TABAN, Katrina O.

2018075631

The Lion King: A Reaction Paper

Just like any protagonist-centered movie bordering on comedy rather than tragedy, the

the Lion King provides interesting themes that deal with the non-ephemeral concepts of good

versus evil, coming of age, territorial dispute, and class disparity among others. The movie

starts by painting a picture of monarchs by means of a fable. The lions are on the top of the

chain – Mufasa being the king of everything the light touches and Simba, the beloved heir to

the throne. The other animals are nonetheless creatures meant to be governed and eaten –

except for the hyenas who are considered to be creatures of the dark. For a movie with a

general patronage tag, I find this a little bit disturbing. How come some creatures can be

outright banished at the will of their leaders? There is no way for them to prove themselves nor

is there a way for them to tip off the unbalanced scale but to support Scar in his treasonous

desires. As of coming of age, I find it interesting that Simba had to grow stronger in order to

claim his territory. This may be a parallelism between the countries prevented from utilizing

certain parts of their territory just because they are weaker. A good example would be the

West Philippine Sea dispute between China. If the Philippines were to claim back what is

rightfully ours, then we might have to be raised by Timon and Pumbaa. Lastly, in the quest

between good and evil, the movie clearly depicts treachery and malicious intent as evil.

However, in the real world, is it really easy to distinguish between good and bad? I don’t think

so.