LION KING: HYENAS DESERVED BETTER! >:(
I'm a Disney fan. Always has been. Probably always will be. Sure the live-action films have gotten on my nerves and yes, I feel as though the newer movies just don't seem to capture the magic of Disney. But I still watch their movies, because this company is kind of inescapable at this point. So to celebrate our corporate overlords, I decided to host a Disney Renaissance Movie Night. All by myself. Because I have no friends...
For those of you who don't know what the Disney Renaissance movies were, it was essentially the period of time where Disney released all their major hits: The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules...the Rescuers Down Under? You remember that movie, right?
But if course my favourite movie of this time was the Lion King. What's not to love? Talking animals, amazing music and very nostalgic animation. And who could forget "LoNG LivE thE KiNg." I was obsessed with this movie when I was younger. Couldn't stop watching it! But when I rewatched it that movie night at a much older age, somethings didn't seem right to me. Namely the hyenas
Now let me get this straight: The Lion King is a kid's movie. I understand that just because it is a kid's movie doesn't mean that it's above criticism or shouldn't be take as seriously. This is just a silly little Film Theory that was written by someone who spends WAY too much time on the internet. But just hear me out!
In this bit, I was going to provide the plot for the Lion King, but...I'm too lazy. I was also going to warn about spoilers, but this movie has been out for almost 12 years. It's kinda on you now, mate. The main topic of this post: hyenas. They laugh, they eat and wow Shenzi is kinda hot-
I'm sorry, I can't seem to get through any conversation without calling at least one thing hot. As you can see from my last post, I am definitely NOT a degenerate simp. Now the hyenas live in the Outlands, essentially the worst place to live in the setting of The Lion King. That seems to be the place where all the "bad" animals go. And the hyenas are one of them. Now the things is the hyenas in the movie are meant to be villains, being Scar's lackeys and all. But...I don't see it. First of, yes they are annoying and obnoxious. But that doesn't mean that they should be thrown into some under resourced and unsafe environment like the Outlands. If that applied to the real world, every middle-aged Caucasian woman with a bad blonde haircut asking to speak to the manager should be thrown into the furnace. THAT WAS A JOKE, THAT WAS A JOKE, THE KAREN MEME IS NOT OUTDATED YET ( at least in my heart). Secondly, they are Scar's minions because they are hungry and want to eat the Prideland animals. If I recall correctly, weren't the hyenas starving and not getting enough food. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I would kill a man just to get a McDonald's McFlurry. If the crazy sexy lion dictator offers you the chance for food when you don't have any, you take it
Where am I going with this? Well, all the hyenas have been banished to the Outlands. Like, ALL of them. Seems like a little racist (I mean, speciesist?) to assume that ALL hyenas are dangerous and evil. If you watched the Lion Guard (yes I watched the Lion Guard shut up), we meet Jasiri, an actually nice hyena who becomes good friends with Kion. They sing a song and everything, but Jasiri and a lot of hyenas actually still live in the Outlands. It just rubs me the wrong way
Can you believe Disney? Promoting such hateful stereotypes of hyenas! It's an outrage. In my perfect world, all anyone should ever watch is One Piece on repeat. Because that show is totally not political at all. This post was very disorganized. I had a whole Film theory video essay on it, but I'm getting bored of typing
Chao~