The Kingdom of God in “The Lion King”

On January 10, I went and watched “The Lion King” in the Fine Arts Center. I haven’t watched this movie in a very long time, and I have only seen this film once before. So I was very surprised to see hints of the Kingdom of God in this film. It was a very interesting experience to see a film through a Christian perspective. While watching this film I saw longing, hope, sin, and redemption as the theme, but even though I saw these harmless themes could this be Disney’s way of selling their movie? Could it be they are selling their movies with these themes because Americans can relate to these Christian themes? Are they just using these themes because that’s what we the consumers want to see and learn? I have concluded that it doesn’t matter to Disney what they teach children unless it will make a profit; after all Disney is a part of the empire- with its sole goal of making money.

I believe this film incorporates some Christian ideas into their story because it is a good way of selling their movie. Who wouldn’t want to watch a movie where a character is evil or sins, yet still finds redemption? Redemption teaches a young audience hope, and this pleases the parents because the film teaches good values. So parents would then think it is worth the money to purchase products that relates to this film because it would remind their children of good values such as hope, and this in turn pleases the empire because we are being good consumers. The themes of sin and evil are seen in the film through Scar. Scar plots and kills his brother Mufasa, and then accuses Simba of causing his father’s death making Simba run away. Simba also has sinned. He has fallen into sin by being disobedient to his father because he longed to be king, and he thought to be king you had to be brave because his dad was brave, so he went to the land his father forbidden him to go. Later he was manipulated by Scar and was involved in a stampede, which caused his father’s death. He runs away and after he becomes an adult he has a chance to make amends. He finds his opportunity for redemption if he were to go back home with Nala and help rescue the Pride Lands. But he doesn’t take the chance because he sees no hope there for him because he does not want to face the guilt of his father’s death. But later he meets a wise old baboon who helps him to see that there is hope that he can rescue the Pride Lands and that he can find redemption while saving his home. Throughout this film these ideas of sin, brokenness, and redemption plays a big role in keeping the audience interested because it is appealing to the adults. It is appealing to the adults in the audience because they find comfort in knowing that their child will be forgiven and would still be innocent in the eyes of the Creator even after the child has sinned. This is a good thing for the empire because they can use the Christian themes to make money.

The film portrays life in the Pride Lands as happy and well balanced, which is evident in the harmonious lives of the animals in the Pride Lands and the fact that all animals are connected in the great circle of life. This idea that all the creatures in the Pride Lands are connected is like the idea of a Christian community, where in the Kingdom of God everyone lives as a community loving one another. Also the Kingdom of God is evident in the film when Mufasa tells Simba that “everything the light touches is [their] kingdom.” Also when Mufasa mentions the land where it is shadowed is not theirs, this represents the empire. This portion of the land is not claimed by the Kingdom of God, which shows us that the empire still exists and has a hold on the creatures/people still enslaved by the shadowed land/empire. There in that land it is desolate like the empire. The empire is desolate because in the empire the land is wasted by man-made things such as factories and corporations, which destroys the air and environment. Factories and corporations make the people still held by the empire lonely because people still trapped by the empire believe the false happiness the empire feeds them through ads, which makes them believe buying more things will make them happy. I believe this film is supporting the empire because the people who made the film know these qualities such as sin and redemption can make a big profit.

“The Lion King” was a good film, and it did portray qualities of the Kingdom of God, but the empire used that to its advantage to attract consumers like flies to a light to buy more goods relating to “The Lion King.” Through this film the empire shapes young children to be consumers because when a child likes a certain movie they are compelled to want goods relating to that movie. “The Lion King” has shaped many of us, but has it shaped us for better or for worse? I think “The Lion King” shaped us to learn good values, but also shaped us to be good consumers. The empire is a dangerous it leads us astray from the Kingdom of God, so even if a film is good we have to be careful and see why the empire is telling this story. And once we know why we can protect ourselves from the empire.