The Lion King Study Guide - Telecharge

INFO SHEET
THEMES: THE ANIMAL STORY
“IF THIS IS WHERE THE MONARCHY IS HEADED,
COUNT ME OUT!
OUT OF SERVICE, OUT OF AFRICA
I WOULDN’T HANG ABOUT!
THIS CHILD IS GETTING WILDLY OUT OF WING”
- Zazu, “I Just Can’t Wait to be King”
All of the animal characters in THE LION KING
have very human hearts; as Julie Taymor writes
in The Lion King: Pride Rock on Broadway, one of the most
powerful elements of the story is “the rich humanity of
the animal characters.”
We have been telling “animal stories” - using animals as
metaphors to tell human stories and express human
emotions - since the dawn of time. This is called
anthropomorphism, or the attribution of human qualities
to nonhumans. This process seems to be a natural one in
human beings. Many psychologists believe that babies are
born with the tendency to pay more attention to objects
or creatures that have a face or seem to have facial features.
As we grow older, we attach human traits to behaviors we
see in animals (for example,
prides of lions are often
compared to human
family units).
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James Simmons, Scar, London Company
photo by Catherine Ashmore
Aesop, a storyteller who lived in ancient Greece, used this
natural quality in human beings to his advantage. We
seem to have an innate need to hear stories, and Aesop
discovered that his audiences would pay more attention
to his tales, and better absorb their lessons, if he used
animals as his characters rather than human beings. Many
Disney movies like THE LION KING are direct descendents
of stories told by ancient writers such as Aesop.
THINK ABOUT IT:
As a class, create a list of all the animal stories you
know in one minute; these can be from fables, books,
movies, cartoons or television.
Discuss some of the titles you have written.
Who are the main characters?
How might these animal stories relate to humans?
CHEETAH: Since the
cheetah can run up to
65 miles per hour, it
needs a great deal of
open land in which to
hunt. Unlike lions,
cheetahs mainly roam
alone, although
females stay with
their young.
innate: existing in one from birth
absorb: to involve the full attention