Research Topic

For my research paper I decided to compare the styles of different Disney movies to The Lion King. The reason I chose to do this is because The Lion King showed the change in society from needy females to more independent. Many of you may be thinking,” how does The Lion King possibly show this change?” but it really do. Let’s think about it, Simba ran away from home and planned to never return. It was not until Nala talked him into going back home to fight for his rightful power as king. Many of us did not realize that this was the most important part of the movie because without Nala, Simba might have never returned home. This topic is very interesting to me because it marks the shift in women’s role. Before The Lion King, almost all of Disney movies were about helpless women being saved by some prince charming. Cinderella, Snow White and many other Disney films follow this same theme, but The Lion king marks the change. Disney could have definitely switched the roles and made Nala the lost, helpless lion but they did not. The chose to portray a more up to date version of women, which is why I feel made it best. Everyone was tired of the basic woman needs help, man comes rescue her theme and The Lion King showed a clear difference between all the other prior Disney films. Not only do I want to compare Disney films prior to The Lion King, but also the ones that came after. In today’s society almost all of Disney films are from an animal’s perspective and I believe this is because everyone loved The Lion King. Of course animals were present in prior Disney films but never to the intensity of The Lion King.  I could seriously go on all night about my paper, because I truly think it is going to be really interesting. Well, there's a little preview for you. :)

Word count: 332

Movie Review

Arriving in theaters with a roar, The Lion King became one of Disney’s top-selling movies of all time. The movie is about a lion prince named Simba, who goes through a struggle to find himself. This tale begins with the death of Simba’s father, Mufasa and the blame being placed on him by his conniving uncle named Scar. Scar was always jealous of Mufasa, because he felt that he should be king and after the birth of Simba he knew that would never happen. After the death of Mufasa, Simba runs away out of shame and thoughts of disloyalty to his tribe. On his adventure he meets two outgoing, fun spirited animals, Timon and Pumba who teach him the true meaning of life. As the movie goes on Simba runs into one of his childhood friends named Nala, who convinces him to return home and fight for his rightful power as king. At the end of the movie Simba and Scar fight for the throne and of course Simba wins and Scar dies.

This movie had many different concepts that could be related to our everyday lives, which is why I feel it became one of Disney’s top-selling movies of all time. It wasn’t like many of Disney’s other movies, such as Cinderella or Beauty and the Beast; it showed real life traumas from an animal’s perspective. Almost everything that happened in The Lion King can be related to our personal lives.  For example, we have all have or had someone jealous of us or our accomplishments in life. There are so many people in today’s society who will do anything to bring others down in order to make their way to the top and that is exactly what Scar did. He took advantage of Simba’s ignorance, in order to become king.

Another concept I felt related to today’s society, is when Simba ran away from his tribe and in the end returned home. I feel like this  was important, because it showed the viewers that you cannot just run away from your problems, eventually you will have to face them. Children being the intended audience for the film, I think they should be able to connect to this concept and relate it to a time in their lives. When I was a child my grandmother died and I thought it was because I was constantly asking her to take me places even though she told me she was tired. So, when she died I thought it was my fault and for a while I avoided going over her house or even talking about what had happened. Seeing the way Simba faced his fear of returning home, inspired me to confront my own problems. The point I am trying to make is Simba did not have a fairy god-mother to help him become king; he had supportive family, friends and determination to gain back his power as king.

I personally recommend that everyone should go see The Lion King. It’s a movie with adventure, betrayal, and passion that will keep you alert and entertained the entire time. Some viewers claim this movie as “The best movie ever”, (Tianna Gardner) or “One of their favorite movies of all time” (Erica Wilson) and I can truly say I must agree.

Word count: 548

movie review link: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_lion_king/reviews/#page=2&type=user  Should have my name by it.

Spring Break !!!

I am so excited for spring break. I have a test in Psychology and Sociology, and then I am done. I plan on going to my classes Friday, then I am catching the bus home. I really hope my bus comes on time, because I hate waiting. I should arrive home by 3 o’ clock, my mom is picking me up. We are planning on dropping my brother off at work in Aurora and we are going shopping. I really can’t wait to go shopping, because I feel like I have been deprived out here. Eastland mall is the worst mail in the universe, it has only like three good stores it is a waste of space! Over the break I plan on sitting in the house, spending time with my family and doing my homework. All of my brothers and sisters are supposed to get together and go out because we all haven’t spent time together in a long time. We might go to Brunswick Zone and to Giordano’s; Giordano’s is my favorite pizza restaurant. Also, over the break I plan on eating at all my “home” restaurants because I miss a lot of the food. I want to go to Zaco Taco, Popeye’s, White Castle’s, Maxwell’s, Jerk Villa and Giordano’s. I love eating out as you can see, but I also plan on cooking while I am home. I might make some peach cobbler and a Sunday dinner. I am really happy to be going home, because I haven’t been home since winter break. Also, I will be going to summer school so this is the only time I will be home for a while. Although, I will be on spring break my little sister’s will still be in school so for most of the day I will be bored. Well this is the end…..

Word Count: 307