all mufasa’s tea.
this movie was a true masterpiece. i’ve been joking that its basically rafiki spilling all mufasa’s tea to blue ivy but it is truly more than that. (please watch the movie before reading)
as soon as the movie came on i noticed a couple of themes.
motherhood
brotherhood
trauma fueling your purpose
being the chosen one / having a purpose
i think motherhood is an important theme in the book because the movie is SURROUNDED around a mothers guiding voice. when mufasa gets lost in the river with his parents his father says “follow your mother’s voice” and mufasa does that throughout the whole movie. it’s what guided him to his rightful kingdom.
i was nervous to watch this movie because lion king is one of my favorite movies, i know every word to every song. i didnt want a live-action movie to ruin a beloved character for me. what i didn’t know was that a live-action movie oepned my eyes to so much more.
the scene where cub Mufasa gets lost at sea, i instantly thought of the song ‘nile’ by beyonce and kendrick lamar from the gift album. ‘find your way back’ is a great alternative too.
i love how from the very beginning taka embraced mufasa as his brother, didn’t care about the structure of a kingdom or what his father tried to warn him of, just happy to have someone to bond with. the way they portrayed innocence in this movie was so pure. even to have blue ivy as kiara representing innocence and royalty both on the screen and in real life, it was such a genius move on all parts. blue ivy represents the future generation, how fearless they are, how they question everything, and how they have the right to do it all.
the movie allowed us to see the difference between male lions and lionesses. those differences not only showed in their skills but it showed in their ability to be king. taka’s father refused to raise or even look at mufasa so he forced him to be raised by the women where he learned to hunt, protect, and to see with all his senses. opposed to taka being the hier and being raised by his father he didn’t learn any skills besides running, hiding, aand napping. one lesson that stuck out to me from Taka’s father was “deceit is a great tool for a king” and i guess that stuck out to taka too. When Taka begged his dad to teach him more lessons and what goes into being a king, he told him “we protect the pride while we nap, thats power” and at first i tried to understand it on a deeper level. im like oh well sleeping is a form of meditation and maybe you have to be connected to the earth and that’s how he’s able to protect the kingdom, then that albino lion came along and i knew right then and there he wasn’t protecting sh*t.
when rafiki introduced himself and how he began to start his journey to “ma lay lay” i noticed how traumatizing it was for all of them to have to pick up and leave their home. there was a line that mufasa said to his and taka’s mom “eshe” played by thandiwe newton, which by the way is the perfect voice for this nurturing and important role, but anyway, before they left he said “i have no home without you” and i almost ugly cried so loud in that theater. to encourage mufasa to keep going she gave him a goal, and that goal became a guide. she told him to remember what his mom told him and to follow the light.
their journey to “ma lay lay” was guided by the beyond. as they left their family somehow along the way they gained another. starting with rafiki, then to sarabi and zazu. i always wondered how this family was formed and how zazu came about and i couldn’t have thought of a better storyline for all of these characters to be honest.
taka was meant to push mufasa, being raised by the females was crucial for him but taka pushed him, he made him conquer his fears, he challenged his thinking and his abilities to protect his kingdom. but from the beginning it was very obvious that mufasa was the chosen one. taka’s father “obasi” told us the name “mufasa” means king. mufasa’s mane is golden. even from a cub he was golden compared to taka’s greyish coat.
when they finally got to pride land and went into pride rock with the albino lion, they discovered a secret tunnel into the ocean chile i was like “oh no this is not our business” i felt like i was not supposed to know what all went down that night. i found it very ironic and iconic even that taka begged the albino lion to not kill mufasa and the lion said “i didn’t but you did”. im not even sure if anyone else caught that but the lion didn’t kill mufasa and ultimately in the future ‘lion king’ scar indeed killed mufasa. it was like a foreshadowing easter egg.
i respected mufasa for refusing to call scar, taka again. like you know what, i’ll let you stay here, i’ll let you live and do what you want but i will not call you by the king name you were given because king’s don’t deceit their brothers. but at the same time it’s like his dad taught him that kings do deceit. it gives difference in values and although good will always outlive the bad, evil have good days too.
coming back to reality and rafiki talking to kiara, i realized there was a line he said “when destiny happens, the earth moves” and all of a sudden at the end of the big storm the sun comes back out and kiara’s parents returns with a little brother.
also, is it crazy to say my favorite part of the movie is when kiara goes “where’s my mommy?” and beyonce shows up like “im right here baby” lmaooo sounding just like beyonce. she caught me so off guard.
