The Lion King: The Journey of Simba towards Self-Awareness - Movie Review Example

The Lion King: The Journey Of Simba Towards Self-Awareness And Forgiveness The film which was directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff and released last June 24, 1994 tells the story of how the young cub Simba was able to resolve his inner conflicts and lived to became a good leader of his pack. Simba, the young lion has to go through a series of transformation which enabled him to see life at different angles. He also went through a lot of emotional struggles and these emotional struggled made him realized the importance of responsibility and the sense of belongingness to the pack. The evolution of the character of Simba can be clearly seen as the story progresses. The movie started with the birth of Simba to King Mufasa and Queen Sarabi. His parents were very proud of him and after he was anointed as the heir of the throne of Pride Lands, he was help up by the wise baboon Rafiki at the top of pride rock for all the animals to see. The presentation of Simba at pride rock is the start of the circle of life for him. As the new heir to Pride Lands, Simba grew up to be a lively but arrogant little cub. He believes that as successor to the throne, he can do whatever he wants and not take the burdens of responsibility. Simba was still unaware at that time that great powers come with great responsibilities. As a young cub, he just wanted to have fun. His father, King Mufasa tried to teach him how to be a good king but Simba was not an easy to student to teach. On the other hand, his friend Nala, a female cub was more apt to the challenge of become the best that she could be. She was faster and more mature compared to Simba. The two of them became inseparable. While most of the animals in the kingdom were loyal followers of King Mufasa, his on brother Scar was not happy with the idea of his brother being king. Scar wanted to be king himself and he realized that with Mufasa around, he could never wear the crown. When Simba was born, Scar became even angrier. With Simba around, he is no longer the first in line to the throne. Buoyed by his strong desire to be king, Scar plotted to get rid of Simba. Knowing that the Simba is arrogant and naïve, he told the young cub that there is a dark place in Pride land where Simba should never go. He knows that telling Simba not to go to the elephant graveyard is like an indirect invitation to go on adventure. As expected, Simba took the bait. The young cub was hungry for adventure and going to the elephant graveyard sounds like a lot of fun to the young and naïve cub. However, Simba did not go the elephant graveyard alone. He asked his friend Nala to share the adventure with him. The two of them did not realize that they were headed for a trap. Scar arranged for three spotted hyenas to chased and attack Simba and Nala. Luckily, the two of them were rescued by Mufasa. The lesson of responsibility for Simba did not end with the elephant graveyard incident. In fact, that was just the beginning of a painful journey for self-awareness for the young cub. Scar tricked Simba to wait in the gorge for a “marvelous surprise” from his father. While Simba waited for his father, Scar instructed his minions to start a stampede. Mufasa saved his son from the stampede but he when he tried to save himself from being trampled by the wild animals, Scar throw him into the path of the running animals. Mufasa died and Scar tricked Simba into believing that his father’s death was his fault. The whole incident emotionally shattered our young hero that he ran away. He cannot face his family after what happened. Simba wandered off to the dessert with the hyenas following him. However, assuming that Simba will not survive alone in the dessert, the hyenas gave up the chase. Simba collapsed in exhaustion in the dessert. Fortunately, Timon and Phumbaa found him and took him back to the jungle with them. The three of them became good friends and they lived in the “hakuna matata” (no problems, no worries) lifestyle for more than three years. However, despite the fact that Simba lived a life of no worries, the guilt of his father’s death still haunts him. The turning point of Simba’s life came when he ran into Nala in the jungle after several years of separation. Nala informed Simba that Pride Land is in trouble with Scar as king. Nala asked Simba to come back to Pride Land and claim his right to throne. Nala told Simba that she and the other lionesses are willing to fight beside him. At this point, Simba refused to respond to the call for adventure. It is not that he did not want to be a hero or to be king but rather. Deep inside, he still harbors the guilt of his father’s death and he still feels a deep shame of what happened at the gorge several years before. He told Nala that he does not want to return to Pride Land and then run away to the grassland to avoid fighting with Nala. A confused and angry Nala later on returned to Pride Land without Simba. When Nala left Simba, the old baboon Rafiki came to see Simba. The old baboon told Simba that he wants to show him something. He took the young lion to a pool of water where Simba saw the image of his father. In this scene, Rafiki acted as a messenger while the ghost of Mufasa served as Simba’s mentor. Actually, Mufasa has always been Simba’s mentor from the beginning of the story but it was not until this point when Simba took the advice of his father seriously. In the past, Simba never paid much attention to what his father tried to teach him but in this scene, Simba realized that he cannot just runaway for responsibility forever. He realized that he is now the image of his own father and that he has the responsibility to take care of his own people now that his father is gone. With this realization, Simba crossed the first threshold of his journey towards self-actualization. He is now ready to face the ultimate adventure of his life and that is to come face to face with his own destiny. Since every hero cannot face all the obstacles ahead of him without the help of friends and allies, Nala, Timon and Phumbaa volunteered to come with Simba and help him save his people. The three of them caught up with Simba on the rock overlooking Pride Land. There, the four of them plotted on how they would defeat scar. Timon and Phumbaa distracted the hyenas so that Simba can sneak up to his uncle Scar. Timon and Phumbaa created a support team for our hero in the battle against the enemy. While Simba’s allies were busy helping him, his enemies were also united against him. Scar and his hyenas were ready to defend their turf against Simba. Scar and the hyenas relied on their strength in numbers while the group of Simba relied on tactics to defeat the enemies. Unfortunately, Scar gained an upper hand in the middle of the fight against Simba. He knew that Simba still feel guilty about his father’s death so he tried to convince Simba to admit that Mufasa’a death was his fault. He challenged Simba to admit his fault in front of the lionesses. When the lionesses heard Scar said that Simba caused his own father’s death, Queen Sarabi and Nala were devastated. The lionesses were distracted and the hyenas gained the upper hand in the fight. The admission of Simba tested the loyalty of the lionesses, including that of his own mother. When Scar mentioned his father, Simba lost his bearing and courage. At this point, Simba was forced to go into his innermost cave and face the worst of his fears. Despite the fact that Mufasa has already told him that what happened that day at the gorge was not his fault, he still cannot accept the fact that he may have caused his own father’s untimely death. Here, the greatest ordeal of Simba’s life takes center stage. Simba went through the agony of relieving the death of his own father in his mind while facing the accusing stares of the lionesses. As Simba struggled with himself and his guilt, Scar and the hyenas seized the moment to overpower him. As Simba hang on for his life at the ledge of a rock, Scar committed the ultimate mistake of telling Simba that it was him, not Simba who killed Mufasa. Scar admitted that he threw his own brother in the middle of the stampede that day. Upon hearing the words of Scar, Simba felt resurrected. He gathered enough strength to haul himself up from the ledge and paunch on Scar. He pinned Scar to the ground and forced him to admit that it was he not Simba who killed Mufasa. The knowledge that the death of Mufasa was Scar’s fault all along served as an elixir which powered Simba and the lionesses to fight against the enemies. A fiery fight ensues between Simba and Scar while the lionesses faced the hyenas. When Scar saw his imminent defeat, he betrayed the hyenas. He told Simba and the lionesses that the death of Mufasa was the fault of the hyenas. At this point, Scar lost the loyalty of the hyenas and when he was thrown off the cliff by Simba, the hyenas killed him. The journey of our hero Simba ended with him being crowned as the rightful king of Pride Lands and having cubs of his own, completing the circle of life. At the end of the story, Simba learned to accept his mistakes and take full responsibilities of his actions. His journey led him from being a loser to a hero. Reference: 1. The Lion King (June 24, 1994) directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff Read More