The Lion King:
Movie Analysis
At the beginning of the movie, there are some establishing shots so the viewer can visualize and understand the setting: the African savanna. The viewer then discovers that the main character is Simba, when the camera zooms in on Rafiki's face, which makes it look like we are seeing him from Simba's point of view. The other characters in the movie (the kingdom) are introduced to the main character Simba through the nondiegetic sound of the musical number Circle Of Life and through the camera motions of zooming in, then tilting up, which show Simba as a character of importance and power. The colors of the lions are also another important cinematic choice. Simba, Mufasa, Sarabi, and Nala are all bright colored, while Scar has deeper toned fur with some black. The fact that he stands out from all of the other lions is an immediate indicator that he doesn't fit into their kingdom, and that his character will cause some tension in the story. Another choice made is to often have Scar sitting in the shadows, while the other lions are out in the light, which represents good versus evil, or light versus dark. In the scene with the elephant graveyard, decisions such as a nondiegetic creepy music track and dark muted colors with lots of smoke were utilized to make it look scary, especially to younger viewers who the movie is for. When Mufasa lectures Simba for visiting the elephant graveyard, he overshadows him. This shows Mufasa's power and his ability to be a good father to Simba. After they make up, Simba sits on top of Mufasa's head, which shows that Mufasa doesn't really hold all of the power: his love for Simba is his weakness, and ultimately is what kills him. Repetition is also important to the movie, as the scene where Mufasa is slipping off of the cliff at the beginning is repeated at the end with Simba. Also, Simba's cub is introduced to the kingdom at the end the same way Simba was at the beginning. This repetition makes the movie come "full circle," which makes sense because the circle of life is one of the movie's important themes.