Lion King" is also idiotic since he was dead long before "The Lion King" was even written. Hope this makes you think before you write. Thank you,
Soren June
If anything Lion Kind is simply informing the kids about this kind of evil. What - do you want your kids to get sucked into this type of evil? Kids are smart and detect good vrs bad... Disney was only making it obvious at an early age.
ReplyDelete