Lion King Class Structure

How Perspective Changes the Way the Animals View a Class Structure Both of the Lion King movies are told from different perspectives, the first one being told from the point of view of Simba, a young lion born into the most powerful family in the animal kingdom. Contrastingly, Lion King 1 ½ is primarily told from the perspective of Timon, a meerkat that is nearly at the bottom of the hierarchal chain because his species are prey to most animals. The class position of both Simba and Timon play a large role in how both view a society dominated by class structure. Simba is at the food chain so he has the privilege to see the society he lives in, as a positive one because it benefits him whereas Timon is at the bottom of the food chain and therefore thinks of his society structure as a negative on because it put him and his species at a large disadvantage.

As the light from the sun slowly illuminates the land on the horizon, Mufasa says to Simba, "Look Simba everything the light touches is our kingdom...one day the sun will set on my time here and rise as you as the new king." (Lion King, 9:18) The ownership of the kingdom is clear in the "our" possessive pronoun and Mufasa makes it very apparent that Simba will be the new king one day, implying that his role in society is already determined and he has little free will in that decision. Because of his place in society, Simba can take ownership of the entire kingdom, giving Simba an significant amount of privilege that surpasses that of any other