The Lion King and Shakespeare (Brows Held High)

[Lionkingview]

The Lion King, or The History of King Simba I - Summer of Shakespeare

I think its very fascinating

[TheLionPrince]

That's a good, informative video essay. I must agree people judge The Lion King as too much of an inspired work of Shakespeare when they are clearly enough story similarities and themes previously seen in other media sources. Also, I'm glad more people are noticing the similarities The Lion King has with the Epic of Sundiata, and by the way, I actually have the D.T. Niane book. And seeing a few similarities to Henry IV, Parts I and II really makes me to watch Orson Welles's Chimes at Midnight.

[DGFone]

If I remember correctly from watching the many production videos they have of The Lion King around the web, the original versions of the movie were much more directly inspired by Hamlet, but the script did tend to veer away as it was edited and improved, although some elements like Mufasa's ghost scene were added in later rather than before. Other than that, only one line of Shakespeare's actually made it into the movie, while earlier drafts had significantly more direct references.

The Lion King is very much "loosely inspired by" Hamlet just as much as movies such as Braveheart have a right to say that they are inspired by real historical events. Sure, finding the influence of Shakespeare in TLK is very easy, but at the end of the day, the two can also be considered rather different.

[Carl]

This was a highly fascinating video. Most people here know I'm a fan of Shakespeare's; in fact his works are a large part of why I studied literature in college, so of course I have great respect for his work and tend to notice its influence. I believe the reason so many people compare The Lion King with Hamlet is because Disney said it began as an adaptation of Hamlet; this will obviously lead people to see the Shakespearian influences much more easily, particularly since most of us, unfortunately, have limited knowledge of African culture. I had not heard of Sundiata, but I will certainly be furthering research on him now that I do know, and will be sure to pass his story along to my cousin whom I assist in raising, so that at least one member of the next generation will know something about it. The kid already loves The Lion King as a franchise, so the interest is there.

As another note, I have maintained for quite some time that no work is completely original, nor does any work draw from a single source only. Everything any person writes draws inspiration from everything that person has experienced through real life and through other stories they have heard from books, movies, plays, TV, music, etc. If I were to write a story based on The Lion King, it would contain elements of everything else I am familiar with, whether that were obvious or not. And yes, that would include more Shakespeare, but it would also include a vast number of other preexisting stories and authors, more of others depending on what direction I took the story in. My point here being that people should already be thinking about what else inspired something, or at least be aware that something else played a role. It's nice to see or read such analyses of a work.