Humans in the TLK Universe?

[DGFone]

I know this topic has been debated many many times before, but I wanted to ask this again because there are several things I noticed recently that might put this question into a new perspective:

In the movie, there are several things that are said that you wouldn't expect animals (even talking animals) to say without human contact. The most obvious is when Simba got upset about Mufasa not allowing him to go along to chase the hyenas out of the Pride Lands: "Awe man!", and the second is in the jungle when Nala discovers Simba there: "Would you guys excuse us for a minute?"

I might excuse Nala's phrase, but what are the chances that the animals would come up with the concept of a minute without humans? After all, measuring out a minute takes very precise calculation and instrumentation. However, it's Simba's phrase that seems most unusual, considering that it most directly references our species. It's makes sense for humans to say "aw man", but for a lion?

However, what made me want to create this topic were the lyrics to Warthog Rhapsody, the original song that was replaced by Hakuna Matata. Timon is telling Simba (in song) about the benefits of eating insects over other things: "they ain't endangered species, and they don't fight back!"

This also seems to point at that humans do exist in the TLK universe, because humans are very much responsible for causing a lot of species to be endangered, as well as upon realizing that, creating the endangered species list in the first place.

What do you all think?

[juhouh]

TLK universe is Earth therefore humans do exist but just didn't appear in the movies. I can't find any reason why wouldn't they exist. Outsiders (in Simba's Pride) knew what are the guns by recognizing its sound and shape. Probably they had problems with the hunters as well. Who knows but that's just how I see it

[Carl]

Well considering that vast expanses of Africa are very sparsely populated... I mean why should we assume there aren't humans? They probably just avoid the lions territory because you know, lions are lions.

[Regulus]

Humans do not canonically exist in the universe, that is a fact. Perhaps they were supposed to, but if so, they were cut before the final act. As for your evidence, it is minimal at best. Those are merely figures of speech, so I consider it a jest.

Not every line is meant to be interpreted literally. The word minute can mean a short amount of time, contextually. Simba never started counting to sixty. What makes you think he meant sixty seconds instead of "a little while" is a mystery.

"Aw man," is a phrase of disappointment, can't you tell? Such is my reaction explaining this again--conveying my point last time didn't work well. To repeat myself, it's like a kid saying "oh f***!" He doesn't know what the word means, he just knows he's out of luck. Would you think it different if he said "this sucks," instead? The phrase wouldn't mean he knows a thing about pressure differences or hydraulic head.

Making a movie without such speech would be really really hard. All lions do is eat and sleep; if you write with only those thoughts, your script won't go farther than a yard. As we can see, the lions in TLK have the brains to be human-y. They have their rules, their ethics, their shaman, and their religion. In my fics, they communicate by carrier pigeon. Knowledge of endangered species isn't too far to imagine. Perhaps Mufasa made a rule to protect the hunted, and chased the poachers from the region. After all, we know of the circle of life, as Mufasa explained. From it, we know the philosophy of the kingdom: to ensure stability, we must keep the endangered from becoming too strained.

[Carl]

Was this meant to be discussed canonically? I was pretty sure there was no debating that.

I don't think humans were necessary for those phrases of speech mentioned in the OP. I mean they were just used for our benefit anyway. But theoretically speaking, I see no reason to assume humans do not exist for the purposes of handcanons and fics and theories and such. I mean obviously there are no humans in the films.

[SlayerOfLight]

Not sure, but I kinda believe the characters both replace and resemble humans. Because let's be honest... They may look like lions but barely act like lions at all. Theoretically it is not impossible for humans to exist in the TLK universe, but the thing is that they aren't important and make no appearance since the movie is about the animals, so it would be pointless to include humans.