by Panpardus » October 10th, 2020, 10:42 am
I very much think, agree, and hope that Disney is very keen on capitalizing on the cultural capital invested and inherent in [i]The Lion King[/i] franchise. No doubt that's why they got Jenkins involved and he made the statement he did in the Deadline article, about wanting to tell more stories celebrating African heritage.
For better or worse, while not as much a love letter to Africa as [i]Black Panther[/i] was (since the latter was written and produced largely by black folks), [i]The Lion King[/i] as a franchise definitely felt/feels like the dedicated 'black' movie among Hollywood and Disney films for a lot of us black folk who grew up on it, same like for what [i]Mulan[/i] was meant to be for Asian (specifically Chinese) Americans, [i]Moana[/i] for Pacific Islanders, etc. I've wanted to do an in-depth piece on this topic for years now, just haven't gotten around to it. I haven't seen anybody really cover it yet, at most just in bits and pieces.
Given all of this, I'm extremely curious how they'll try to work these themes into the new film. Obviously you'll have the music (listening to [i]Rhythm of the Pride Lands[/i] as I write this, with [i]The Lion King: The Gift[/i] lined up next on the playlist), but I'm also very curious what new characters and voice actors they create/get for this. I'd personally love to hear more characters with African accents; the 2019 film expanded on the cartoon franchise by bringing that grand total up to two with Shenzi being voiced by Florence Kasumba (who I love listening to speak). Maybe they rectify their mistake and have Lupita Nyong'o involved this time.