The Lion King

The original animated version of Disney’s The Lion King came out in 1994, a year before the birth of our first child. We bought a copy on video as a gift for our two year old son when his little sister was born. Our children loved the story of Simba, Nala, Pumba and Timon. They watched the video repeatedly. Mum and dad loved it too. The best children’s films appeal to children and parents alike.

Our two are now all grown up. That didn't stop my wife and me going to see the new live action version of the movie on Saturday. It was a revelation. The visuals were amazing, with real looking lions, giraffes, warthogs and meerkats. The actors who lent their voices to the characters gave Simba and the gang genuine emotional depth. The songs really pulled at the heartstrings of nostalgic parents

But what struck me on watching the remake is that the film deals with some really big themes that I hadn’t noticed before. Somehow I missed the nod to Hamlet. Wicked uncle Scar usurping his brother’s throne. Mufasa’s ghost urging Simba to sort things out. How did I not see that when watching the video of the original times without number?

Another thing was the contrasting worldviews presented to Simba by his father, Mufasa and his friends, Pumba and Timon. Mufasa tells his son to be mindful of the ‘circle of life’, the interconnected ordering of all living things. For Pumba and Timon, there is no ‘circle’, but a ‘line’ of meaninglessness. You live, you die, that’s it. May as well enjoy life while it lasts. Perhaps this contrast is more marked in the remake than the original, or maybe I’m a bit dim and just didn’t get it first time around?

Anyway, the ‘circle’ vs ‘line’ thing got me thinking. A cyclical worldview is often associated with Eastern mysticism; reincarnation and all that. The Christian faith offers a more linear view. At a cosmic level we can draw a line from creation to eschatological consummation. More individually, we get one life, that’s all. No reincarnational recycling. We are born, we die, ‘it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgement’. (Hebrews 9:27).

But it’s a bit more complicated than that. Within the linear world of time and space there are many cycles; the orbiting of planets around the sun, the waxing and waning of the moon, the annual round of the seasons, the water cycle, the complex interconnectedness of the ecosystem and so on. Ecclesiastes speaks of this, ‘All is vanity’. Things just seem to keep on going round and round, Ecclesiastes 1:1-10. The world is not without meaning, however. When we remember our Creator, life has moral purpose, Ecclesiastes 12:1, 13-14.

For Pumba and Timon, the apparent meaninglessness of linear life leads them to take a ‘let us eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die’ approach. Simba buys into this and grows up enjoying a carefree existence with his friends. The ‘problem free philosophy of Hakuna Matata’.

Scar’s disregard for the ‘circle of life’ takes a more sinister turn. In a world without meaning all he has left is his obsessive desire for the crown. He must maintain his position as king. Even if that means his kingdom becoming a desolate wasteland as his hyena henchmen indulge in ‘overkilling’. If life is without meaning you either get hippy drop outs who couldn’t care less, or a Nietzschian ‘will to power’.

When she eventually finds him holed up in Pumba and Timon’s carefree commune, Nala helps Simba realise that life does have purpose. Simba must take his responsibilities seriously, fulfill his destiny, and liberate the Pride Lands from Scar’s tyrannical rule.

It is at this point that the film takes on a Christian aspect. Simba becomes Aslan. The true heir to the Lion King’s throne must fight to topple the Usurper, free his people and restore the ravaged earth. There are obvious echoes here of the Lion of the tribe of Judah who conquered the powers of darkness and ransomed his people by his own blood that they may share in his reign over a renewed creation (Revelation 5:5, 9-10).

In the final scenes of the film all the creatures of the Pride Lands pay homage to King Simba. One day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. He is the true Lion King, the rightful ruler over all God’s creation, Revelation 5:11-14.