Opening Scene

[KentuckyWildcat]

I got this idea from a post in the thread about when the movie takes place that mentioned both Victoria Falls and Mt. Kilimanjaro are featured in the opening scene. Obviously the vast distance between these two landmarks means that they can't both be part of the Pridelands. However, I disagree that they are just used to set the story in Africa. The fact that the story is about lions tells us that. It seems to me that the clear implication is that the animals shown in those two scenes are joining the procession to pay tribute to Simba's birth.

My question is what does this mean? Is it simply artistic license that got in the way of geographic accuracy, or is the implication that Mufasa is the king of more than just his own pride? Of course, if you think I'm entirely wrong and they're just a couple of random scenes from Africa before the story actually begins, you can say that too.

[Noah]

Are you certain that Victoria Falls and Mt. Kilimanjaro are featured in the opening? I never knew that, but would be really cool if it were the case. Here's some pictures to help us know what scene we are talking about.

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I would say that the animals seen in the opening are part of the Pridelands. All the animals are coming for the presentation of their new King. Regardless, I like your train of thought.

[TheLionPrince]

Mt. Kilimanjaro is also mentioned in The Lion King II so it seems to be part of the Pride Lands, even though it's a fanatized version of it. In The Lion King II, Kiara and Kovu are stargazing, until Rafiki transports them into the world of "Upendi"; he mentions Mt. Kilminjaro during the song:

You can beat the bush like there's no tomorrow
From Tanganyika to Kilimanjaro
But you'll find Upendi wherever you are
Oh underneath the sun

However, the filmmakers stated the film takes place in Kenya according to the audio commentary as they intended to place "Kenya, 2 years later" after the end of the "Hakuna Matata" sequence. But, Mt. Kilimanjaro is in Tanzania, but very close to the borders of Kenya, and here's a picture of its location according to Wikipedia: Mount Kilmanjaro

As Victoria Falls, it is located in between Zambia and Zimbawe, which is far away from Kenya according to this political map of Africa. The Pride Lands shouldn't be that wide of a kingdom to stretch across Tanzania, even though Mufasa states "everything the light touches is our kingdom".

It seems that maybe Mt. Kilmanjaro could be part of the Pride Lands, but Victoria Falls is too far away to be part of the Pride Lands. So, in conclusion, it seems the filmmakers just chose those popular locations for "artistic license" to capture the epic scale and scope of Africa for the opening sequence.

[Jarrett]

Never really thought about that. I just assumed it was for show, you know, something nice and recognizable to set the scene, like you said you disagreed with.

[DGFone]

Kentucky Wildcat: The post you mentioned happens to be mine, so here it is:

Again this topic? What happened to the old one?

I said in the older topic that The Lion King doesn't have a time. It could be in the past, present, or future. This is because the movie is meant to be timeless. They purposefully don't mention the atmoshperetime it is set at in the movie precisely to keep the year uncertain. In early drafts, the time-skip after Hakuna Matata said "Kenya 2 years later". This was later removed for good reasons - we know that The Lion King is set in Africa, but not where or when specifically. In the "Circle of Life" sequence, we see both Victoria Falls and Mt. Kilimanjaro. The distance between them is 2500 Km, or roughly 1500 Miles. There is no way that The Pridelands stretch from one to the other. These places were shown to show us that we are in Africa, not that the Pridelands are there. (Except for the shot of the elephants, you never see Mt. Kilimanjaro again for the rest of the movie).

The natural instinct is to give The Lion King a time zone, but really, it doesn't have one. It doesn't belong in an era. It is in a way more timeless than even the old fairy tales, which are generally set in the middle ages. As for the Lion King: if it's in a time when lions exist, then it works.

To put it plainly, there is no way that the Pridelands can stretch all the way from Mt. Kilimanjaro to Victoria falls. Even if Priderock stood on top of Kilimanjaro, the horizon, due to the Earth being round, would still not be anywhere far enough to reach Victoria falls. And that's assuming the atmosphere is perfectly clear (which it isn't) and that the air is clean enough to see 1500 miles.

So Noah: Even if it's made to look like the animals are all coming to the Pridelands, I doubt they are simply because of the vast distances involved. Like I said in my post, I think the scenes were made to show off Africa as a whole, not just the Pridelands.