Hyena March.

[cleargreenwater]

The reference was intended to be understood by most of the original audience, provided their age allowed it.

Just as it was always understood at the time that yes, the hyena march in TLK *was* intentionally modelled after the Nazis, and this was immediately apparent to viewers. The Holocaust was present in everyone's minds at the time, the blockbuster movie Schindler's List had just been released the year before and Anne Frank's unedited diary before that in 1991.

If you really want to you can un-see something intentional and intended, but the creators really wanted it to be visible to those of an age to understand it.

They were trying to move TLK out of the realm of *just* a children's movie, and this is one of the ways they achieved that.

[Kopalover]

I actually quite like that scene. No, I'm not a Nazi, but I still do like that scene.,
The Pridelands, could be Poland, and the Pridelanders could be the Jewish. The elephant Graveyard is Germany, and Scar is Adolf Hilter. The Graveyard, is going through a rough time, much like Germany before the take-over.
Much like Adolf Hitler; Scar wants to take over and rule it all. And Zira? Zira could be our Ada (Lack of last name because I can't recall it). Simba, with his Red mane, could be the Red Army that saved it all. If my history is correct, judging by the posts above.
Simba takes the land back and divides the lands. Much like the government after WWII.
That's just my take on all this, I'd like to hear your opinions on what I said :3

[TheLionPrince]

I actually quite like that scene. No, I'm not a Nazi, but I still do like that scene.,
The Pridelands, could be Poland, and the Pridelanders could be the Jewish. The elephant Graveyard is Germany, and Scar is Adolf Hilter. The Graveyard, is going through a rough time, much like Germany before the take-over.
Much like Adolf Hitler; Scar wants to take over and rule it all. And Zira? Zira could be our Ada (Lack of last name because I can't recall it). Simba, with his Red mane, could be the Red Army that saved it all. If my history is correct, judging by the posts above.
Simba takes the land back and divides the lands. Much like the government after WWII.
That's just my take on all this, I'd like to hear your opinions on what I said :3

That's a very good historical comparison. I always love to see TLK as an allegory of historical events.

However, at the end, Simba doesn't divide the Pride Lands when he ascends to the throne, although he does exile a pride called the Outsiders to the nearby Outlands, but it is not part of the mainland of the kingdom. But, let's say it was and playing with what your historical comparisons, the divided Pride Lands (Pride Lands and Outlands) can be an allegory for West and East Germany. At the end of Simba's Pride, the two kingdoms have merged into one, as did Germany at the end of the Cold War.

Hitler's "wife" was named Eva Braun. Due to her devoted love for Hitler, I love to compare her to Zira. I even mentioned it one time.

[TheLionPrince]

^Germany was not physically divided untill 1961 and it's reunification wasn't the end of the cold war either. The Berlin wall fell in 1989. The cold war wasn't over untill 1991. The DDR's collapse and the USSR's collapse are 2 years apart.

Okay, I made minor historical errors, but you still get my point.

At the end of Simba's Pride, the two kingdoms have merged into one, as did Germany at the end of the Cold War.

Correction. At the end of Simba's Pride, the two kingdoms have merged into one, as did Germany in 1990 after the Berlin Wall fell. The Berlin Wall in Simba's Pride was torn down when the Pride Landers and the Outsiders broke their prejudices against each other after Zira's death.

[DGFone]

Now that I think about it, I don't think that the pillars represent the Reichstag, and here is why:

The building was constructed in the neo-classical style similar to: Greek and Roman buildings (the creators of this style), the US Capitol Building, many other capitol buildings, numerous monuments... Non of these really scream "evil dictator", and many are far more famous than the Reichstag.

And speaking about being famous, the Raichstag is really only known for being conquered by the Soviets during WWII. In fact, I am sure that many Americans never heard of the Reichstag until Call of Duty: World at War (was also featured in CoD 1, but that game wasn't as famous), where you have to plant the Red Flag on top of the thing.

So as far as the pillars go, I think the only symbolism they have is how Scar is above the hyenas, and not necessarily any historical references.

[DGFone]

A european, who knows our history would be perfectly fine with the explanation.

Guess who the target audience is.

Otherwise, you might as well show TLK to a bunch of African children and ask them to tally anything that's wrong in how the movie represents the African wildlife, culture, and history.

[DGFone]

Actually, not really. The target audience would in fact be the dumb average American. I.E. people who haven't heard of the Reichstag until someone in the family stormed it in CoD.

[DGFone]

Do remember that The Lion King was made by Americans. Sure, your beer may be brewed in the Netherlands, but beer is not exactly a one-nation thing. Just about every nation has some kind of brewing industry.

But as for creating animated movies, you have in the end only two big players: Dreamworks and Disney. Both are American.

Sure, they might want an international audience, but at the end of the day, the people at Disney work in an American environment, and because of that, they create a movie for Americans. Just look at it like this: Disney animators make a movie that they want their own, American, children to see. Not a movie for that one dude in Europe.

[DGFone]

My point is proven. This is for a worldwide audience. My argument makes complete sense.
American company=American audience is BS.

How is you're point proven?
Disney used the audience reference of their own children, who happen to be American. Simply saying "American company=American audience is BS" doesn't automatically prove your point, especially because in this specific case, you're quite wrong.

[DGFone]

Not 1 minute into looking in the right area...

Not how they all talk about their own families when figuring out what to with the story:
http://www.mylionking.com/theatre/lk/pr ... es_to_life

What it comes down is that the production team had what they thought would be great ideas. Who defines "great"? They do. And they happen to be Americans. This movie may be for an international audience, but the culture that made it is American.

I don't know about you, but unless you go into a history major, you're not going to learn about the Reichstag here in American schools. No one really cares about that one building that housed the short-lived, horrible German democratic system right before WWII. Here in America, the Reichstag is not a house-hold name.