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Simba Is The 1%
Dec. 7th, 2011 08:17 pmMom got the Blu-Ray for The Lion King. She says it’s her favorite Disney movie, mostly because of the “Circle of Life” song. I can’t argue. That’s a damn fine song.
Only thing is, the characters in the movie don’t seem to actually believe it. For all the lip service they pay to the Great Circle of Life, you start to think that some animals, to paraphrase Orwell, seem more connected in the circle than others. And then the movie starts to look a lot like a failed Equal Hyena Rights campaign.
Think about it. In the beginning the hyenas are inexplicably relegated to some foodless wasteland. When they’re in the wasteland the king’s all “Not my problem,” but if they get hungry and come to the place where all the other animals are allowed to hunt and eat each other, the lions call it poaching and FUCK THEM UP until they go back to their barren world of exile. Why the distinction? Are we all connected by the Great Circle of Life unless we’re hyenas? What’d the hyenas do to deserve that?
So they get desperate and try to ally themselves with Scar, because he says he’s going to let them be part of the Pridelands again and more to the point god dammit they’re HUNGRY.* So they have themselves a revolution, which has a rocky start because Scar is not really about Hyena Rights so much as It’s Good To Be The King,** and then Simba comes back and is all WHAT IS THIS SHIT and sets fire to everything and presumably after he takes his place as king he dumps them back in their wasteland, and everything’s all status quo again. Which is great, unless you’re a hyena.
Poor suckers. I’d suggest they try more civil disobedience next time, but that’s a bit tricky when the people in power will just eat you. Sorry, hyenas.
*If you listen to the countermelody they sing in “Be Prepared” after they did their little goose-step, it’s kind of heartbreaking. He gets them on their side by saying they’ll never go hungry again, and then while he's carrying on about how he deserves to be recognized as the most awesome king and he'll show everyone, you hear them singing “We’ll have food / lots of food / we repeat / endless meat!”
**Yeah, the drought. If this world has no god, that means it’s a really unfortunate coincidence and all the lions’ll say that just goes to show hyenas bring drought. If it’s theistic, then apparently God’s top priority is starving hyenas, and all his other concerns—such as feeding ALL THE OTHER ANIMALS—comes a distant second.
Only thing is, the characters in the movie don’t seem to actually believe it. For all the lip service they pay to the Great Circle of Life, you start to think that some animals, to paraphrase Orwell, seem more connected in the circle than others. And then the movie starts to look a lot like a failed Equal Hyena Rights campaign.
Think about it. In the beginning the hyenas are inexplicably relegated to some foodless wasteland. When they’re in the wasteland the king’s all “Not my problem,” but if they get hungry and come to the place where all the other animals are allowed to hunt and eat each other, the lions call it poaching and FUCK THEM UP until they go back to their barren world of exile. Why the distinction? Are we all connected by the Great Circle of Life unless we’re hyenas? What’d the hyenas do to deserve that?
So they get desperate and try to ally themselves with Scar, because he says he’s going to let them be part of the Pridelands again and more to the point god dammit they’re HUNGRY.* So they have themselves a revolution, which has a rocky start because Scar is not really about Hyena Rights so much as It’s Good To Be The King,** and then Simba comes back and is all WHAT IS THIS SHIT and sets fire to everything and presumably after he takes his place as king he dumps them back in their wasteland, and everything’s all status quo again. Which is great, unless you’re a hyena.
Poor suckers. I’d suggest they try more civil disobedience next time, but that’s a bit tricky when the people in power will just eat you. Sorry, hyenas.
*If you listen to the countermelody they sing in “Be Prepared” after they did their little goose-step, it’s kind of heartbreaking. He gets them on their side by saying they’ll never go hungry again, and then while he's carrying on about how he deserves to be recognized as the most awesome king and he'll show everyone, you hear them singing “We’ll have food / lots of food / we repeat / endless meat!”
**Yeah, the drought. If this world has no god, that means it’s a really unfortunate coincidence and all the lions’ll say that just goes to show hyenas bring drought. If it’s theistic, then apparently God’s top priority is starving hyenas, and all his other concerns—such as feeding ALL THE OTHER ANIMALS—comes a distant second.
