[quote="Regulus"]Of course it focuses on the father/son relationship. It's called the lion king, not the lion queen. The whole movie is about Simba's struggle to reclaim his position as king. Think of it this way. Mufasa's death wasn't sad because of the father/son relationship. It was sad because the leader died and his son was exiled. Look what happened to the pridelands after Mufasa died. While Simba probably would have been equally upset at Sarabi's death, if Sarabi died not much would change.
Of course, my point of view on this is quite biased. The whole father/son theme is one thing I really like about TLK. When I was younger I was very close to my father too. About four years ago, my dad got a huge promotion, and things haven't been the same since. We hardly ever spend time together anymore. Heck, he spent the whole last year in a foreign country on the other side of the world. TLK reminds me of all the good times we've had together. That's not to say I don't like my mother, in fact it has made me closer to my mom, but my father's absence in the past few years has really affected me in ways I don't even fully understand.[/quote]
Right, that's what I was saying in my post - that it's all individual. Some people grow up without mothers; some without fathers; some with both who they're equally close to; some who are just closer to their fathers; some are simply closer to their mothers. As I said, while the theme of father/son is a little overdone and you DO see it more often than mother/son or mother/daughter, it is about individual people and their families and their lives. Not everyone's the same, and just because the father/son relationship IS overdone, that doesn't make it right to undermine it (unless, of course, it's not a good relationship). It's subjective, really, I think. It isn't right to undermine a mother/child relationship or a father/child one. But again, if there is abuse involved on one side (i.e. the mother is abusing her son) then it can be a relationship that is rightfully undermined in the face of, say, a father who's good-hearted and trying desperately get custody of his son.
I'm sorry if none of this is making sense, and I don't mean to offend anyone or portray any stereotypes, just trying to get my point across, which is more difficult than I imagined it'd be.
