The Lion King Controversies

[Hakuna Matata]

You probably all know this, but I find it really really interesting.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

The Lion King

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f3/Lionkingcharacters.jpg

Kimba the White Lion Controversy

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/96/Kimbasimba.JPG

The Lion King was originally advertised as being the first animated Disney film not based on an already-existing story. However, elements of the film bear a resemblance to a famous 1960s Japanese anime television show, Kimba the White Lion.

One similarity between the two is that the protagonists' (Kimba and Simba) names are very alike. Other coincidences include that most characters in Kimba have an analogue in The Lion King and that various individual scenes are nearly identical in composition and camera angle. Early production artwork on the Lion King Platinum Edition DVD even depicts a white lion. Disney's official stance is that any resemblance is coincidental, and directors Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff stated that they were well into the development process before the Kimba similarity was identified. Despite the resemblances between the film and the series, neither Disney nor the family of Osamu Tezuka, Kimba's creator, has filed a lawsuit.

In addition, in 1993, a person asked Roy Disney in a Prodigy session that whether there would be any nice motherly figures in future Disney animated films, and Disney replied that Kimba's mother in the following year's The Lion King will be lovely.

Matthew Broderick stated that he understood he was being hired as a voice actor for a Disney remake of Kimba The White Lion.

The character designs and scenes are the only thing that are presumably taken from Kimba, the story from the anime and the Lion King story are quite different.

The filmmakers, however, admitted that the story of The Lion King was inspired by the 1942 Disney animated film Bambi, the Joseph and Moses stories from the Bible, and William Shakespeare's Hamlet.

Christopher Vogler, in his book The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure For Writers, described Disney's request that he suggest how to improve the plot of The Lion King by incorporating ideas from Hamlet.

The plot also bears a resemblance to the Ancient Egyptian myth of Osiris and Set. According to the myth, Set murdered his brother, Osiris, out of jealousy. Horus, Osiris's son, later battled and defeated Set in a fight for the crown of Egypt. In addition, the plot also is noted as sharing some striking elements with the west African Epic of Sundiata.


Alleged Subliminal Message

http://snopes.com/disney/graphics/lionani.gif

In one scene of the film's original VHS and LaserDisc releases, it appears that the word "SEX" was embedded into several frames of animation, one where Simba flops down and dust swirls into the word sex, and another when Mufasa comes to see Simba, the word sex can be seen in the swirls of clouds which conservative activist Donald Wildmon asserted was a subliminal message intended to promote sexual promiscuity. However, the films' animators have stated that the letters spell "SFX" (a common abbreviation of "special effects"), and was a sort of innocent "signature" signed by the effects animation team to the work they did.

http://snopes.com/disney/graphics/lionkg1.jpghttp://snopes.com/disney/graphics/lionkg2.jpg
http://snopes.com/disney/graphics/lionkg3.jpghttp://snopes.com/disney/graphics/lionkg4.jpg

Due to the controversy it caused, the image has been edited out of the 2003 DVD and VHS editions.


The Lion Sleeps Tonight

The use of the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" in a scene with Timon and Pumba, has led to disputes between Disney and the family of South African Solomon Linda, who composed the song (originally titled "Mbube") in 1939.

In July 2004, the family filed suit, seeking $1.6 million in royalties from Disney. In February 2006, Linda's heirs reached a legal settlement with Abilene Music, who held the worldwide rights and had licensed the song to Disney for an undisclosed amount of money.)


Alleged Racism

Upon its release, some critics complained that the hyenas in the film depicted negative racial stereotypes of urban blacks and Hispanics.

It has been argued the "despicable hyena storm troopers speak in racially coded accents that take on the nuances of the discourse of a decidedly urban, black and Latino youth".

In the movie, the lion kingdom is shown to fall into disrepair when the evil Scar allows the hyenas and lions to live side by side.

[Guntur]

Actually my friend we already have a discussion about this but it's okay because some of new member don't know much about TLK controversies and we need a new opinion anyway. But your post are well constructed :).

Anyway here's a reference and old opinion :).

Kimba the White Lion:

http://www.leahalalela.com/showthread.php?threadid=3791&highlight=Kimba

Alleged Racism:

http://www.leahalalela.com/showthread.php?threadid=5310&highlight=Racism

[TX-101]

Less you know better you feel.

copy or not, I think TLK will always stay much better than KTWL.

that "SEX" "SFX" thing is tottal bull****. sorry on a word.

Racism... Never thought about it. I think it really wasnt meant like that. Some idiots got it as a result of their low IQ and now you have a reason to relate a movie you dont like with racism.

[nathalie]

It was in fact SFX (special FX), but I saw it on my original tape, it looks like SEX :s
And according to many others, it looked like that too.

Anyways, it's cut out ever since, so no worries, hehe ^^

[HasiraKali]

They just changed the colour for the DVD release. It's green now. :lol:

[Shadow]

"roles eyes" an other kimba /simba thread gah...

and the whole hiden letters thing come on!

they just made the flowers randomly fly and you can probebly found" god hates everyone" or "am a molester" if ya look close enough...i mean come on if ya look close enough ya can find this kind of stuff in every movie its jus plain freaking ridecelus >.>

[Hakuna Matata]

"rolls eyes" an other kimba / simba thread gah...
First of all, I'm new here, so show some patience and tolerance for gods sake, and second, it isn't just a Kimba / Simba thread, seeing as it's about every single Lion King controversy.

[Guntur]

Originally posted by Hakuna Matata
First of all, I'm new here, so show some patience and tolerance for gods sake, and second, it isn't just a Kimba / Simba thread, seeing as it's about every single Lion King controversy.

How bout NO? :idiot: [/end sarcasm] :hugs:

Now it's time to post my opinion:

I don't think they copy KTWL 100%. it's only coincidence. Because I don't see any similarity except for the protoganist name.


I shall repeat my opinion from the racism thread using my old username

what..???... come on. it's just a cartoon with some good moral in it.
timon and pumbaa is homosexual? nahh.. they just say to the kids..
friends are forever. About Man Dominant - Man Should play a important keyrole and the female is the supporter.
Hyenas is Hispanics?.. err. Que Pasa.. we all know that Cheech Marin is a Mexican.
i can't understand why those guy waste time, money, ideas on some crap?...

R

I don't think Disney wanna make a very heavy sensitive movie because it's for the movie is aim for the children, teenagers and animal lover.
They say Timon and Pumbaa are homosexual. IMO: No, because they want the kids to know that during childhood friends are important and they encourage to learn the value of friendship.
Hyenas - Hispanic? We all know that cheech Marin are Mexican American, people really judge about people apperances and races this days eh?

[This Land]

Originally posted by Hakuna Matata
First of all, I'm new here, so show some patience and tolerance for gods sake, and second, it isn't just a Kimba / Simba thread, seeing as it's about every single Lion King controversy.

Chill Dude :cool:

Just that there is a thread search function on this forum, search around the forum using this before posting a thread :D

and i dont think Shadow here was personnely attacking you ;). he is just saying in general ^^

[nathalie]

Originally posted by shadow
and the whole hiden letters thing come on!

they just made the flowers randomly fly and you can probebly found" god hates everyone" or "am a molester" if ya look close enough...i mean come on if ya look close enough ya can find this kind of stuff in every movie its jus plain freaking ridecelus >.>

As said before, those letters are true ;)

SFX = Special EX

But some saw the F as E ...

[Guntur]

^ I heard (from Lea i think, 2 years ago) a 7(or less) year old boy complain to his mother about S.E.X in TLK. Is it true?

Well, The old thread is gone. *sniff*


Originally posted by shadow
and the whole hiden letters thing come on!

they just made the flowers randomly fly and you can probebly found" god hates everyone" or "am a molester" if ya look close enough...i mean come on if ya look close enough ya can find this kind of stuff in every movie its jus plain freaking ridecelus >.>

I swear to god I can see my own reflection in the movie while i'm watching TLK on TV :cheese:

[nathalie]

I think I posted that once.

Was a Dutch article in the newspaper over here back then, and I remember translating it.

But Disney puts "hidden" stuff in many of it's movies.
(Monsters Inc. is full of it, hidden Mickey's, Disney characters appearing in other movies, etc...)
SFX was the hidden thing in Lion King.

[Guntur]

Ah yes, Actually there's a segment about hidden mickey in Disney Channel Asia.

example: http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y197/lucylioness/LIONKING_3-6.jpg
Original post by Lucy Lioness

[TX-101]

Mah.. you know what? They can afford it. After all it's their logo and doesent means anything bad. I havent noticed it anywhere so its not disturbing. Untill they use Apple logo or Microsoft or eBay in it it doesent bothers me.

[Utora]

It's a movie made by humans, and that in itself lies the truth of the situation. God knows what they were on when they wrote the script or painted the scenes for the lion king. Probably eating paint chips.

Everyone sees this movie and internalizes it, reasons with it, and absorbs elements that are unique to them.

I say tomato, you say tomatoe. [spends 9 mins trying to spell the word right; doesn't know]

Disney has always created their movies off of past events, history and their own imagination in between; least the old classics and such. It's so obvious it's from Kimba the White Lion it's irelevant, you know what I mean? It's so good it is useless to convince us otherwise.

:lol:

But that's why it's so great. We each have this view and we share it and it becomes, universal. You see it again and go "Ahhh...I think I see -their- point." and learn something new, good or bad is up to you.

:evilgrin:


If we all thought the same then we wouldn't be thinking, and there would be no contraversy, but we all think apart and there will always be deabtes.

Always trying to get someone else to see their way of the situation, and getting flustered when someone else has a better idea and they didn't see that themselves.

The circle, of life.

:lol:

[Guntur]

^ Nice explaination Utora =), very detail!

[Sadiki]

Nothing more to say about the topic than has been said before or I haven't said in previous threads, but I do say that no matter how old member you are, you may still post thread about same subject that's already done as the Search system is not 100% accurate and the names of the threads vary. Like I probably have missed out hundreds of threads while having breaks in past 4 years.

[Shadow]

Originally posted by Hakuna Matata
First of all, I'm new here, so show some patience and tolerance for gods sake, and second, it isn't just a Kimba / Simba thread, seeing as it's about every single Lion King controversy.


show some patience and tolorance? your demanding it now thats intresting http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v351/Shadow_89/Smylies/SmugKiara60.jpg

lissen "new guy" http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v351/Shadow_89/Smylies/Sarcastic.gif

like everyone else on this forum you gota earn my patience and tolorance and your not setting a good example on tolorance yourself getting sutsh a flip when im just basicly "as TL said" stated my opinion and was not personaly attacking you
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v351/Shadow_89/Smylies/bleh.gif


now that aside lets leave it at that our this will turn out to be an other of those awful argue thread http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v351/Shadow_89/Smylies/Uhhuh.png


its a lie Fendi its me!! am all over TLK its just am so god damn good at hideing that ya cant see me!...when you see a black spot thats just a little part of me i didnt managed to hide

:evilgrin:


and i akshely agree with STM on that pointhttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v351/Shadow_89/Smylies/simbasmile.gif

[FCSimba]

The way I see it, both of you were a little "touchy" on the matter. ;)

Shads, you know I love you bud--but the "*rolls eyes* another Kimba/Simba thread* DID sound a bit ruder than I'm sure you intended it to. :p I know that you weren't trying to be a turkey, but you came off a little harsh. Maybe next time you can express your exhasperation a little more...fluffy like? :hugs:

But Hakuna Matata, fighting fire with fire doesn't really work either. :thinks:

I like this subject and I, for one, haven't been around in the past to read about it. Sorry, I'm one of the slow ones...:cheese:

Anyway, just everyone get along. Show a little love! ;):love:

[Shadow]

fluffly like ? merh why do we always gota "cute fy" things i meant what i said not to hurt anyone but i meant what i said none the less but fine sorry etc if my post hurt someone but i did state up there that it wasent meant to hurt anyone http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v351/Shadow_89/Smylies/dejected.gif

so all cool?..hakuna mattata?

[FCSimba]

I know Shads =) You're not the type of fellow to be mean to anyone just for the heck of it. I'm just sayin' it could'a been put a little less grumpily. :p No sad'ness buddy. I luff you. :hugs:

[Hakuna Matata]

Originally posted by shadow
show some patience and tolorance? your demanding it now thats intresting http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v351/Shadow_89/Smylies/SmugKiara60.jpg

lissen "new guy" http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v351/Shadow_89/Smylies/Sarcastic.gif

like everyone else on this forum you gota earn my patience and tolorance and your not setting a good example on tolorance yourself getting sutsh a flip when im just basicly "as TL said" stated my opinion and was not personaly attacking you

=-=Translation=-=

Show some patience and tolerance? You're demanding it...now that's interesting.

Listen "new guy", like everyone else on this forum, you've got to earn my patience and tolerance, and you're not setting a good example on tolerance yourself; getting such a flip when I'm just basically, as TL said, stating my opinion and was not personally attacking you.

=-=End Translation=-=

I am new here (don't worry, I don't think I'll stay here for much longer if this is what I'm going to get in the first week I joined), so is it really that hard for you to comprehend that maybe, just maybe I don't know absolutely every single thing about this forum?

If I was here for a few years, then by all means tell me off (although I wouldn't be doing it if I'd been here for a few years), but I've been here for a frickin' week and you're saying "another Simba/Kimba thread" like I should already ****ing know there's been previous threads created years and years ago that no-one has posted in for years and years.

Now there are certain ways of telling "n00bs" like myself how things are, and how things work, and you obviously haven't mastered that. All I wanted was to discuss my favourite movie of all time. That's all I wanted.

[FCSimba]

:( Okay Hakuna Matata, you've got a point. But no more fights. Shadow is just...I don't know. Don't leave, Lea is a great place. :hugs: I'm sorry you saw the worst so soon--but hey, stick around for the best. ;) I like this topic, and I've never seen it before either! Just...let's all get along? Pwease?

*puppy eyes* :cheese:

[Hakuna Matata]

Originally posted by FCSimba
:( Okay Hakuna Matata, you've got a point. But no more fights. Shadow is just...I don't know. Don't leave, Lea is a great place. :hugs: I'm sorry you saw the worst so soon--but hey, stick around for the best. ;) I like this topic, and I've never seen it before either! Just...let's all get along? Pwease?

*puppy eyes* :cheese:
Because you're so nice, yes. :cheese:
And yes, Lea is great, and from everything I've seen up until today, I think it's one of the best forums around. :browlift:

[FCSimba]

:hugs: Aww shucks. :lol: Well regardless, I'm glad this won't deter you from stickin' around. You've posted some pretty cool subjects so far!

Oh! And now to be on topic:p--I can't see the pictures after the first two--but that is a remarkable resemblence. :thinks:

[Sharifu]

Originally posted by shadow
the whole hiden letters thing come on!

they just made the flowers randomly fly and you can probebly found" god hates everyone" or "am a molester" if ya look close enough...i mean come on if ya look close enough ya can find this kind of stuff in every movie its jus plain freaking ridecelus >.>

Disney said themselves it's SFX.

[Shadow]

Hakuna Matata your really not living up to your nickname you know...

i did say i was sorry but you seem to be so utterly asking for a fight that you missed both times i said it.. but merh..keep that sorry your not worth the time nore the effort to fight with when you just tottaly ignore an appolegy in a try to avod a fight...but seems you want one with all the hard words whining, compleaing as you said yourself on what "noob" you are...even though i never stated any sutsh thing... nore how things is handeld here i think your a little to upset and seem to have a solid aim to not like me that you must have imagen thoes things being said...stay on the forum or leave ..i coulent care less..

all i said is that an other of these threads with rolling eyes...nothing personal agesnt you but the topic then you started complaning and i appoligsed then you didnt care abut it and conitnuted to express your "hate" towards me...you made this escelate not me...so suit yourself..

you are right on one point though Lea is the best forum around :D

and thanks for translating for me thats kind of you =D

and if now disney said its offichaly SFX then whats all the fuzz abut ?:thinks:

[nathalie]

The fuzz is about, that many people did not see the F, but an E ;)

[Shadow]

ohhhh arlight :o

heh well i know abut all the "sex" and hidden message thing and stuff and SFX but i never heard that they offichaly annoused SFX...you know they could be lying to protect there own hinds :evilgrin: but i doupt it hehe

[Guntur]

or Maybe Sound FX or SFX are kind of new during that time :)

[Shadow]

now that be premoting the sound company wouldent it ? :confused: "like comerhsals on tv...and to get that permently printed in secretly in tlk that must have cots hell of alot of money :thinks:

[LunarCat]

personally, i think it's a coincidence...i don't think anyone would be stupid enough to try putting in the word sex....if anything the dust floating around would have been done by the special effects department so SFX is a reasonable explanation. But anyway....i still stick to the coincidence part.