Now is the time to get talking about Hamlet and The Lion King. What connections did you notice between the play and the film? What obvious differences are there, and for what reasons did Disney alter the plot, characters, themes, and etc.? Share thoughts you had as you watched and things you never noticed before reading Hamlet. Use this conversation to help inform your essay response.
16 Comments
Faith
3/9/2015 02:09:46 am
There are a lot of obvious character similarities in the major characters, but I like to think about the roles of the minor characters. I was debating which character Laertes is portrayed by in "The Lion King" and I see him as the three hyenas Shenzi, Banzai and Ed. The hyenas worked for Scar in the same way Laertes worked for Claudius. The hyenas also betrayed Scar in the end, similar to how Laertes told Hamlet how had Claudius plotted to murder him. I am still undecided which character Rafiki represents. He could be Horatio because Horatio was a true friend to Hamlet like Rafiki was a true supporter of Simba. Rafiki could also partially be Polonius because he is sort of the comic relief in the film. Zazu is a better representation of Polonius however, because of his role as a protector over young Simba and Nala. Are there any other non-obvious character similarities you see?
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Alison Von Haden
3/11/2015 02:00:51 am
I also like to think about who the minor characters portray. I have not been able to figure out who Zazu and Rafiki are. I am starting to think that they are not just one person from Hamlet. Zazu and Rafiki have characteristics of more that one Hamlet character. Zazu has mentored Simba all his life, being their for him like Horatio was there for Hamlet, but he also does what Mufasa tells him to do like King Claudius told Rosencrantz and Guildenstern what to do. Rafiki is a true mentor by telling Simba go home and challenge Scar for the crown, making me think that Rafiki is Horatio. It could be possible that both Zazu and Rafiki are Horatio because of the characteristics that they show.
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Taylor Leach
4/1/2015 06:02:11 am
I like to think of Timon and Pumbaa together as Horatio. Even though they have a lot of differences, both a mentors in a way to Simba and Hamlet. Just as Horatio is a good character in Hamlet, Timon and Pumbaa are the good guys in the Lion King and just simply love Simba and don't want him to leave. They are also the only true friends to Simba just as Horatio is the only true friend that is looking out for Hamlet.
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Natalie Carlberg
3/9/2015 04:39:33 am
A similarity that I noticed was the the theme of revenge that appears in both Hamlet and the movie but in different ways. In both revenge appears between family members. In Hamlet though, Hamlet wants revenge towards his Uncle for killing his father, but in the movie Scar takes revenge on Mufasa and Simba so he can become king. I think that Disney did not follow the ending in Hamlet because Disney likes to get the point across, that family will turn on family, but they do not like to take things to the full extent of ending just about all life. I do think that there are a lot of connections and differences between the two works though!
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Sara King
3/11/2015 05:48:22 am
I agree with Natalie that the theme of revenge is very prominent in "The Lion King" and in "Hamlet." In "The Lion King," Simba gets revenge on Scar to take his place back as king. In "Hamlet," Hamlet tries to get revenge on Claudius for killing his father, King Hamlet. I also agree with the fact that Disney 'sugar coats' the whole situation by only having the antagonist, Scar, die and everyone else lives. In "Hamlet," Horatio is the only one who lives at the end, everyone else dies. The connections between the two show very well how Shakespeare has had an influence on modern society.
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Mitchell Johnson
3/9/2015 06:04:25 am
Something I found interesting was the theme of madness or insanity represented in the Lion King. To me it seemed as though Simba's whole going away was kind of the representation the madness Hamlet has in the play. The whole idea of Hanuka Matata or running from the past was always an excuse for Simba to justify his current state, which is similar to Hamlet who leans on his insanity to justify all his actions. It also makes sense in the chronological order as in both portrayals the insanity develops after the death of their fathers and ends before revenge is served upon their uncles. So although Simbas "madness" is manifested in reality I do really believe that it was meant to depict Hamlets insanity or madness.
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Jared Fogarty
3/9/2015 03:36:53 pm
There were many loose similarities that I found between the two. Simba and Hamlet both had the flaw of getting distracted and becoming inactive, although this ended in death for Hamlet. Timon and Pumbaa also strike me as being similar to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, beyond the fact that no one betrayed each other in The Lion King. Timon and Pumbaa are both good friends of Simba in his early childhood like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were in Hamlet's. Their foolishness also strikes me as similar.
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Cassie Quinn
3/10/2015 11:23:39 pm
One of the things I found interesting, or that I thought about even more so after watching The Lion King, was how differently Hamlet would have turned out if he had had the ability to leave Denmark. Simba had the chance to run away from his problems, even though that is usually not the best thing to do, and it allowed him to come back with a clear, more mature mind and handle things the right way. Hamlet was forced to just sit through and get angrier, and crazier as he had to watch the people who 'wronged' him live in peace. To him, retaliation ended up being his only escape and provided him with something to focus on instead of focusing on his real issues. I think his madness and the story of the people of Denmark could have ended a bit happier if he had the chance to escape, as it did for the animals of Pride Rock.
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Tyler Ellefson
3/27/2015 01:46:54 am
I agree that it would have been a completely different story but would it really have been better? Claudius murdered the king, took his wife and throne, and essentially ran the city into the ground with no repercussions. Without the resistance from Hamlet, I cant imagine it would have been "happier". Just as when Scar became king, Claudius' reign seemed to be far worse than the former king's and people were less happy. Also had Hamlet ran away from his life, his conscience would have got to him and he would have always wanted to redeem himself and his father. He most likely would have been far worse off, I believe, having that thought nagging him constantly.
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Remington Schneider
3/10/2015 11:26:28 pm
I think that most of The Lion King was pretty similar to Hamlet with only a few parts missing. There was no Gertrude-type characters in The Lion King and I think that is because it is a children's show and you shouldn't be showing children what Hamlet considered "incestuous". A major change in the plot was the ending of The Lion King. In Hamlet, everyone dies in a matter of minutes. This would probably not be the most accepted way of ending a children's movie so they only had the bad guy die at the end instead of Simba, Nala, Timon, Pumba, and everyone else dying as well. The creators of The Lion King just had to make these changes to fit the audience.
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Elizabeth
3/11/2015 11:19:03 pm
I disagree. I feel Sarabi IS a Gertrude character. She is the queen, holding the same place in her society as Gertrude, and has the same limited amount of power and respect that Gertrude does. They both have emotional ties to the protagonist, their son. The fact that Sarabi is sill leader of the lionesses shows that she is still the queen under Scar's rule which shows some incest. It's not blatantly obvious because it's a children's movie but it still exists, linking her to Gertrude.
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Hank Larson
3/24/2015 12:39:21 pm
Initially I agreed with Rem that Sarabi does not have much in common with Gertrude besides the fact that they were both married to the king, the protagonists father. However, after reading what Elizabeth had to say I can see the similarities pointed out. It makes sense that Disney would keep the similarly of both Gertrude and Sarabi keeping the throne of "queen" after the death of the first kings but kept it much more subtle due to the age of the audience. I also did not realize that both still had a strong emotional attachment to their sons even after the death of the father until Elizabeth pointed it out.
Pearl Davis
3/29/2015 09:01:23 pm
I see both sides of your views of Gertrude. I think that role-wise, she is definitely Gertrude. Sarabi holds the same place in their monarchy as well as the same links to the prince. In this sense she is Gertrude, just as you said Elizabeth. However, in personality, Sarabi bares little similarity with Gertrude. She shows resistance to Scar as we see at the end of the movie rather than accepting and even sleeping with him as Gertrude does with Claudius. She stands up for what she believes in and acts as a far more independent individual than Gertrude does. This can be said for the other female characters in The Lion King too. I mean, Nala is far more independent of others including Simba, while Ophelia, despite being verbally abused by Hamlet, still spends time with him. Disney probably changed this to remove some of the sexism against women present in Hamlet.
Tyler Hartung
3/11/2015 11:24:02 pm
One of the biggest differences that I've noticed was the act of revenge in both of the stories. In Hamlet it is kind of portrayed and taken as a bad choice to take revenge on his uncle who killed his father, but why was Simba's quest for revenge in Scar being rooted for throughout the movie? (Don't lie, you know you wanted Simba to succeed) I really don't know the reason why the two different yet very similar stories brought about two different reactions with the audience. Any ideas?
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Nate Day
3/13/2015 05:52:10 am
The major differences in the stories is that The Lion King ended happily while Hamlet ended in tragedy. Another difference is that Simba succeeded in his endeavors while Hamlet repeatedly failed. The stories act as opposites but they both retain a similar structure. Their differences are probably due to the intentions behind the writers. The Lion King is meant to be an inspiring tale for younger people. Hamlet was meant as a literary work that used complex theme and characterization.
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Cole Snyder
3/30/2015 06:01:31 am
Well, the essays are already in, but I'll just talk about the basics of what I wrote my essay on. I chose the theme of "Morality" and showed how it affected each character, directly or indirectly. For example, both Simba and Hamlet are the "morally right" characters. They are expected to make the right decisions, but here is where the contrast becomes apparent. Simba makes the right choices under all circumstances, whereas Hamlet does pretty much the opposite. It would be his moral duty to turn in Claudius, but instead he chooses to take a much less moral, bloody path.
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