Simba, Prince of Pride Rock

Hello friends! I spend a great deal of time enjoying entertainment in many different forms, but I rarely get the space to voice my thoughts completely. I've tried other blogs in the past that never had much going for them, but I think this time will be different.

The purpose of this blog is to create a space to share my very random thoughts on all things TV, books and movies in the form of rants, rankings and reviews. The rants (like this post) will be random thoughts I have about things that just bug me about various movies and shows. The rankings will be my attempt to do the difficult task of comparing shows and movies to each other and determining the best in some aspect. This may also include lists of favorite things about a given show or other things of a list nature. Finally reviews will be more structured attempts to analyze the merits of a show or movie. In the past I've found reviews to be somewhat difficult to write, but also very rewarding.

So now without further ado, my first rant on a topic that has bugged me for years: The Lion King and Hamlet.


To preface this rant I will say two things. The first is that while I have always enjoyed The Lion King as a good classic Disney movie, it has never been a favorite of mine. Secondly I am not the greatest expect on all things Shakespeare, but I have what I would say to be a better than average level of Shakespeare experience. It is from that basis that I begin this rant. This rant is brought up time and time again by the claim that "The Lion King is basically just the story of Hamlet". This is a largely true statement, but it's always really bothered me because it presents a really limited view of Hamlet and a faulty view of The Lion King.

The basic story template applies equally to both tales: A young prince named, Simba/Hamlet, hears of the murder of his father, Mufasa/King Hamlet, by his uncle Scar/Claudius who then takes the kingdom of Pride Rock/Denmark under his control. But this is no where near the end of either story. In The Lion King Simba then leaves Pride Rock, interacts with various characters, learns the life philosophy of "no worries" and comes back to throw Scar to his death by hyena stampede. In Hamlet Hamlet stays around the kingdom and is even presented with chances to kill Claudius but DOESN'T DO ANYTHING! In the end his manipulation and inability to act gets everyone killed (including the totally innocent Rosencrantz and Guildenstern). He pokes Claudius with a poisoned sword then dies himself leaving Denmark in turmoil and the play as an obvious tragedy.

Though there are a few similarities between the two stories at the beginning, by the end the tales have had many different twists and turns. An argument can be made that Disney simply sanitized the deaths of Hamlet, but this argument is not substantial in that the entire message of the story is changed. Hamlet is about a prince who fails the simple request of his father's ghost to avenge his murder. The Lion King is about punk kid who does what he wants, runs away to learn a philosophy of not worrying (which isn't very kingly), then comes back to win and have a happy ending. The message of Hamlet is, more or less, inability to action will get people killed. The message of The Lion King is stop avoiding the past, grow up and take action.

In this way I see The Lion King as almost the ending to Hamlet if it were a comedy. They begin on the same basic path with immature irresponsible protagonists, but from there go in different directions. Hamlet follows on in the path of what happens if a person never changes this behavior and acts (what happens is death), whereas The Lion King veers off and shows us a truncated, largely unsatisfying journey of a character moving from immaturity to maturity. Personally I don't think Disney did a very good job showing this change, and I think the "hakuna matata" philosophy did more harm than good, but the intent was admirable. At the end of The Lion King I can confidently say that Simba has grown in maturity and will be a better king than at the beginning of the film. Community has been restored in the land.

But that's not what we see at the end of Hamlet. Hamlet ends with a giant mound of bodies reflective of how bad things can be if action is not taken to restore order. Nearly everyone in the whole play ends up dead because Hamlet couldn't muster the courage to take action and kill Claudius.

It is because of these polar opposite endings that I have a hard time with the notion that Hamlet and The Lion King are the same story. Hamlet is a tragedy of inaction. The Lion King is a comedy of growth and maturity. We are doing a major disservice to BOTH works if we compare them. Beyond the most bare bones beginnings to the narratives, Simba and Hamlet run is polar opposite directions. By stating that The Lion King is the story of Hamlet, we are setting up false expectations of a happy end that will ruin the message of Hamlet. Even beyond this factor it is a major mistake to expect the story of a good Disney movie to measure up against what is widely regarded as the best tragedy of all time. Hamlet is a remarkably good drama that showcase the finest elements of Shakespearean literature. The Lion King is a pretty good Disney movie that teaches lessons about growing up and has some really catchy songs. I think we would be wise to not compare or confuse the two.