Franki Lafontant

ENC 2135

1-26-17

Be Careful What You Wish For : Genre Analysis of I Just Cant Wait To Be King

Genres are what gives any piece of work its identity. The genres of a piece of work are

what creates the expectations of it. For example, if a person is viewing a movie that has a genre

of comedy, the viewer is expected to be entertained or amused at some point throughout the

movie. However, this is an extremely basic genre; genres can be examined significantly more in

depth. I Just Cant Wait To Be King was one of the few musical numbers included in the film

The Lion King. The basic genre of I Just Cant Wait To Be King would be musical. On the

other hand, if one were to view genre with a more analytical eye, the genres which can be used to

describe this musical number are Disney musical, relatability, irony, and fantasy.

I Just Cant Wait To Be King is a relatively short song but had many genres that

categorized it, however there are a select few which grasp the true concept of the song. The main

aspects which made up the musical number were fantasy, relatability, irony, and Disney musical.

Throughout the song, the protagonist Simba is singing about the excitement and anxiousness he

has for wanting to become the king. Simba is with two other main characters in the musical

number, his future love Nala and the kings advisor Zazu. Another crucial fact that should be

noted is that they are all animals. Simba and Nala are cub lions, and Zazu is a hornbill bird. Zazu

has been placed with the task of babysitting the two cubs, Simba and Nala, as they go to the

watering hole. However, Simba and Nala have a different agenda, so in a way the song is used to

escape from Zazu. The overall theme of the song is Simbas anticipation to be king, currently his

father is serving as king and Zazu is warning Simba that he is not nearly ready to handle the
responsibilities of the king. The musical number represents many of the aspect that make up the

film as a whole. If the viewer was restricted to the common beliefs of genre, then they would be

unable to conceptualize the different genres in the musical number.

I Just Cant Wait To Be King is one the more known musical numbers which was made

to entertain the target audience. Fantasy is one the genres which attracts the younger audience the

most. Children or just younger people in general are very fond of fantasies which makes the

fantasy genre very popular among this audience. What screams fantasy more than three animated

singing animals in the plains. The viewer must be intrigued by the sheer visuals of the musical

number. Another genre which helped the musical number keep the attention of the audience is

how relatable Simba is to the younger crowd. Simba is singing about how he cannot wait to be

king because he is sick and tired of being told when and what to do. Often children become

irritated or annoyed at the constant commands of their parents which is understandable. The

majority of children face this issue which plays a factor in drawing interest to the audience. This

tactic is used beautifully in this musical number, this aspect plays an important role in alluring

the audience.

This musical number also can be described by the genre of irony. The genre of irony is

used very well in this musical number. Simba is singing about excited he is to be the king, on the

contrary later in the film he does not even want to hear the word king. Simba sings this entire

musical number about how bad he wants to be king and then dreads the idea of becoming the

king. This is a prime instance of the genre of irony. Irony is the technique of demonstrating

through character or plot improvement, a goal or demeanor inverse to what is really or

apparently expressed. The audience is strongly persuaded to believe that Simba desires to be king

with this musical number. This was the purpose of I Just Cant Wait To Be King, even the title
of the song points to the inference that the audience should take from the musical number.

Viewers are intrigued by the genre of irony because of how much it develops a plot. The creators

of this musical number most likely had this in my mind when making the song and how it related

to the story. It basically creates an illusion that the audience buys into, but then does something

that contradicts what the audience previous thought. The musical number I Just Cant Wait To

Be King brilliantly exemplifies the genre of irony.

I Just Cant Wait To Be King not only upholds the genre of musical, but also a Disney

musical. As a Disney musical number there are great expectations that are to be met. Being the

powerhouse of a company that Disney, they cannot afford to have subpar or mediocre musical

numbers in their films. I Just Cant Wait To Be King proved to be more than just a subpar

musical number. The Disney musical number included fantastic animations, tuneful lyrics, and

insightful plot development. These all appealed to the target audience of this musical number,

which is critical to its success. It can be argued that the genre of Disney musical can be broken

down into sub genres, such as family, comedy, and or adventure. This Disney musical number

delivers all of these sub genres and splendidly at that. These are the expectations that would

come from any Disney musical number. Simba, Nala, and Zazu are adventuring in the plains to

visit the water hole. However, Simba and Nala devise a plot to escape Zazu and attend an

elephant graveyard. The comedy comes in as Zazu trying immensely to keep up with the cubs

but he is being constantly bothered by the animals in the plains due to Simbas cunningness. I

Just Cant Wait To Be King can be enjoyed and appreciated by families everywhere. This

musical number met the expectations put on it by being a Disney musical number.

Contrary to popular belief, genres are a very flexible and open ended topic. Genres define

and categorize a piece of work; every genre has certain expectations that the audience will look
for it to uphold. I Just Cant Wait To Be King met all of its genre expectations and more. This

Disney musical number was extremely relatable to its target audience. The viewers understood

the feelings that Simba was going throughout the entire musical number. It also upheld the

fantasy genre marvelously. Three animals singing in the plains was a superb example of the

fantasy genre. Another genre that the musical number accomplished in upholding was irony.

Irony is one of the more complex genres, but was implemented very skillfully. The entire musical

number is about how Simba aspires to be the king, but later in the film he changes his mind and

wants nothing to do with being king. Lastly it is categorized the genre of a Disney musical. The

musical number excelled in meeting the expectations of this genre. Genre is more than a word

that can be simply defined. Genres need to start being looked at with a more analytical eye when

attempting to define it.

 Work Cited

TLKEmmet. "The Lion King - I Just Can't Wait To Be King (1080p)." YouTube. YouTube, 28 Aug.
2011. Web. 12 Feb. 2017.
 The Rhetorical Rationale

At first starting this paper I had absolutely no idea about what I was going to write about.

However, as began to think and contemplate about my artifact and genres, my writing process

began to flow. My proposal compared to my final draft are like night and day. At the beginning

of this project I did not really have a clear understanding of what this assignment was about. The

way my ideas really developed were through trial and error. I had to expand my knowledge on

genres in order to write a paper along the lines of the assignment. This was somewhat difficult at

first because so long my thought process on genres was extremely limited. Then I realized how

ignorant my thinking was when it came to genres.

I had to make many revisions to my paper based on my instructor and peers. Often many

times in my paper I began to go off track, my instructor pointed this out to me and I fixed the

issue. Another problem with my project is that I began to wander from my actual artifact, and

started speaking about irrelevant information. My peers also helped really understand that my

paper had no clear thesis, this was key for making my paper understandable. Another aspect that

my peers helped with is how I introduced my artifact rashly and did not really give background

to it at all. This helped make my paper easier to comprehend. Lastly, the final aspect my peers

helped me revise was my definition of genre. In my paper I did not really give a clear definition

of what genre was, this also helped make my paper easier to understand from an audience

standpoint. Another thing I had to revise was my grammar and spelling, I had made minor

mistakes all throughout my paper.

Getting my paper reviewed by my instructor and peers was the best thing for my paper. It

helped develop it in ways I would have never seen before. Getting a paper read by someone other
than yourself is extremely helpful, because I might not catch the mistakes that another would. I

also did one final review over the entirety of my paper just to make sure there were no unwanted

material was left in the paper. Revising drafts is how a paper grows and develops into a strong

piece of work.