The Lion Kind: A Revised Version

 The Lion King: Revised Version 

My most favorite Disney movie to date is The Lion King. 

Even today it can make me watch through the entire movie as if watching for the first time.

I can laugh heartily when I hear the original American wicked humor like 

“Did we order this dinner to go?”

“ No, why?” 

“ ‘Cause there it go….es!” 

And it can make me cry like a baby when Simba sees Mufasa lay lifeless after the wildebeest stampede and tries to arouse him before curling himself under his paw. 

The antics between Timon and Pumba bring back relaxed emotions amidst otherwise imperfect and troubled times.

The excitement of Rafiki when he spots Simba for the first time in years makes my heart jump with equal excitement.

And then the reinstatement of Simba as the king of the jungle validates the internal desire to see the kingdom returned to good hands. 

Today for the first time I felt that this original version of the story has a flaw. A big one that we never noticed. 

Mufasa’s portrayal is unreal. He is shown perfect. A perfect father. A perfect husband. A perfect king and statesman. A perfect visionary. A perfect philosopher. 

And because he was so perfect, everyone around him was so relaxed, unbothered to think anything can possibly go wrong. 

Until of course it went horribly wrong. But not because of Mufasa’s fault.

And then you know rest of the story. With the perfect ruler gone, the kingdom sank into a chaos. Antisocial elements took charge and law and order dissipated into lawlessness and anarchy in a very short time. 

I wonder if the makers of the movie would consider a remake with a slightly different picture of Mufasa ?

A Mufasa who is good and capable but not so perfect. He makes mistakes, some of them really big. Yet deep inside, his heart is in the right place. He really wants nothing for himself. Yet he has blind spots. He doesn’t have full understanding of what he’s doing when he invites hyenas and Scar to join the governing coalition. Or does he?

But on the fortunate side, he has a wise circle of people like his wife Sarabi, the old Rafiki and some of his ordinary subjects who don’t hesitate to give him a earful when they see his mistakes. Not just give him a lecture but they fast unto death till he corrects them or agrees to step aside. 

He listens to them and apologizes for his actions. Then shows willingness to change.

After that the original story can continue with the scheme of Scar going through, Mufasa dying, Simba fooled into banishment etc etc etc….

At least the world could get to see some reality of human limitations! The original Mufasa deceived viewers into believing perfect kings exist. 

It is the fictional portrayal of perfection that misleads people and makes them expect unattainable results from their leaders, worship the leaders and then get disillusioned. What if we push aside the illusion right from the start? And never allow it to cloud our perception? Would it bring less pain? Less disappointment?

Who knows?

We cannot eliminate the Scars and hyenas from our scenes. But the Sarabis and Rafikis can sustain hope until Simba returns to rule. 

How I wish the filmmakers don’t mislead us !! They have a responsibility to fulfil. 

Oh and do we viewers have any responsibility? Or we should all make Timon and Pumba our heroes? 

Hakuna matata !!