by Lauren » June 7th, 2015, 12:36 am
[quote="TheLionPrince"]Simba is my favorite king of the three because he has positive and negative qualities of a king that makes him more human. Mufasa and Scar are so polarized into being good and evil that we are never given to see any character growth from them. Mufasa and Scar don't acknowledge their mistakes, and have a moment of change that Simba does towards the end of Simba's Pride. While Simba was unfair in his judgment of Kovu, we, as the audience, are hinted that his decision is based on his hatred of Scar, which he has passed on to his chosen successor. I can understand why Mufasa is rated highly since we are seeing him as an idealized king from Simba's point-of-view that we don't explore any negative traits of his leadership. For Simba, we do, and because he learns from his mistakes, he grows as a leader because of it.[/quote]
I would have to agree with this.
We glorify Simba at the end of the first film for all the accomplishments he made in order to restore peace into the Pridelands again after Scar's reign, but in the second film, we realize that not all of his problems magically "go away". Even heroes sometimes make mistakes in the future, in which that balance of all the rights and wrongs of Simba's kingship helps to make him a much more realistic character. That's why I disagree with the fact of him being out-of-character in SP. It makes sense that he would never be the kind of king Mufasa was since he wasn't able to receive the training he was going to need as he started to grow up if his father never died.
I do love Mufasa both as a character and as a king very much because he has great wisdom and knows how to properly rule his homeland with much care. I love how he serves as Simba's spiritual guidance as he grows up and he definitely makes a powerful impact on his son. However, it's more interesting to see a king who struggles since we want him to find a way to solve the problems he faces.