Six Life Lessons We Can All Learn from The Lion King

Jan 28

Before we move on to the meat of this blog, do one thing for me. Rank the 1994 Disney movie, The Lion King. 0 being “It was so bad that I didn’t finish it” and 100 being “I love it so much that I’ve watched it dozens of times.” Leave a comment in the feed below.

The reason I’m interested in your movie review is because the overwhelming majority of people who I’ve encountered can always agree on one thing: The Lion King is one of the greatest movies of all time. But why? How is it that even as an adult I can still remember all of the songs? How is it that an animated movie can so easily tug on my heart strings? What makes The Lion King so good? I believe that its success can be summarized in one word: relatability.

Yep. Relatability. I believe every good work of art revolves around it and that art consumers love a piece of work for one of two reasons. Either, we relate to it on a deep level, or we don’t relate to it and are drawn in by the desire to. Well, it’s the first of these reasons that makes The Lion King so successful and profound. Despite being set in Africa, despite its talking and singing animals, despite the computer animation, this Disney classic offers an incredible amount of relatability and truth in just one hour and twenty-eight minutes of footage. In this blog, I want to unpack some of that truth and dive into some of that relatability by focusing on six life lessons I noticed while watching The Lion King.

1. Not everyone will show up for your important moments.

The movie’s opening scene is perhaps one of the most well-known opening scenes to date. Starting with a blood-orange sunrise, a Swahili choir, and a beautiful array of animals, the movie does an excellent job of transporting us, in moments, to the “pridelands” of Africa. As the music dies down, baby Simba—the story’s protagonist—is introduced, consecrated, and presented before the awaiting animals who cheer and celebrate his birth. With howling, stomping, and trumpeting, the animals rejoice and declare, “This is our next king!”

Awesome scene, but for my first point, I want to focus on the very next scene in which Scar—the uncle of the child of celebration—is shown lounging in his den, talking indifferently to a mouse. Mufasa arrives to confront Scar on his absence from Simba’s presentation, and Scar even more indifferently than before shrugs off the confrontation on the premise that Simba’s birth ruined his chances of being king.

Let me mess with your mind for a second and tell you that Scar had every right to be upset. Yep, he had every right to be angry. Up until the birth of Simba, Scar was set to be king, and now due to an untimely birth, his dreams are shattered. I would be hurt, too! However, the thing that makes Scar so foul in this scene is his inability to push past his shattered dream of being king so that he might celebrate his brother’s (King Mufasa’s) fulfilled dream of having a child.

Watch out for people like Scar. They will undeniably have excuses, and sometimes, their excuses are justified. Don’t be unforgiving, but at the same time, know that their reason for missing could also just be their hurt feelings.

Knowing this won’t make their absence feel any better, but at all costs, be present where you are. Don’t allow someone else’s decisions to pull you out of your celebration. They missed out on you, not the other way around.

2. Real strength is being able to set and keep boundaries.

Over the course of a few expository scenes, the movie shows baby Simba grow into young cub. As his right of passage, Mufasa takes Simba on a little excursion, showing Simba all of the pridelands and telling him that as the prince to the throne, one day, Simba will be the king of Pride Rock. Well, this news amazes young Simba, and he does what any child would do—tells people! However, he tells the wrong person—his uncle Scar—and in doing so, Scar is able to tease Simba into going to a forbidden area beyond the kingdom’s boundaries and thus disobeying his father commands.

The dialogue goes like this.

Scar: So, your father showed you the whole kingdom, did he?

Simba: Everything.

Scar: He didn’t show you what’s beyond that rise at the northern border.

Simba: No. He said I can’t go there.

Scar: And he’s absolutely right! It’s far too dangerous. Only the bravest lions go there.

Simba: Well, I’m brave. What’s out there?

And from that point forward, Scar has him. Hook, line, and sinker.

As my second point of the blog, I cannot stress enough that no matter how influential, powerful, or rich we become, we must always have established boundaries. Why? Well, look at Simba. He is shown and promised the entire kingdom but somehow enticed into wanting to see more. Simba thinks being strong means being able to go to a forbidden area, but real strength would have been honoring the boundaries his father had established.

My question to you is have you established healthy boundaries in your life? Relational? Financial? Physical? And do you honor those boundaries? How strong are you? Understand that neither setting or keeping boundaries is easy, but both are essential. Boundaries are not established to keep good stuff in but rather to keep bad stuff out.

3. Every promise requires preparation.

“I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” is one of the movie’s most well-known numbers. It’s funny. It’s spunky. It’s colorful. But as I’ve said time and time again, this song—like the entirety of the movie—is real. We’ve all sang our own version of this song before. We might even be singing it right this second. Just exchange “king” for whatever dream you’re chasing, and you’ve got yourself a hit!

“Oh I just can’t wait to have a girlfriend!”

“Oh I just can’t wait to be a millionaire!”

“Oh I just can’t waaaaaaaaait to be a mommmmm!”

However, as the saying goes, “Be careful what you wish for,” because there is nothing more disheartening than your dreams becoming reality only for you to realize that you weren’t ready to take them on. Young Simba is a prime example. As the song says, he is so ready to become king, but in reality, he has no clue what ruling a kingdom entails. He has no clue what kind of burden the title of king will bring. In the kindest words possible, young Simba is naïve.

Well, if you have a dream that hasn’t yet come true and have found yourself singing young Simba’s song, then ask yourself, “Am I truly ready for the weight of my dream?” Have you set appropriate goals—long term and short term? Have you established regiments and routines? Have you done research in your field of interest to see what’s already out there and how your dream will be different from those things?

Whether you feel called to be a doctor or to do outreach in your city’s downtown area, I believe that the call you feel deep inside of you is not just an urge. It’s a voice, and that voice is speaking a promise over you. Hear the promise, and hold on to the promise. However, understand that every promise requires preparation. Without preparation, that promise you are holding onto will become nothing more than potential.

4. People will either hold you back or push you forward. There’s no in between.

Not long into the movie, Scar executes a plan with the help of hyenas to betray Mufasa. He successfully kills the king of Pride Rock and convinces Simba that he is to blame for his father’s death. As a result, Simba runs away from the pridelands and is found by Timon and Pumba in the desert on the brink of death.

Now, as a movie watcher, I love Timon and Pumba. They’re hilarious, they’re compassionate, and who can resist their musical motto “Hakuna Matata.” What a wonderful phrase! The two—being outcasts themselves—rescue young Simba and help him discover a new life, away from the pridelands and free from his dark past. However, as the writer of this blog, I must tell you, if you have a friend or friends that remind you of Timon and/or Pumba, you need to pay close attention to your relationship with them! Here’s why.

When Timon and Pumba found Simba, he was hopeless. He needed friends who could help him and lead him in overcoming his depression. However, the day Simba regained the will to live, their leading him should have stopped. Simba is a king, and while for a season he needed Timon and Pumba to lead him, there has to come a point where he picks up his crown and begins to lead them. My question to you is who in your life is leading or influencing you when really you should be leading and influencing them?

Identifying the Timon and Pumba’s in your life won’t be easy, but it’s highly important you do so. Here are a few tips to help you. They are usually people you love and who are loyal to you. They’re usually people with whom you’ve spent significant time—not lots of time, significant time. They’re usually people who embody the perfect blend of confidence and complacency. And sometimes, they’re not people at all. They are things, like habits or actions.

Take some time and identify these people or things in your life. I’m not telling you to cut them off, but you will have to leave them to pursue your calling and your promise. Nevertheless, rest assured that if they really are your Timon and Pumba, when you do take off, they’ll be right behind you.

5. Knowing your identity is your greatest weapon when confronting your past.

The turning point of the film is a powerful scene in which Rafiki, the character who consecrated Simba at the beginning of the movie, leads Simba to a pool at which Simba has a spiritual interaction with his father. The dialogue goes as follows:

Mufasa Spirit: Look inside yourself Simba. You are more than what you have become. You must take your place in the circle of life.

Simba: How can I go back? I’m not who I used to be.

Mufasa Spirit: Remember who you are. You are my son and the one true king. Remember who you are.

Man, I love this scene. Simba’s response, “I’m not who I used to be,” is again a powerful look into the minds of people worldwide. Too often, we imprison ourselves in our pasts. Our bodies walk around in the present, while our minds—our beings—exist in the past. Simba is living this way. However, Mufasa’s answer to his son isn’t “Remember who you were.” It is “Remember who you are.”

People! We must begin dealing with our pasts. Whether that be poor decisions we made, bad relationships, or unhealthy habits, this is the year that we confront those things. However, before we can go into that battle—and it will be a battle—we must come to terms with who we are, because knowing who we are is our greatest weapon.

Your friends might like to remind you of the old you. The world might try to convince you that the old and new you are one and the same, but regardless of what they say, who you were is not who you are. I repeat: who you were is not who you are.

Mufasa told Simba that he was his son and the one true king. What’s awesome about these two titles is that Simba is technically fatherless and has run away from the kingdom at this point. But Mufasa still says Simba is his son and is the one true king. Yes. Yes. Yes!

Readers, it’s also time we stop holding on to identities that are conditional and start holding on to identities that are positional. The difference? A conditional identity changes as relationships, incomes, careers, titles, and other temporary fulfillments change. Whereas, a positional identity is never-changing, i.e. unconditional.

So let me ask. Who are you? Take some time to think about it. And your answer better be a positional identity.

6. If they will do it with you, they will do it to you.

As I stated earlier, Scar betrays his brother Mufasa so that he can claim the throne. However, unable to execute his plan alone, he partners with the hyenas. Now, this partnership might seem superficial, but it’s actually very noteworthy. To put it simply: Lions and hyenas hate each other.

On her wildlife blog Animal Hype, Elise McDonald goes into detail about why the two African animals have such discord.

“Both Lions and hyenas are apex predators who live in the same region, compete for the same food. This competition for resources is found to fuel a relationship characterised by animosity. When lions and hyenas cross each others’ path they react with hostility…. There have been many instances where male lions are found to take pleasure in harassing or killing hyenas.”

Again, I say, “Lions and hyenas hate each other.” So then why in the world does a group of hyenas team up with Scar who is very much a lion? Self-interest, of course! They see the partnership as one that will benefit them in the long run. Scar puts on a façade and makes the hyenas believe he is trustworthy, but after Simba returns to Pride Rock to reclaim his rightful place as king, Scar shows his true colors.

“It’s the hyenas who are the real enemy,” says a cornered Scar as Simba moves closer to him. “It was their fault. It was their idea.”

Ouch. That’s a tough break for the hyenas, but I have to say to them and to anyone else who needs to hear it. If a person will do it with you, he or she will do it to you. The hyenas know Scar is a traitor. They saw it firsthand with Mufasa. So, they shouldn’t be surprised when Scar betrays them.

The same goes for us as humans. Ladies and gentlemen, if your lover will cheat with you, he or she will cheat on you. And to all my gossipers, if they will badmouth others behind their back, then they’ll badmouth you behind yours. Just saying. This is my final and simplest point. When people show you who they are, believe them.

I hope you enjoyed this unconventional movie analysis and the six life lessons within it! Who would’ve thought that a children’s animated film could be so powerful, so relevant? Did I skip over any of your favorite parts of the film? Did I omit any life lessons you think should be a part of the conversation? Let me know in the comments below! Likewise, in this blog, I made a lot of claims, and I asked a lot of questions. Please leave a comment with feedback to those statements and answers to those questions.

I pray this blog has empowered you to assess the world around you in a new way and to live on a new level. If it has, then subscribe to my newsletter and then share this blog with your friends, family, and colleagues! You never know who might need a little wisdom taken straight from their younger years.

Much love and thanks for reading,

Justis Ward

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