The Lion King Is Basically Hamlet
The success of 1994's The Lion King, the Disney animated hit that spawned a Broadway musical and a Grammy win for "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?," endures today. Jon Favreau's 2019 live-action remake starring Donald Glover, Beyoncé, and Seth Rogen (to name just three members of its celeb-heavy cast) has reintroduced the story to new generations. Notably, The Lion King was the first animated feature film from Disney that told an original story, as opposed to reinterpreting a myth or folk fairytale.
While the tale of Simba, Mufasa, and Scar was specifically conceived for the '90s movie that spawned a cornerstone franchise for Disney, it does share more than a few themes with centuries-old stories. The similarities between The Lion King and The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, one of Shakespeare's best-known plays, are absolutely intentional—and it's not the only work it draws inspiration from, either.
Is The Lion King based on Hamlet?
"Based on," no. But it's thematic similarities are undeniable. In fact, the original film's co-directors, Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, openly admit it.
The Lion King wasn't originally meant to mirror Hamlet.
In a 2011 interview with Blu-Ray.com, Minkoff said the film, which went into development six years before its release, was initially "thought of as a Bambi in Africa." He said the filmmakers believed that "because The Lion King was considered an original story, there was always the need to anchor it to something familiar. "
While it does share a crucial plot point or two with the 1942 tearjerker (the pivotal sudden death of a parent, for one), unintended parallels to another story emerged during a roundtable meeting.
"When we first pitched the revised outline of the movie to Michael Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Peter Schneider and Tom Schumacher, someone in the room announced that its themes and relationships were similar to Hamlet," Minkoff said. "Everyone responded favorably to the idea that we were doing something Shakespearean, so we continued to look for ways to model our film on that all-time classic."
"I'd be happy if we had even unconsciously channeled the old Bard!" added Allers.
Both stories center around a fatherless prince.
Simba, The Lion King's main protagonist, is the son of Mufasa, the king of Pride Rock.
As the son of the murdered King Hamlet, Hamlet is also a prince. Both characters' lives are profoundly shaped by their father's death, and no siblings are mentioned in either story.
The Lion King and Hamlet both feature an uncle as the villain.
Scar, Mufasa's younger brother, plots to have young Simba and Mufasa killed so he can take the Pride Rock throne; Mufasa ultimately dies due to Scar's machinations.
In Hamlet, the prince's uncle, Claudius, also kills his brother so that he can succeed him and become the king.
In the end of both [SPOILER ALERT], their uncles wind up dead, though Simba shows more mercy than Hamlet.
An alternate Lion King ending even included an iconic Hamlet quote.
Minkoff wasn't kidding when he said they wound up trying to include more aspects of Hamlet in the film. In an earlier alternate ending that absolutely no one would have enjoyed, Scar winds up killing Simba and wins (well, kind of; Scar winds up dying in a fire).
In the original storyboard rendering below, Scar even says a line from Shakespeare's play, which Hamlet's friend Horatio utters as Hamlet is dying in his arms: "Goodnight, sweet prince."
Thankfully, this potentially childhood-ruining plot twist never made it to the final version.
Simba and Hamlet's uncles convince them to exile themselves.
Scar makes Simba believe it's his fault that his father fell, and he runs away into exile until he reaches adulthood.
Hamlet's uncle Claudius sends him from Denmark to England, with the intent to see Hamlet put to death there.
Ultimately, both Simba and Hamlet return home to claim their right to the throne.
Both Simba and Hamlet's fathers reappear to their sons as ghosts.
Simba's father Mufasa visits to remind his son of his birthright, and to tell him to go become the ruler he was meant to be.
Hamlet's father's spirit gives him a message from beyond as well, if a more nefarious one: He explicitly instructs Hamlet to seek revenge on Claudius for killing him.
Also, if you're just now realizing that Black Panther heavily cribbed themes from The Lion King by way of Hamlet, you are far from alone.
The Lion King also draws from the biblical stories of Moses and Joseph.
What, you thought The Chronicles of Narnia's Aslan was the only bible-inspired fictional lion?
Original Lion King producer Don Hahn told Blu-Ray.com that Moses and Joseph were two biblical figures with journeys that are echoed in Simba's, "where a character is born into royalty, is then exiled, and has to return to claim their kingdom."
"Those are ancient stories.. stories of underdogs that we as an audience love to see when we go to the theater," Hahn said. "There is an underlying theme to The Lion King about that day when you are no longer a child. It's actually an age-old story, not unlike so many Disney films that are all about growing up."
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