Disney has made such an impact on the history of media that it’s impossible not to discuss him. His legacy was lost for a while, but the high quality films came back during the Disney Renaissance. In 1994, Disney released The Lion King. The interesting thing is that it was not predicted to be a success. More focus was put on Pocahontas, which was being produced at the same time. However, all they had to do was show this clip in theaters. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GibiNy4d4gc Instantly, people were hooked.
There have been some controversies with the film. During one scene, Simba collapses onto a cliff and dust flies up to spell out the word, “SEX.” Animators later said that it’s actually supposed to say SFX. People also thought that The Lion King copied a Japanese anime. The director said that he was unaware a Japanese anime about lionx existed. Lastly, some scientists sued DIsney because they showed hyenas in a bad light.
Despite the controversies, The Lion King was extremely successful. It led to two sequels. It has a video game as well. Its musical has become the third longest running show on Broadway. The production company has traveled all over the world to perform its shows. The dancing and costumes are breathtaking. The music is so iconic now. The Lion King is so famous that the Library of Congress has documented the film as historically significant and saved it for posterity.
The Lion King is my childhood! I was aware of the story similarities between Lion King and "Kimba the White Lion," but had no idea about the other controversies with the film. The other two are pretty wild and funny. :)
ReplyDeleteSo why is it that you think the Lion King was as successful as it was? Did it possess some literary merit that you believe makes it important for others to view? Or perhaps you think it is important because of its controversies? It would be a fairly intriguing point to pursue, having more controversial content as a way to earn literary merit or being a result in why it is so important in media. Do you think that the controversy around the Lion King contributed to its success, or that purposely making controversial content could be a way to make a more popularized media?
ReplyDeleteI think one of the factors affected Lion King's big success is the familiar story plot :) Becuase almost every viewers of Werstern world is familiar with Shakespeare's Hamlet and Lion King's story structure and characters followed Hamlet's faithfully. The Linon King 2 is really similar to Romeo and Juliet too. lol
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