Margaret Lazarus wrote about "The Lion King" (the movie) using deep thoughts and connections she made while watching the movie. She states that the Lion King presents racist ideas, and even implies a gay character. Howver, this was not exactly the first thing that popped into my mind when I think of the movie. Mrs. Lazarus made some pretty significant assumptions when watching this movie. I don't think anyone else could quite understand what she believes, not even her young son, who she said agreed with her.
When I think of the Lion King, I think of the plot, of course. I think of the singing animals and their catchy tunes. I wonder if the little cub is going to survive. However, I never delved in to thought and analyzed the movie for deeper meaning. Lazarus mentions that the hyenas live in a dark place, and are mostly black. She thinks this implies racism. Honestly, the writer wouldn't write such a thing on purpose would he? I would like to think he just wrote it for the story. I am not much for "trying to put thoughts together that weren't supposed to be grouped that way " stuff. Sometimes those kinds of connections can lead to the wrong types of assumptions. For instance, if my grandpa had a long beard and a jolly belly, one could possibly assume that he is Santa Claus. And since "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" last year, my mother is really my grandmother?!?! No, of course not. My grandpa is just round and the fake santa last year was my dad in a suit. See what happens when you try to hard to find something, Margaret?
I thought the article was interesting, however I can't take a series of analogies that outrageous and believe them to be true of the movie. However, I managed to "analyze" one thing about Mrs. Lazarus: she doesn't like Disney.
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I also think Margaret was making assumptions. The evidence she used was somewhat present in the story, but she exaggerated it to prove her point. I thought your Santa example was funny, and kind of weird, but effective.
ReplyDeleteI'm still baffled by your class' reaction to this essay. Your writing is fine, but you don't try to even consider seriously if any of what she said her merit, you just make fun of her. That may not be the best defense of your position.
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