(I owe both John Eldridge and budding Christian theologian/communicator Tom Regan some credit for the below thoughts)
So I realize The Lion King is philosophically not really a Christian movie — what with the Circle of Life, and the Buddhist Yoda Monkey guy, and the reincarnation talk and all — but when I watch the clip above I can’t help but think of how … how … accidentally Christian it is.
The movie starts with Simba living safely in his identity as the son of the king. But then tragedy strikes, and the evil Scar convinces Simba that the pain and hurt and misery is all his fault. He tells Simba he’s evil. A murderer. And how could anyone so awful continue to believe they are the rightful son of the king? And so Scar tells Simba to run away. To run away from his identity. To run away from his calling. Of course Scar does this because more than anything else Scar fears Simba, and what he will one day become. If Simba grows into his power and authority, he will keep Scar from obliterating the serengeti with his tyrannical rule.
But Simba doesn’t know this. He doesn’t realize the voice of Scar is the voice of his mortal enemy. And so Simba runs away into exile. He hides from his identity, surrounding himself with friends who are nice enough, and accept him as he is, but also do nothing to challenge him. They don’t understand who Simba is. They have no dreams or ambitions. They’re perfectly content to waste their lives away under the motto “hakuna matata” — “no worries.” In other words, there is no great struggle to life, nothing worth fighting for or against. Life is just meant to be lived in relative ease and peace.
But Simba knows in the core of his being that he was made for more than this. And even though his friends seem content with “the good life,” Simba can’t fully escape the voice of his father. But he also can’t go back … his past still haunts him.
Which leads to this clip. Simba’s father tells him to remember who he is, but Simba protests that he isn’t that person anymore. He’s changed. He’s fallen. He’s too weak. Too dirty. Too far gone. He’s not meant for great things anymore.
Strangely, Simba’s father doesn’t exactly refute any of this. He simply tells Simba “you are my son.” Simba’s power comes because of his place as a child of the king. And it’s only when Simba realizes this — that his power doesn’t come from him but by his relationship to the king — that he is able to face his past and realize his previous choices don’t define him. And as Simba says after the vision ends, facing his past won’t be easy. He doesn’t know it yet, but that same lying, evil voice is waiting for him, ready to throw everything at his disposal to stop him. Waiting to breathe the same soul-killing lies about Simba’s identity in his ear.
But as hard as it will be Simba has no choice but to fight this battle, because there is a serengeti that needs to be freed from the evil reign of a prince of lies. And what else would the child of a king do?
ROMANS 8
15 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children.[h] Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”[i] 16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. 17 And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.
18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. 19 For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. 20
Joshua Pease 
Your cultural references are getting a bit too high brow for me: an SNL sketch from 20 years ago and the film that solidified Disney’s “we’ve given up” period. Is there a Forrest Gump deconstruction coming next week?
Also, it’s not really nerdy to think about creative things with ideas or feelings in them, that’s what they’re here for. It’s like calling yourself odd for eating peanuts at a baseball game.
Josh, such an interesting perspecitve, as always, on this movie. I remember when it came out, and the church overall was pretty upset about it. Disney was certainly trying to keep our culture appeased. And yet, buried in it all, was the greatest story ever told. A father who willingly sacrificed himself for his son. A prince of lies longing to rule a people at any cost. A son who ran from fear and pain, only to be destined for greatness and carry out the work of his father. Disney didn’t see it coming and the church didn’t see it hit them. But there it was all along. When we pay attention, we can always find God everywhere, awaiting our acceptance for greatness.
Really? This whole thing is fricking Hamlet dude. There is no accidental christianity. The whole thing was wrote in by Shakespeare cuz you’d die if there was no christianity in works.
That, and the tremendous amount of incest in this movie 😉