Examining Gender Roles and Patriarchy in Disney's The Lion King (1994)

This report provides an analysis of gender roles in Disney's 1994 animated film, "The Lion King." The essay examines how the film's characters, including Simba, Nala, Mufasa, Sarabi, and Scar, conform to and perpetuate societal gender norms. It delves into the Jungian archetypes and monomythic plot structure of the movie, highlighting how the narrative reinforces patriarchal values. The report discusses the limited roles assigned to female characters like Sarabi and Nala, contrasting them with the dominant roles of male characters like Mufasa and Simba. It also explores how the hyenas and Scar contribute to the portrayal of gendered behavior and power dynamics within the Pride Lands. The analysis considers how the film introduces children to social structures and gender expectations, and how the narrative subtly reinforces these concepts. The report concludes by emphasizing the film's subtle, yet pervasive, communication of patriarchal norms through character roles and plotlines.

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The Disney movies and its animated versions are one of
the most important parts of childhood for most of us, and
the memory of these movies are probably our earliest
memory of Disney being part of our lives. Since the time
Disney decided to bring the animated version of the
favourite of the children's storybooks and comics, the
children were globally attracted towards it like a magnet.
There is no denying the fact that the translation of our
favourites into animated videos did thrill us and we were
left asking for more and there was no turning back after
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937. This means
that these movies are also one of the first agents to
introduce the children to the ways of the society and they
are widely responsible for the conception about society,
roles, responsibilities and expectation in their blank
canvas. The recent rise in the criticism has seen the

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change in the narrative among the Disney movies such as
the "Frozen", "Moana" and "Brave" showing the side of the
folklore deviating from conformity. In this essay, however, I
will analyze the gender roles in one of the most beloved
narratives from Disney- "The Lion King". The movie has
been released several times, but I will assess the narrative
of the 1994 movie. Nevertheless, the plot of the movies
has stayed the same.

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"The Lion King" is one of the first of original story from the
Walt Disney compared to others where the story and the
plot is age one children' tale. The lot of the story when
told superficially is one which combines tragedy, comic,
heroic tale of a hero returning to claim his kingdom
overcoming the villainous plots (Rima Shams, 2020). The
kingdom of the King Mufasa is shown to be a flourishing
kingdom under the rule of the generous yet courageous
king who is killed by a treacherous plan of his exiled
brother scar in a wildebeest stampede caused by Scars'
hyena followers. Simba, Mufasa's son, is saved and runs
away and lives to grow up with a warthog named Pumba
and a meerkat named Timon away from the Pride Rock
and learning the ecosystem of the forest and growing up
different from the pride who are shown to be thrown
under the tyrannous rule of Scar mourning the death of

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the king as well as the prince. The prince later returns to
save the pride and in duel challenges and kills Scar to win
back his kingdom. The story is one of the most successful
adventures of Disney as evident from the various
adaptations and releases (Cruz et al., 2018). Even in the
very first release, the movie was one the biggest success
among other releases globally. However, the essay will
deal with the depiction of the major and minor characters
and how they conform to the societal roles attributed to
gender. The influence of mass media on the psychological
development of children is not a new subject and Disney
movies being a part of the childhood is considered to be
one of the main element which introduces in them the
social strictures when it comes to gender roles and its
adherence. For this, I will analyze the few of the main
major and minor character to show how their character
structure and the plot of the story itself sticks and
communicated the presence of patriarchy in society.

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Gendered roles
The plot of the story can be viewed under the Jungian
'archetype' concept where the plot seems to revolve
around the central male character, here Simba. The plot
does follow the monomythic theory of plots which
involves a hero being born as a royal, death escape by the
hero during childhood, the journey of life where the hero
shows the characteristics of a true king and finally the
awakening which leads to the hero coming back to save
the damsel and reclaim his kingdom. This theory generates
in the children audience the belief on the hero and the fact
that a heroic birth and heroic life leads to heroic victory
(Elmogahzy, 2018). But critics like Strauss has pointed out
that though the movie has a visual appeal due to the

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colour theme and the projection of the comic relief with
the use of songs like 'Hakuna Matata', the movie does not
and should not have been catered to the young crowd. It is
a movie of the hardship, deceived and one that portrays
the wrong concept about the balance of the forest. The
movie is not a depiction of the forest, but a depiction of
the society which the children will grow up and the
character generalization acts as the educating agent who
tells the child about the different ways the gender roles
are followed (Chandler, 2018). The depiction of the pride
in the movie is wrong where it is shown the male members
run the pride whereby in reality the lion pride are a
matrilineal society; this deviation has been pointed as a
deliberate one where the narrative is based on a
patriarchal society.

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Mufasa and Sarabi
The personality of the eldest of the pride, the king and
queen itself is one can see the gendered differences, the
role of Sarabi is limited, and her appearances are always at
the time when it's time to show the completion of a family.
Sarabi's character is that of a loving mother who cares
about the welfare of the child and looks after Simba's
character moulding, where she instructed him to follow his
father's lead. Her picturization is that of a healthy mate for
the king, she is a fair lion who does not bear any mark on
her face or her body which signifies the female portrayal
of they are expected to be. They are shown to depending
on their male counterpart for protection.

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On the other hand, Mufasa is shown to have thick mane
and walks with the sprint often associated with power. He
is a wise and just king who knows how to run a pride while
protecting them (Roy, 2019). His roar, as shown in the
movie, has the power to throw evil off its path and to
instill fear. This depiction shows how the male members of
the society are supposed to grow up to be able to protect
their female counterparts while Sarabi's character
projection shows how the girls are expected to grow up to
stand beside them to provide support but always behind.

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Simba and Nala
Samba, the prince of the Pride Rock, is shown to be the
overenthusiastic cub who wants to learn and be like his
father. We see him struggling to roar like his father, walk
like him but Zazu, the red-billed hornbill who served as
majordomo to Mufasa and later on even to Simba, informs
him that the way he is growing up to be wild and playful
he cannot be the king the pride needs. The song 'I can't
wait to be King' in Simba's voice when Nala is present
displays the patriarchal concept of the male progeny
following on the step of the king. However, in case of Nala
it is shown clearly that among the two of them she is more
skilled at combat and she keeps pinning Simba down with
her signature flip with which they are later reunited after

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Simba is pinned by again while saving Pumba from her
(Ardiansyah, 2019). Nala is a high spirited cub who is
Simba's best friend and daughter of Serafina, and Zazu
informs them that they have been betrothed in their
childhood and they are going to be the future of Pride
Rock. In this scene as well we see that on being informed
both the cubs shows disgust as they consider themselves
friend but Nala gives him a loving glance. Again, when they
come across each other after a long separation, it is made
evident that Nala is no doubt still stronger than Simba but
she is shown to be seeking her from him due to the fact
that she is not rightfully allowed to challenge Scar and
save the pride. The patriarchal pattern assures the
children's psychology again of the societal pattern of the
necessity of the presence of the hero to save the damsel,
in this case, other female members of the pride from the
tortures of Scar. The role of Nala and her strong character
is undermined by the way she ends up being a guide to
Simba. She makes him realize his responsibility as a prince
towards pride (O'Halloran, 2017). The only place the
female member of the pride is given the voice and the
place to fight is when their king leads the way, and they
roar only after the roar of the king.

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Shenzi, Banzai and Ed
The three spotted hyenas who lived in the elephant
graveyard and were used as the henchmen in creating the
stampede which causes Mufasa' death. Even among the
hyena, we see the gendered role distinctly as Shenzi, the
female is shown to be the most villainous and cruel in the
story but is soon shown to trodden down by her two
brothers and is only shown to gain the sense of power
when she is backed up by the male villain scar (Roy, 2019).