Lion King for adults-Some observations from the Cat

[Regulus]

I think 'I can't believe they got away with that!'

My thoughts exactly.

Maybe we just have dirty minds.

[TheBlackCatCrossing]

We were(are) sick kids but we hid it well.

[DGFone]

Nala ain't human. Therefore they can get away with much more stuff than if she were.

Nah, I'm only half serious here. But I really do think that if The Lion King were an actual Hamlet adaptation - as in - with humans and not lions, then Disney would not have been able to do that. It's very likely that Disney was joking around and pulling the strings of the censors. After all, what did TLK get burned for? Not that scene, as obvious of a target as it is. NOOOO. It got burned for embedding "SFX" in a total of one frame in the entire movie.

Just kinda shows you how the moral guide dogs are rather.... confused, to put it mildly.

[cleargreenwater]

Thoughts?

Known around the world as "The Look that spawned 10,000 Furries"

Seriously though, my thoughts on The Look is sort of that its accepted because fits in the context of the narrative; the movie deals with a maturer coming of age theme that's a heavier story than some more topical Disney fare, and one that subtly invoking sexuality isn't out of place doing--not something Disney usually touches on, but a part of growing up.

Hunchback was just a trainwreck of a movie, LOL.

[TheBlackCatCrossing]

^If we are adult LK fans, does that make us furries?

And yes, HOND was but the soundtrack was to die for!

[cleargreenwater]

^If we are adult LK fans, does that make us furries?

And yes, HOND was but the soundtrack was to die for!

I sure as h--- hope not But it's one of those "subset" things; not all LK fans are furries, but within Furries, there is a niche of LK fans.

It's actually a quote/joke from a comedian that I came across.....somewhere.....but I can't for the life of me remember who it was or if I caught it on TV or internet to credit it


You know, I really don't remember the Hunchback soundtrack much outside of Hellfire.

[TheLionPrince]

Okay everyone, what did you think about this the first time you saw it?



Even back then I knew what was implied but as an adult now, I shake my head and laugh. I think 'I can't believe they got away with that!' To me, this image was VERY sexual. Thoughts? This along with Esmeralda's striptease dancing make me think "How did the censors ignore that one?"


Anyone?

I don't remember what I thought the first time I saw Nala's "come hither" look, so I didn't understand the context behind what was meant to be portrayed.

And as far as I know, the directors and producer Don Hahn said the scene was meant to be sexual, and called it "one of the steamiest Disney scenes ever" on the audio commentary.

So, how did the filmmakers get away with it? The MPAA was very loose on animated movies back then, and if this movie came out, it would have been rated PG since nowdays, things are so PC.

[TheBlackCatCrossing]

^Good points. It wasn't just in TLK but animation back then as well. I am a Batman fan as well and there is a rather infamous scene in one eppie where Harley Quinn asks Joker if he 'wanted to ride his Harley' and she is in a nightie. There was another instance with her and Poison Ivy and a reference to 'spanking' was referred to. I chuckle knowing that this could not have been allowed today.

I also pointed to point out, has anyone here seen the 1994 animated film 'Felidae'? There is a scene where the main character is mating with a female cat. It wasn't 'dirty' but it was like something you would see on Animal Planet. To me, that scene was TAME compared to Nala's look and that had an actual mating scene. Funny how psychology/sexuality work. LOL!

[cleargreenwater]

"Felidae" was produced in Germany and European countries have much different content standards, I believe it had an R rating from the get-go of it's US release. And from what a quick Google search shows, the Batman animated series is regarded to have a PG-13 rating--the innuendo puts it at a higher rating than TLK. I don't think even conclusions can be drawn about relative permissiveness from comparing them when each is in a different class.

Content concerns are hardly a new phenomenon that the 90s were blissfully free from. My uncle's wife actually would not ALLOW my cousins to see The Lion King when it was in theaters in 94 because she thought it was much too violent for a 4 and 7 year old. My grandmother tried every which way because I loved the movie and she wanted to spoil them equally but my uncle's wife would have none of it, thank goodness for me

It all depends on context and if any depiction of sexuality or violence or thematic elements becomes a focal point in the narrative. Both the sexuality and the violence in TLK is incidental to the telling of the story, so I think the G rating remains legit. Where fighting action is the point/focus like the Batman cartoon show, PG 13 is more accurate.

[DGFone]

It's rather funny how in The Lion King, Disney made sure that in terms of violence, it was only portrayed as much as needed to, but no more. So you do see scratches and cuts, but they disappear after only a few frames.

When Simba strikes at Shenzi to keep her off Nala, Shenzi gets a nice trio of red lines, but cut next scene, they are already gone. After Mufasa strikes at the trio, Banzai complains about it, and his back is just covered in red. All those lines were gone by the time Ed was chewing on his own leg.

So at least in terms of violence, Disney only used blood as a plot device: to show that the violent actions actually do have consequences. But when they are no longer needed, all blood lines are removed, undoubtedly to lower the rating.