The Ethics of 'The Lion King'

[Carl]

While browsing Final Fantasy Wiki, I happened upon this article about TLK and gave it a read, and quite honestly I felt it would be an excellent topic for discussion.

I don't necessarily fully agree with the points made in that article (and find it odd that the author presents Nuka and Vitani in two images as if they are different characters) but I have been saying for years that what Simba did to the outsiders was wrong and that the hyenas are not evil. I do not think Mufasa and Simba are evil either, but I do agree that the policies they have kept in place are wrong. I understand the reasoning (at least on Simba's part, we know very little about Mufasa, truthfully), but it still isn't right.

All hyenas are banished to the Outlands where there is, to quote Zira, "little food, less water." All of them are. Yet the franchise has acknowledged that not all hyenas are bad with the existence of Jasiri; and even if we ignore TLG entirely and focus simply on the films, we see those hyenas are simply hungry. Unlike Janja and his crew, they don't seem to have any ill will towards the "Circle of Life." We can't be sure why the hyenas were exiled initially, and it may or may not have been a just punishment, but the fact is that not all of them are evil, yet Simba and Mufasa would have them all punished.

Scar's supporters (even if you call all of the Outsiders such, which I personally do not, because SP seems to imply that only Zira was loyal to him) were obviously not a real threat to Simba as they joined him so easily; this shows they weren't evil either, but they too were forced into starvation. This is really absurd, it's like if the president kicked people out of the country for favoring his opposite-wing predecessor. Was Zira dangerous? Yes. Were her friends and cubs? Not so much.

Again, I will reiterate that I don't see Simba or Mufasa as evil nor do I excuse Scar's actions; I don't want anyone getting that impression. It's just examples of how they aren't perfect. I'm fully prepared for most of you to disagree entirely with the viewpoint that what Simba and Mufasa did to the hyenas and Outsiders was unjust, as well, but I'm sure you have your reasons.

Personally I feel all of the characters encompass a vast area of morally grayness.

[Elton John]

I just view that Mufasa does what he did to preserve balance in the pridelands. There are plenty of predator types in the pridelands but they're allowed to stay. Maybe the hyenas ate more than what was necessary to survive? Judging by janja and his group they don't seem to mind attempting unnecessary bloodshed. That means they are a threat to the balance of nature.


And with zira and the outsiders, they're traitors. They sided with a lion who pretty much screwed up simbas life, and are loyal to a lioness who would love nothing more than to kill every pride land lion out of vengence.

These animals are all threats to simba and his family and pride. I can see jasiri becoming welcome in the pridelands like how vitani / kovu / the other outsiders were.