Been thinking a bit on why Mufasas death so memorable.

[Elton John]

As most of you probably already know, the time period from 1989 to 1999 was known as the Disney Renaissance. After Walts death in 1966 Walt Disney Animation Studios was at its lowest, and in the 80's until The Little Mermaid their animated movie division was incredibly close to closing down due to the waning popularity of their movies compared to the rising popularity of filmmakers like Don Bluth creator of all dogs go to heaven and the land before time.

The Little Mermaid was a HUGE success, and they then had a large string of critical and financial hits until the early 21st century.

Beauty and the Beast was the first animated film to be nominated for the oscar, for best picture.

Arguably their best movie, but inarguably their most financially successful of that time period was....you guessed it, The Lion King. It is still the highest grossing traditionally animated movie, and after two cinematic re-releases it sits at nearly 1 billion in box office revenue.

This time period for Disney was filled with many iconic movie moments but one that sticks out in many peoples minds who grew up during that era was the death of Mufasa.

Why is it? Death of family members is nothing new for Disney or animated movies. Well....

-Mufasa was THE coolest dad. The kind of dad that everyone wanted to have.

He made jokes, he was a loving and protective father. He would do anything to protect his son. He was stern and at the same time kind and gentle. His major flaw was that he was too trusting of his brother.

Simba was a little bit bratty, but deep down he loved his dad more than anything in the world.

During the stampede scene one look at Mufasas face when he learns that Simba was in danger, is the kind of face a person has when they know something bad is about to happen if they don't act quickly.

During the stampede, Mufasa is dodging and weaving in between the wildebeast, and when simba is thrown into the air he makes a desperate attempt to grab him midair by jumping and grabbing him. He is then hit and knocked down, dropping Simba. He does not give up and eventually gets Simba to safety.

You then see Mufasa climbing up the gorge, again desperate for his life. He asks scar to help him, with a voice filled with fear and Scar betrays him. Simba does not see Scar doing this, and in a moment of brilliance on the animators part, like real camerawork you see the shot go from a lower part of the gorge to a closeup of Simbas face with a look of horror that makes the scene hit even harder.

What makes this scene a big emotional punch to the stomach is how they linger on Mufasas dead body, Simba saying to his dad "we gotta go home" and then his realization that his father isn't coming back.

And then he climbs underneath his fathers dead paw, and starts crying.

To many kids the concept of death was not something usually on their minds. Hollywood is known for treating death of a main character with the grace of a Hippo trying to skateboard. This isn't something you see in most movies intended for older audiences let alone G rated family films.

Another thing that makes this scene memorable is that Scar isn't above child manipulation and murder, a subject that is even more taboo hollywood in movies.

G RATED FAMILY FUN EVERYONE.

Jonathan Taylor Thomas, the English voice of cub simba, had to imagine his mothers death while doing voicework for this scene just to get it right.

IIRC one of the other actors for the non-english role of cub simba had recently had his dad pass away at that time. That must have been a harrowing experience.

[DGFone]

There was also the added element that before The Lion King, killing off such a major character such as Mufasa was almost a taboo in animated films, which is why it was such a shocker when Mufasa was killed. Simply put, his death was unexpected because everyone knew that you don't do that in your movies.

A lot like Aerith's Death in Final Fantasy 7 when that game came out. Oh she died again?, just use a phoenix down... Whaa-? Whadda you mean she's gone for good? What? *insert big NO*

So in a very similar vain, Mufasa's death is also so much more memorable because of how unexpected it was. Yes, it made the story, and therefor the movie, so much better, but just imagine what would have happened if Disney had chosen to stick with the rules, and not killed Mufasa.

Which is what I would think have happened if Pocahontas wasn't considered to be the Big Movie and The Lion King the B movie.

[Captain Cupcake]

Y'know, regarding FFVII, it reeeeally stunk how that spoiler was actually pretty much ruined for almost everyone. The back of the PAL region game case displayed an image of the scene in full force, and the trailers for the game put it even more bluntly.

As for Mufasa, I think what gives it such an impact is the fact that the scene itself avoids the usual well-trodden cliches people have come across for some time. Simba doesn't get some cheesy and overly convenient last words with his father(disregarding the ghost scene which happens a few years later, long after the death occurred). All he was left with after that traumatizing experience was a corpse. To add to that, you're not put through scenes of sombre or repentance right afterwords either. Instead, his father's murderer comes and tells him to run away and leave his old life behind, and then sends hyenas after him to finish the job.

[TheLionPrince]

Apart from killing the major antagonists, a supporting or main character had never been killed off in an animated Disney film at least onscreen since Bambi's mother. Now, keep in mind, other animated movies released before The Lion King such as The Land Before Time featured the death of Littlefoot's mother, and The Fox and the Hound had Tod's mother killed off in the beginning, though it was done off-screen.

Back to Bambi, sources such as Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination and Turner Classic Movies, report that due to the death of Bambi's mother, it was deemed too traumatic for young viewers, and received a backlash from hunter association groups, who felt the film portrayed an unfair and biased view of hunting. More than a decade later, for Lady and the Tramp, according to IMDb's trivia, Trusty was originally written to be killed when he was hit by the wagon, though when Walt Disney viewed this scene, he was shocked and by not wanting to repeat the controversy from Bambi, he urged the animators to place Trusty at the end. For The Fox and the Hound, Chief was supposed to have died after being hit by the train, but according to Tom Sito in an article for Animation World Magazine, Ron Miller (Walt Disney's son-in-law and then-Disney CEO) and co-director Art Stevens objected, "Geez, we never killed a main character in a Disney film and we're not starting now!"

The Lion King finally crossed the line by featuring the dead body of Mufasa, and handled the theme of death quite well and mature enough for kids and adults to understand.

[SimbasGuard]

[quote="DGFone"]imagine what would have happened if Disney had chosen to stick with the rules, and not killed Mufasa.

Which is what I would think have happened if Pocahontas wasn't considered to be the Big Movie and The Lion King the B movie.[/quote]

Interesting thought, If Mufasa had not been killed the story could never have moved forward in the way we now know. In fact if Mufasa was meant to live I think that the entire movie would have had to have been set up differently. I think Mufasa would have been the star and Simba merely a supporting character. I doubt the story could have had the emotional impact it did, or been a successful as it was if the story had in any way been different from the story we know.