Theme of The Lion King Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Theme of The Lion King - Essay Example The movie opens with the sunrise and the song, "Circle of Life." This song is significant because it implies that everyone and everything is part of the circle. As the sun rises, the audience witnesses a new birth of a lion cub. The song and the sunrise symbolize new birth and we understand that this new cub is not an ordinary cub, but he is the son of the king. The audience also witnesses a naming ceremony for the young cub as he is presented to the rest of the pride and brought into the circle of life. This ritual is showing the audience a very old African ritual. The cub is named Simba and it is very clear that his destiny is to become the next king. Each person in his pride has a job and a certain place in the circle. Simba will also join the circle in his rightful place but he has to be taught what he must do as a king. Simba's story is like many other ones where a young boy is reluctant to take responsibility for his life. In this case, although Simba is being primed for his job by his father Mufasa and Zazu a hornbill who is attempting to make Simba mind him, he would rather be off playing with his friends. After all, in his mind when he gets to be king, he can do anything he wants because he is the ruler. The song, "I JustCan't Wait to Be King" is a perfect example of a small child's dream about what he will do when he is king. At this point in his life, Simba really just wants to explore his childhood. He has no reason to be a king at this point and it is essential to him to just fool around.