Jamie King
English 101
2 December 2012
Racial Distinction: Lion King 2
Racial distinctions are –at times –hidden in different forms of media. They may be used to brainwash the audience in a discreet way, enlighten the concept of stereotypes, or even display a situation in which the racial distinction is unintended, yet utilized due to precedence. Racial distinctions are very present and, at times, reasonable. Disney employs these barriers so that the audience recognizes the unfavorable aspects of them. it One instance in which we find racial distinctions are in Disney’s The Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride. Given to misadventures and mischief, Kiara, Simba’s young cub, wanders into the forbidden Outlands, the haunt of Scar 's exiled minions, and there she encounters another mischievous cub, Kovu, son of lioness Zira, once a close friend of the late Scar and now the leader of the exiles. Zira plots against Kiara, drawing her son into her scheme. Kovu has divided loyalties as his love for Kiara deepens. Conveyed in the environments, the identities and the physical appearances, these differentiations possess evidence of racial distinctions. Overall, the environments in which the animals dwell can be categorized into two races: black and white. Kovu’s family –the darker, or black lions –live in a more deserted area away from Pride Rock, the flourishing lands. Their home appears abandoned, devastated and demolished. Ridden with dry lands and random fires, this space is where young Kovu and other young lions play, eat, and sleep –where they call home: “[You] exiled us to the out lands,” Zira, Kovu’s mother whines to Simba, “…Where we have little food, less water” (The Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride). Their habitat compares so well with the lower class neighborhoods cities if where black families live their lives, where there are abandoned homes and demolished memories. Young children play in an area where, unbeknownst to them, a drug deal took place
Cited: The Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride. Dir. Darrell Rooney. Prod. Jeannine Roussell. Perf. Matthew Broderick, Neve Campbell, Andy Dick. Disney Pictures, 1998. Film