#disney tlk

[angelicheaven12]

If i say who are more complex character than stolas and i know probably still stirred unpopular opinion and *clear my throat* let me introduced you to my boii had been having PTSD because he LITERALLY witnessed his father death and got blamed for it by his evil ass uncle and he doesn't had time for grieving especially it caused him to having bad temper and overprotective even strict toward his children especially kiara but he actually TRIED his best as his father despite imperfections and you know what- Im would keep ranting about how complexities and depth on simba character that many tlk fandom mischaracterized it even disney itself

[divinepowerfulgoddess]

Sorry i wasn't posting lot on tumblr especially i gave you free content of simba especially he is my bbg and my beloved

[angelicheaven12]

You know simba doesn't deserve all hate that he get from TLK fandom because he literally through some shit when he was kid and even he got blamed for his own father death by his uncle and scar is 100% asshole for that and he had through some grief and he even had low self esteem and he felt he wasn't worthy for throne because scar btw i would ranting about simba all day

Simba and PTSD

[krossan]

if the movie Mufasa was 2D animated

[artist-issues]

Let’s talk about this Mufasa movie.

No. Let’s not. Let’s just talk about Mufasa. This is going to be long because he’s a really good character and The Lion King is a really good movie.

Mufasa’s whole point, as a character, is to foil Simba. He’ s not just the stereotypical “great dad role model” character, or the “wise mentor who is ripped away” character.

He, as a character, is in the story because he is “Who Simba Really Is.”

Simba is our young protagonist. The whole point of Simba in the story is to start out “not yet grown into who he really is,” so that the story can teach him how to “grow into who he really is.”

So the audience needs to know “who is Simba and who is Simba supposed to be?” right at the beginning. Which is great, because all kids are trying to figure out the same question about themselves. So it’s relatable. But anyway, the storytellers make Mufasa the answer.

On a simple level, you can answer the question, “who is this Simba guy?” right off the bat in the movie with “the son of the King.” There’s the setting. There’s the set-up. There’s the title of the movie. That’s why the very first lion you’re introduced to in the movie is Mufasa, and it’s not a shot of a baby lion cub. It could have been. Lots of movies open with a shot of their main character. Encanto, for one.

Not The Lion King. The Lion King starts with, “you can’t know who Simba is without Mufasa, so Mufasa gets shown first.”

So okay, Mufasa is a King. Good to know. That’s obvious from the big rock he’s standing on and the way all the animals are coming toward him. But from there, they quickly establish a few more things about Mufasa. He smiles at this little bird that bows to him. He hugs the shaman-monkey. He goes from “big solemn lion” to “good and benevolent” immediately.

And then as it goes on, you learn more about Mufasa. He’s not an idiot; he knows Scar is up to no good, and he is very direct about it. He is not a naive dupe, trusting a schemer blindly. It’s more complicated than that. He is a better leader and a better guy than that. Mufasa knows Scar is his brother, and in a snappy little interaction with Zazu, storytellers make it clear that he worries about Scar; he knows he has good reason to worry, but hasn’t decided to give up on his brother.

Additionally, he is merciful to other dark creatures too. He beats the tar out of hyenas but doesn’t kill them. He rescues Zazu from Scar’s mouth. He scolds Simba but he does that, and more, to teach him. So what Mufasa is teaching us, according to what I just showed you the story says, is that A Good King, A Good Man (Lion, whatever) Is:

Authoritative - Makes decrees and makes decisions and yes, tells others what to do. Creates the structure his people live in.

Kind/Humble - Shows the same level of casual friendship to a revered shaman-recluse as he does a little self-important majordomo. (Humble because he’s not afraid to admit when he’s afraid if it’ll help his son.)

Teaches - Takes time out of the day to pass on what he’s learned to someone who is going to take his place—he’s not hoarding his own position or gatekeeping his life-experience-expertise. He’s not finding his identity in how he has this wealth of information that causes people to need him; he gives it away freely, purposefully.

Protects - Is willing to endanger himself and go to the trouble of defending creatures that are weaker than himself.

Shows Mercy - See Scar and the hyenas, who deserve death, but he doesn’t give it to them.

Prioritizes Family - The time he’s taking out of the day is for his son. And he follows up with his recluse of a brother instead of going, “that’s Scar, I know he don’t care about nobody but himself, his loss, not my problem.” And he extends trust to that brother, which is really just an example of gift-giving to a family member who’s done nothing to keep that trust.

Has Faith - Mufasa makes a point of not answering Simba’s question about “Will you always be there for me,” with just himself. He could’ve. Many parents do. Many parents are tempted to, to show their love. “Yes. You’ll always have me. I’ll always be there to answer your questions; I’ll always protect you, I’ll always be what you can count on, you’ll always find a need fulfilled in me.” But Mufasa doesn’t take that bait. He gives Simba an answer that is not “himself-based.” Not selfish. “Look at the stars.” I don’t care what ya’ll say. Mufasa has faith in something outside of himself. He says “and so will I,” but that’s after contextualizing himself within “something bigger than us.” (And oh my gosh, he doesn’t even answer with, “let me give you a lesson you’ll need for your whole life.” He doesn’t even take credit for this faith, for himself. He gives his own father the credit.)

And really, all of those traits can be summarized with the phrase: Lives His Life Sacrificially For Others.

That’s what a leader, a good father, a king, a good man, does. And pay attention: That is what Simba is supposed to be. Simba is supposed to be Mufasa. That’s who Simba really is, that’s where he’s supposed to go. There is a “real you.” But you have to agree with it and accept it, even though your natural bent is to give in to the illusion that you “don’t have to be that, you can choose who you are.”

Yeah, sure, in a sense you can reject Who You Really Are. You can spend your whole life playing pretend, like you’re not That. But you’ll be doing just that: playing pretend. Unfulfilled. Dissatisfied. Running from the misery that is the natural response to your silly game of pretend. Insisting that “there is no misery, this is what I want.”

Okay. Sure it is.

I’ll save Simba for another post.

The point is, Mufasa is a template for who Simba Really Is. Look at those traits. When it’s Simba’s turn to exemplify those traits, does he?

Act I: Is he authoritative? He tells characters what to. And he makes his own decisions—sometimes for good, sometimes bad. For example, he won’t let Zazu deter him from going to the elephant graveyard, so that’s a bad decision, but he does choose to go back and help Nala instead of running to save himself. Authoritative and protective. But it’s all misplaced because he doesn’t “Live His Life Sacrificially For Others.”

Act 2: He’s not. Timon and Pumbaa tell him to do something and he goes along with it. Timon and Pumbaa claim an ancient tradition and his father’s lesson is stupid and Simba goes along with that. He’s no longer making decisions of his own accord, for anything but his own comfort.

The idea is, in Act 1, you see Simba has the same traits as Mufasa, budding inside of him. But they’re all misdirected, and they’re all twisted, because they’re missing one key ingredient: he’s supposed to use those traits in the context of “Live His Life Sacrificially For Others.” Simba doesn’t want to do that. Simba wants to do whatever he wants.

Sure, there’s a part of him that combines that motive with “I want to be like my dad.” But that part dies on the vine and turns sour when his father dies saving him.

So then in Act 2, not only is Simba clinging to “I’m going to live life all my way,” but he’s changed what that means by pushing the nugget of “I want to be like my dad/I WANT TO BE WHO I REALLY AM” completely away. Because it’s too hard, and he’s got shame tangled up in it.

And worse—he starts doing basically the opposite of all of Mufasa’s traits, all of the traits that make him Who He Really Is. He’s not prioritizing family—he’s abandoning them. He’s not protecting others—he runs from the idea of going back to help Nala. (tiny glimmer of it still being inside him because he does try to protect Pumbaa from her.) Kind and humble? No. It’s unkind to tell your best friend you won’t help her because you’re afraid. Humble, no, because humility is thinking of yourself less, not thinking less of yourself.

Ask the question. When Simba’s living in the jungle with Timon and Pumbaa, is he exemplifying any of the traits of Who He Really Is? Or is he doing his best to bury that?

But then after Mufasa reminds him of who he Really Is, and Rafiki shows him how to get his past out of the way so he can accept it, Simba goes back. Into Act 3 we go

Now. Does Simba exemplify Mufasa’s traits? Does Simba start becoming Who He Really Is? There’s not a lot of time left in the movie. Look at the traits, see if he does.

Authoritative? Yep, comes up with the plan to break in and get to Scar, doesn’t back down from the confrontation.

Kind and Humble? Yeah, he willingly admits the truth (he thought it was true) that makes him look bad to give his mom closure. He’s kind to Nala and to Timon and Pumbaa, admits his mistakes, when they come to help him. Hugs the old shaman who cracked him in the skull with a stick—just like Mufasa hugged Rafiki to show us kindness and humility at the beginning of the movie.

Teaches? We don’t really see an opportunity for him to do that yet at this point in the story and his life, give me a break.

But protects? You bet. That’s why he’s there for the confrontation in the first place. Shows mercy?

Yep.

Because he’s not like Scar. He knows who he is. THE POINT.

And when he runs in for the big confrontation, he doesn’t immediately leap on Scar and rip him to pieces. Even though the storytellers make sure to show us he clearly wants to.

Instead, he runs up to his mother to see if she’s all right and show her that he is. And again, he tells her the truth because that’s what she needs even if it’s not what she wants, and he’s learned not to run from what he’s “done.” And faith in something bigger than himself?

Yeah. His father’s voice comes through the clouds just before he decides to roar and claim his title. Through the clouds. Because that whole “we’re a part of something bigger, something more important than ourselves,” was always what he was missing. He was just thinking about himself.

And all of this is because Mufasa is the example of Who Simba Really Is: Lives His Life Sacrificially For Others. That’s Mufasa.

That’s Mufasa, in the story of The Lion King. That’s his purpose as a character, that’s who he is.

So now if you make a movie that’s just about him, what you should be doing is showing how he got there. How he accepted who he Really Is instead of choosing who he wants to be, on his own. And you should make his father, and learning humility, an enormous part of that. Because self-sacrifice is such a pillar of his character. It’s the whole thing.

What you should certainly not be doing is telling a story that ends with finding self-worth or a kid who makes a name for himself. I repeat: if the Mufasa live action movie ends with Mufasa doing anything that revolves around self, they got him wrong and they set him up nonsensically for the next movie.

He should have to decide whether or not he wants to believe his own father, because of that one line, “let me tell you something my father told me.” That shows that he accepted his father’s lesson. And what was his father’s lesson about? Faith. In something BIGGER THAN YOURSELF. So then Mufasa grows up to be a character who lives his life sacrificially for others, and you can trace the roots back to that: “I learned a lesson about something bigger than myself from someone who was not myself, and I humbly believed and accepted that lesson.”

I mean jeez, the line is: “LOOK AT THE STARS.” Whenever you feel alone. Whenever you’re wrapped up in who you are and who you’re not and failure and the idea of what you want to be, knock it off. Quit looking at yourself and look at something bigger than you. And then you’ll get “Understanding of Who You Really Are”—no matter what mistakes you’ve made, no matter how you’ve failed, no matter what your circumstances are—thrown in.

…Of course, the Lion King remake ruined him anyway by having the point be “I’m not worthless.” And that was never the point. But whatever. I’m rambling now. You get the idea.

Mufasa is exactly what he needs to be for the original The Lion King. He’s exactly what he needs to be for Simba’s story. Mufasa is awesome.

[angelicheaven12]

This is CLEARLY difference between them and simba is the one ACTUALLY tried his best as father despite he was overbearing and over protective yet very strict with his children is justified because he literally didn't want his children got same traumatic experience like he was and he knowledge that he is wrong fo misjudged kovu and apologizing to kiara while stolas is just being neglected his own daughter and prioritizing his affair partner even brought his affair partner on bonding days with his daughter and basically- simba is way better character than stolas ever be

[angelicheaven12]

Okey i fely bad for simba and i know that he had self hatred and i mean he is most complex character on TLK franchise

[musenilla]

Sisi Ni Sawa 🦁✨

My sort of annual drawing of them + some extras!!

Of course in the hype of arcane my brain decided to make some lion king art. I swear I had these in my drafts for two months but couldn’t finish em because of art block. Anyways, my inspo is going haywire right now because of arcane finale, enjoy whatever these are for now 😔🫶

[doverstardoodles]

I am not immune to I Always Wanted A Brother by Lin-Manuel Miranda

[pickypickypeak]

simba in the lion king 2: EXILE!!!

kiara: NO!!!

the whole savannah:

[angelicheaven12]

Simba is genuinely trying good father to his cubs and i hated that how fandom minimized his character and simba is much more than that and i loves your take on simba character and make me felt seen

Simba Is A Good Dad, to BOTH his Cubs, Actually.

So I’m about to rant about some shit that nobody is gonna care about considering it’s about an almost 20 year old movie and a cartoon that’s technically over(?) but I need to get it out of my system

One of the coldest takes (in my opinion) on the internet I’ve seen since dabbling in the TLK/TLG fandom is that Simba isn’t a good dad to Kiara, hypothetically compared to Kion his younger son especially.

Granted he’s not a perfect dad, nobody is, and I mean, he’s got some big shoes to fill regarding Mufasa as a king and as a father. Then again, we never got the chance to see him really mess up because he never had the chance to see Simba grow up or the challenges that come with that tragically.

But like, Kiara is like under 10 years old at the TLK2. He’s protective of her then, sends Timone and Pumbaa to watch her (like Sarabi sent Zazu, not really that different).

She deliberately loses them and almost gets eaten by crocodiles and encounters someone who very well might’ve killed/kidnapped her given the opportunity, Zira.

Then the scene that follows mirrors the scene from TLK where his father chastised him for putting himself in unnecessary danger and gives him a narratively potent lesson about the Circle of Life.

He overreacts a bit at the prospect of Kiara being out in danger. But the thing is he doesn’t do it for no reason. Yes there’s past trauma there from his childhood, but because of the Outlanders the Pridelands aren’t as safe as they were when Simba was a cub.

Kiara doesn’t look for trouble, trouble finds her because there are factions willing and able to exploit the fact she’s Simba’s only heir (especially with Kion absent). Both times Kiara went out on her own the Outlanders used her against him and she almost died the first time. Even though he freaks out initially and is like “no more hunts for you!” he still lets her go out alone with Kovu.

He doesn’t know what the audience (or Kiara) knows about Kovu. His worst fears were confirmed and his reaction to Zira (and seemingly Kovu as well) using Kiara to get to him was to protect her. He’s ultimately in the wrong and is stubborn, but he does learn in the end and apologizes to Kovu for misjudging him instead of doubling down. He’s an okay dad and becomes a better one by the end of the film.

So how does this relate to Kion? Well the arguement I’ve seen is Simba not being as protective/showing favoritism to Kion over Kiara in TLG.

I strongly disagree. I think Kiara and Kion are very different children with very different responsibilities. Plus by TLG they’re both older than Simba or Kiara at the beginning of their films.

Kiara is princess regent, the next in line to the Pridelands throne, this a bigger target than Kion, a bigger target who also has more complex responsibilities.

In the TLG pilot, Simba is about as overprotective and mistrustful of Kion as he’d been with Kiara, he still lets him play, he’s an older cub and isn’t alone (because Bunga).

Then it turns out Kion has the Roar of The Elders, and has an entire group of friends he’s assembled and travels with. Not only does tradition (something Simba holds in VERY high regard) demand his son lead The Lion Guard, he also has a group of friends who can and do protect him. He’s not going around all alone with no protection (be it ancestral gifts or allies) picking fights with Hyenas just because he wants to.

I’m almost certain that had Kiara been the one with the Roar of The Elders, Simba would have a hard time justifying keeping her cooped up. And as we can see, Kiara isn’t quite as cooped up (even in TLK2) as people tend to project.

They’re different kids with different needs, personalities, and Royal duties. Simba, in my opinion, reacts pretty reasonably (if not perfectly) to each of those individual cubs given the circumstances. Parenting isn’t easy, especially if you’ve got trauma and there’s a lot at stake.

TL:DR, cut Simba a break, he’s doing his best, and his best really isn’t all that bad, damn.

[galactic-rhea]

"Remember who you are, you are my son"

I can't believe James Earl Jones invented Dads, he was cool like that, what a legend.

In all seriousness though, TLK was so important to me as a kid! It was my first fandom ever, my first fanart and fics were TLK. RIP James Earl Jones.

[sukalaap]

...

[angelicheaven12]

Simba just lost his father but he got two dads in return and i loves how im headcanoned timon and pumbaa was gay couples because let me put my tlk rants on this

After a long day of doing nothing, it’s great to just relax-

I never realized how fun it was to draw Timon and Pumbaa, even though Pumbaa’s super difficult to draw!

I also enjoyed drawing the Jungle background! So many shades of green :0

The pose for Simba was refrenced from this post! https://www.deviantart.com/tigon/art/Lazy-days-455737035

[zelfa]

My classic 2D design version ^^

[doclocked]

I thought Izzy had some definite tlk Scar vibes