Lion King 1: A Different Perspective On The Social Order

Lion King 1 ½ Opening Scenes: A Different Perspective on the Social Order The Lion King 1 ½ opens strongly with the characters making sarcastic remarks about how arbitrary the hierarchy is in the kingdom. It is a stark contrast to the way the first movie opens in that it does not try to convince the audience that everyone is equal or has shared experience within the society of the movie. Rather, it acknowledges that smaller animals, specifically prey, have to deal with more difficulties and less privileges than larger predators, like lions. At the same time, both Timon and Pumbaa act as mediator between the audience and the story so they interact with the viewer directly, providing the audience a perspective from a smaller and "minor" character

His dialogs often used to point out the fact that the lions have it better than everyone else, saying, "sure, the lions get the rock, what about us meerkats?" (Lion King 1 ½, 2:36) The juxtaposition between the "lions" and the "us" of that statement are more rooted in the society as a whole so that the lions make up one group and everyone else makes up the "us." The "meerkats" in Timon's statement is representative of a much large "us" that encompasses animals that are in similar situations. The lions make up the top of the food chain because everyone below them is considered prey, meaning that the "us" is in fact meaning "prey" whose lives are made substantially more difficult by having to worry about their own survival. The lions, however, are naturally stronger than the other animals and can easily use their force to show their power over other animals of the kingdom and so they are the "natural" rulers. Within the animal kingdom, that is known as a fact; however, the animals are personified and act like humans so the audience expects a human approach to class structure. The first Lion King 1 attempts to cover up the very existence of a class structure in the kingdom but Lion King 1 ½, or at least its opening, is quick to mock the inequality that presides in the society of the Lion

The camera is set of Pride Rock but zooms out very quickly until Pride Rock is so small on the screen, any viewer with average sight could not tell it was Pride Rock. (Lion King 1 ½, 3:16) While it zooms out, it appears that the land is not occupied and the luscious green fields popularly depicted in the first Lion King transform into barren dry land, where the less fortunate prey, such as meerkats, live. The zoom out allows the audience to see how large the kingdom is and paints a different picture than the more intimate settings of the first movie which open with all of the animals basking in the sun on grassy lands. Even when the Lion King 1 shows different areas of the land to the audience, it is only through screen cuts, a viewer never gets to see the distance relation to Pride Rock. Instead, Lion King 1 ½ provides the audience an understanding if just how large the kingdom is and implies that it is not as intimate as the first movie would