I was at a military memoribilia show recently and I saw a display that talked about a connection between Nazi Mysticism, Germanic Runes and “The Circle of Life”. Does anyone know anything about this?
I don’t know about Mustafa, but I know the scene with the musical number “Be Prepared” which featured rows and rows of hyenas parading in formation reminded me of the old Nazi propaganda footage of their troops parading in formation.
Zev Steinhardt
No. The Lion King is an allegory for twentieth century Western politics. Mustafa represented England; an old-fashioned monarchy with an emphasis on character and tradition. Scar represented Germany; the upstart that was attempting to overthrow the British empire with the hints of Nazism in the background. And Simba represented America; he originally rebelled against England, rejected his values, and attempted to avoid conflict, but eventually he realized the values of England’s traditions and the necessity of defeating Germany, and took England’s place as the defender of Western society.
Its Mufasa not Mustafa. No T.
(can you tell I’m a huge fan of the Lion King? :D)
- Good eye. I watched an interview with the animator responsible for that scene (he’s a Dane, yay) and he said he’d been trying to give the entire segment a Reiffenstahl look - as far as he could get Disney to go.
S. Norman
Gee, and I always thought it was just Hamlet with lions. Maybe Shakespeare had the same allegory about England and the U.S.
Look, folks, you can read whatever you want into whatever you read. Just because someone has a crackpot idea about the “true meaning” of something doesn’t mean squat. There is a belief that, as long as you can back it up, a literary work can mean whatever you choose to make it mean (Humpty Dumpty would have loved that). But it’s ultimately nonsense unless you can find something more than your own prejudices.
Helter Skelter.
I don’t know much about Nazi Mysticim or Germanic Runes (I thought runes were a primitive alphabet) but the circle of life concept is not uncommon amoung pagan religions. By pagan I mean nature-based, non-revealed religions. The idea that you are part of the earth and you will become part of the earth and you live forever as part of the earth. Circles are also very common sacred symbols and can be found as such virtually anywhere in the world.
It sounds to me that the people at the ‘military memoribila’ show were reaching for something.
Dang… and I knew that (I have three kids). Must have been a typo.
Zev Steinhardt
Yeah, I would have to say that the whole “circle of life” notion is pretty common worldwide, and throughout our culture. How many zillions of family TV shows over the years have had some episode where the parents explain to the kids (after grandma, or the dog, dies) how death is “all just a part of the life process”? Just one of those trite little morals so common in pop culture, like when the good guy refuses to kill the bad guy, since that would make him just like the villain. Just saw that on Xena yesterday.
No, “The Lion King” is not Nazi propaganda! There is a VERY tenuous symbolic connection, I suppose. That is, the Nazi’s symbol, the swastika, was (just like the wheel on the flag of India) a symbol of the eternal circle (or, more accurately, cycles) of life.
The swastika represented spring, which leads to summer, which leads to fall, which leads to winter, which leads back to spring, which…
The swastika represented birth, which led to youth, which led to adulthood, which led to death, which led to re-birth (reincarnation), which led back to…
So, in the most basic sense, yes, the Swastika stood for the “circle of life” that was celebrated in “The Lion King.” But that does NOT mean the film is to be taken seriously as a pro-NAzi statement.
Oh, I suppose you’re going to say that my children’s dewy-eyed ambition to become genocidal, jackbooted thugs when they grow up is ENTIRELY due to my bad parenting techinques, huh?
I guess what I really wanted to know was if anyone had any information on a so called “Circle of life” symbolism inherent in Germanic runes (Yes I mean the ancient germanic alphabet, although they may have just been ideograms that looked like they came straight out of the Lord of the Rings)or a Nazi movement/group that exisited during WWII.
I don’t know about the OP, but for my money, you can’t use the phrase “jack-booted thugs” too often.
RealityChuck, irony is one of the hallmarks of sophisticated humor.
And, Ike, maybe you can clear something up for me. I’ve often heard about genocidal jack-booted thugs but I’m not sure how it works. Which comes first; the atrocities, the attitude, or the footwear? I’d hate to embarass myself by trying to join the Aryan Brotherhood in a pair of high tops, but what happens if it turns out that I’m not very good at thuggery and I fail their probationary period? I won’t be a genocidal thug but there I’ll be stuck with an expensive pair of jack-boots. Have your kids ask if it’s like bowling and I can rent the shoes for the first year or so until I know if it’s really for me.
Two points:
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Did this military memorabilia display actually make a connection between Nazi symbolism and “The Circle of Life” as TCOL appears in “The Lion King”, or is furryman making that connection? As pointed out by other posters, the idea is not unique to Nazi Germany and could have been appropriated by the Disney writers from lots of other cultures.
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There is a scene in which Mufasa explains to Simba how the antelope are eaten by the lions, who eventually die and become grass, and are thus eaten by the antelope. That, and the fact that the song is sung at the opening of the movie, right before the presentation/anointing/bris/whatevah of the infant Simba, pretty much points out the meaning behind the concept as the film uses it.
Well, as a back-up, I signed them up for Beginning Tap.
The display contained an elaborate necklace with about a dozen Germanic runes/ideograms dangling from it. According to the display the runes were supposed to represent “The Circle of Life”. They were supposedly designed by/created for some German woman. I was just wondering if anyone had any information on this cult/movement/group and exatly what the Germanic runes were supposed to represent.
The display contained an elaborate necklace with about a dozen Germanic runes/ideograms dangling from it. According to the display the runes were supposed to represent “The Circle of Life”. They were supposedly designed by/created for some German woman. I was just wondering if anyone had any information on this cult/movement/group and exactly what the Germanic runes were supposed to represent.
Uh, I may be totally off-base here, but wasn’t Lion King actually a nod to Shakespeare? Hamlet or Macbeth (I forget which) – King killed by his brother to take over the kingdom, son leaves and then returns to avenge dad? (Sounds like Hamlet as I type this out)
Here’s a link to some explanations of the Elder Futhark runes. A Google search on “futhark” turns up lots of hits, even if most of 'em are a little too crystalline-vibratory for me.
The runes far predate the Nazis, of course–Hitler was prone to coopting anything that might prove useful. The swastika, which was a perfectly decent symbol once, has been horribly tainted by the association.