& # 8220 ; Philadelphia & # 8221 ; And The Lion King Essay, Research Paper

Dana Forsythe

Surveies in Popular Culture

Paul Morrison

Willful Ignorance and The Lion King

The topic of wilful ignorance in the film Philadelphia is obvious as the

spouses in Andy? s jurisprudence house pretend to non detect that he is ill with the deathly

syndrome AIDS. This is a signifier of power on their point because they use it to

justify firing Andy for fright of taint. Willful ignorance is besides a major

portion of The Lion King. The chief difference in the two films though is that in

Philadelphia, wilful ignorance is shown through the characters of the jurisprudence house

spouses. In The Lion King we as an audience are the 1s who are invited to be

ignorant to the capable affair held within.

The chief points of the forced ignorance in the film are the fact that Scar? s

gender is masked through the film and that his true individuality of being a

homophile is ne’er discussed, merely hinted at. The fact that the hyaenas represent

interior metropolis black young person, is ne’er discussed or pointed out is another illustration. The

last illustration is how in The Lion King the circle of life is a paradox to the nutrient

concatenation. This shows how the king of beastss typifying white suburban America is ever on

top.

The fact that Scar is gay in this film is a funny 1. The film? s scoundrel

turns out to be cheery. So what does that say about the communities mentality on

homophiles. Scars quote to Simba when he is younger? You have no thought? in

response to Simba? s statement? You? re truly eldritch uncle Scar? , intimations at Scars true

ego. The audience? s ignorance is invited by the film through duologue like this.

The audience? s hatred for Scar comes into drama when Scars gender comes into

inquiry. They are forced to detest Scar for being the scoundrel but why non do Scar

homosexuals so the audience has non pick to detest cheery people. The remark by Mufasa? s

courier? There? s ever one in every household. ? , is another illustration of how the

film intimations at Scar? s gender. Besides the illustration of Scar being homosexual is used in the

films ground why he is so wicked. Bing the scoundrel, he wants everything to be

his manner. This relays the message that a consecutive universe is non an option in the heads

of homophiles. This gives audiences another hidden hatred for homophiles and

tarnishes the manner they should be seen as fellow human existences.

The 2nd manner The Lion King invites the audience to be nescient of it? s

message is the pretense placed on the fact that the hyaena in the film represent inner

metropolis black young person. The films mentality on these animals is that they live in the

? slum? of the land otherwise identified as the elephant grave pace. This

continues as a colored position as the hyaenas are shown to be the terminal of civilisation as

the king of beastss know it to be at the terminal of the film when the land is show to be in

ruins as a cause of the hyaena. These images give the audience the subconscious

position that interior metropolis black young person is the evil and if they are allowed to lift from

where they came from the upper white in-between category, the king of beastss, will lose everything.

It is besides non a happenstance that the hyaenas are placed, much like interior metropolis young person,

in a slum. The hyaena besides have a attitude and overall evilness about them which

is seen as a stereotyped position that most white midd

le category and upper category people

hold for interior metropolis black young person. The last manner that the audience is invited to look

over the films agenda to pigeonhole interior metropolis black young person is everyone in the

lands hatred for the lowly hyaena and all they stand for.

The concluding point where The Lion King is shown to be a forceful suit of

ignorance

and uncover its concealed ideological docket is through the so called circle of life in

the film. An illustration of this is where Mufasa is taking Simba through a circuit of

his olympian land. Mufasa says? Simba all the light touches is ours? , this

shows the high quality of the white upper-middle category, symbolized by the king of beastss.

Mufasa goes on to state that, ? we are all a portion of the great circle of life. From the

croping antelope to the bantam emmet? and that every animate being is connected to each other.

After this Simba shortly inquiries the circle, and asks? wear? t we eat the antelope? ? .

This is where we are invited to be nescient of the topic at manus. Mufasa gives

Simba a cheesy account that they turn into grass when they die and the

antelope eat the grass. etc. But what Mufasa is truly explicating to Simba is that

they live at the top of the nutrient concatenation. Alternatively of a circle where they are merely a portion,

they are members of a concatenation where they rule. This is where the audience is forced

to believe that the king of beastss have good purposes and aren? t the supreme swayers of the

kingdom even though they truly are.

The concealed ideological position of this is that the king of beastss or the upper-middle category

Whites rule over all and can take what they want when they want. The overall

position of the paradox between wilful ignorance and The Lion King is besides show

through the circle of life? s vacillation to include the hyaenas in its ranks. This goes

back to the concealed intension of the hyaenas stand foring interior metropolis black young person.

Overall in the film The Lion King wilful ignorance is really much a portion

of the film, in that the Godheads have hidden their ain mentality and prejudice on the

work. Merely as Andy? s spouses in the jurisprudence house decide to feign non to cognize he is

sick, the Godheads of this film may feign non to cognize all the concealed stereotypes

and overall ideological position they have included in it. The topic of the screening

audience is a different capable though. They are being shown a this capable affair,

but its being masked behind a Disney movie is where the statement begins. Some

say that they are forced non to see that Scar is cheery or the hyenas represent inner metropolis

black young person or that the king of beastss, typifying white upper-middle category America,

command the system represented by the circle of life or the nutrient concatenation. I believe that

they are invited to non see this though. The audience is tempted non to look that far

into the film for fright of experiencing guilty. The fact that they themselves could

perchance be the king of beastss or anyone else in the film could project a shadow of guilt on

themselves. Because no 1 wants to be called a stereotyped racialist or a bigot. For

these grounds I believe that the audience is merely invited every bit far as they want to travel.

The comfy mask of a Disney film makes it even easier to stomach. All in

all wilful ignorance is a great signifier of power, in the affair that it is the most utile

tool to maintain people where you think they may belong in a certain category construction.