Shakespeare v. Disney

[egroeg]

Someone just pointed out to me the parallels between Hamlet and the Lion King and I could not help but wonder if anyone else had noticed parallels between the bard's plays and Disney movies.

P.S. Apologies in advance if this post is a little :botox: :confused:

[CrazyDreamer]

Strange that you brought this up, one of my friends just mentioned the same thing to me yesterday and it had never occurred to me before. Now that you mention it, the basic plot is the same, but elements from Shakespeare can be found just about anywhere. Probably more of a coincidence than anything else. The Lion King doesn't have anywhere near enough death for Hamlet (Nala doesn't go mad and kill herself at least).

[Tech_Disney]

while i will admit that a lot of parallels to shakespeare are coincidence, since he did so much in the pioneering of theatre and storytelling, the parallels in Lion King are no coincidence.

[quasimodo1384]

Lion King is basically "Hamlet" gone Diseny...Lion King two is strangly similar to "Romeo and Juliet"...and Lion King 1 1/2 is pretty much "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead." Interesting...

[egroeg]

The Lion King doesn't have anywhere near enough death for Hamlet (Nala doesn't go mad and kill herself at least).

Call me sadistic but comparing Nala to Ophelia cracked me up.

[quasimodo1384]

When has Disney EVER killed their characters...Other than the villains, the only two instances I can recall are Mufasa and Bambi's mother...and those served as important events for character and story development. it's just UN-Disney to be as morbid as Shakespeare! However, the parallels are certainly there.