Broadway to Hollywood: Hamlet vs. Lion King
Do you prefer reading the play or watching the adapted film version of a text? Personally, I prefer watching the movie or film. By watching the movie you feel the intenseness of a scene by the music or the lighting, you see the characters’ facial expressions by the camera angles the director has chosen to use to create a connection with the character, and everything seems so realistic. The play Hamlet, and the adapted childrens movie, The Lion King appear to have similarities in the story line.
However, some people may say that they’re not close in story line because The Lion King is animals and it seemsunrealistic. That may be true however, they are indeed similar because both stories reveal jealousy of the older brother in power. King Hamlet has an envious brother, Claudius. Claudius is determined to find a way to kick him out of power, so he can obtain The Throne of Denmark. Hamlet’s father is killed,and Hamlet is set on figuring out who did it. Hamlet appears to be insane, but in reality he is just trying to figure out if his uncle was the one who killed his father.
In The Lion King, the audience is shifted more towards children. Scar, Simba’s uncle, is jealous of his older brother just like in Hamlet. Mufasa is in line to be the next King of The Pride Lands. Scar plots a way to kill Mufasa and seize the throne. Scar lures Mufasa and Simba into a herd of wildebeests, Simba escapes, Mufasa does not.
Simba returns and with the help of some friends will stop Scar and take back his home land. Now you know a little bit about the two, let’s look in depth at a similar scene in both Hamlet and The Lion King… In Act one, Scene four the former King of Denmark reappears as a ghost, he speaks to his son, Hamlet.
After he hears his father’s ghost speak to him and tell him what his uncle actually did, Hamlet is determined to get revenge on his uncle for what he did to his father. In a similar scene, in The Lion King the directors have made the scene closely correspond with the plot of Hamlet. Rafiki stumbles upon Adult Simba. Simba tells Rafiki how is father is dead. Rafiki says “Nope, wrong again.
” Rafiki will lead Simba to a place where he saysSimba’s father, Mufasa is. Simba will look into the pond and see Mufasa’s ghost”within him.” Simba’s father tells him to remember who he his, that he is his father’s son, the one true king. Both of these scenes are similar because they both show the son speaking to the ghost of their deceased father. However the ends of both Hamlet and The Lion King are different. In Hamlet, all of the main characters die and the kingdom is no longer under the rule of the murder of King Hamlet.
In The Lion King, the rightful king took back control of the kingdom and it was a happy ending. They are both different but you can see how the two come together to show how The Lion King was once adapted from Hamlet. Personally, I think that viewing the film rather than reading a play gives you a much stronger understanding, from the way the camera is positioned to the lighting and sound effects. They all play an astounding roll on viewing the film. When Nala is shown as a cub, the camera is tilted at a down angle to show that she is young and a very small part in the world and in the movie, but as she grows older they begin to show the camera looking up on her to show her fearless and strong characteristics.
The music also plays a big role, when the hyena’s were “picking” on Simba and Nala. The music helps the viewer by building suspense right up until the climax of that scene when Mufasa attacks the hyenas’. At the end of the movie, Simba stands proudly on top of the rock, and the lighting is very bright to show his great achievement. This is an example of how the lighting shows the good of his achievement in taking over the Pride Lands to rule once again. Now you can see why the director made the decisions he did, anywhere from the lighting to the sound effects. Now after hearing all of the reasons why I think the film is better, how do you feel? The choice is yours.
