Music and the Fictive Dream
The Lion King
The Lion King is a 1994 American animated film directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, produced by Don Hahn - Walt Disney Feature Animation. The screenplay in this film is also credited to Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts and Linda Woolverton. This film was released by Walt Disney Pictures. The Lion King is the 32nd Disney animated feature film and the fifth animated produced during the "Disney Renaissance." The Disney Renaissance was a period of time during 1989-1999 that Walt Disney Feature Animation began to produce critically and commercially successful films again.
Hakuna Matata's music was written by Elton John and lyrics by Tim Rice in 1994. Hakuna matata is a Swahili language phrase from East Africa and means no trouble/no worries. This song was sang in the 1994 Disney animated film, The Lion King. In the film, the song is being sung by Timon (the meerkat), Pumbaa (the warthog) and Simba (the cub). The whole reason behind Timon beginning to the song is because all three of them were together after Timon's father, Mufasa had passed away. The song in the scene is supposed help Pumbaa and Timon help Simba find a way to forget about his worries and issues he went through in the past. It also is like a transition for Simba from cub to adult as the song continues to be sang. The lyrics in this song are very motivational and allows you to have hope for your future which is why was a great song to sing during this scene. The beat and tempo throughout the song both are played at more fast yet controlled sound but as it continues on and reaches towards the end, it speeds up, bringing attention to Simba, who has now grown to an adult. The overall sound of the song increases towards the end bring more attention to what has changed during the scene.
As I have stated, Hakuna Matata is a Swahili phrase from East Africa that means no worries. The social commentary behind the song is the phrase itself meaning do not dwell on things from past and allow it to affect you right now in the present nor in the future. I personally believe that this song does exactly that. it reminds me that things will soon get better and that I don't have to focus my thoughts on things I cannot go back and fix nor change.
Sources
Gharib, Malaka. “Swahili Speakers Debate Disney's Trademark of 'Hakuna Matata' For T-Shirts.” NPR, NPR, 14 Dec. 2018, www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/12/14/676703629/swahili-speakers-horrified-by-disneys-trademark-of-hakuna-matata.
“Hakuna Matata (Song).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Oct. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakuna_Matata_(song).
“The Lion King.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 15 Nov. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lion_King.
I really enjoyed your blog! This movie was my kid's favorite! This was definitely one of my favorite homework assignments as well. Did you know Hakuna Matata was originally not supposed to be sung in the movie and that they were going to sing a song about eating bugs called "He's Got it All Worked Out"? This was very interesting to me!
ReplyDeleteThe Lion King is my favorite Disney movie. I sing Hakuna Matata in my head, even out loud (though I'm sure some wish I wouldn't) all the time. I remember when I first heard it as a child and the joy that it brought me and that it still brings me. I did not know that it was Swahili language, very interesting!
ReplyDeleteOverall very informative blog post. Thank you for sharing!
This is such a catchy song! I didn't know that "Hakuna Matata" came from the Swahili language. That's neat! I agree that the beat and tempo are pretty fast and steady. Another thing I noticed is that the unique combination of the characters' voices gives the song a unique timbre. Generally, I think it's a good idea to not dwell on things that can't be changed. Thanks for the great post!
ReplyDeleteThe Lion King is one of my favorite Disney movies and a big reason for that is the songs in the movie. The are all so good and just make you want to sing along. I love it even more now though because of my son and the joy I see that he gets out of it when we watch it and get up and sing it together while dancing around. While looking up different stuff about The Lion King it was interesting to find out on a NPR article written about the song there is a "Kenyan band called Them Mushrooms" who have a song like Hakuna Matata that people in Kenyan grew up listening to before The Lion King was every made.(https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/12/14/676703629/swahili-speakers-horrified-by-disneys-trademark-of-hakuna-matata) Also Hakuna Matata "is based on a song called "Warthog Rhapsody", which was written early in the production stage of The Lion King." Although the two songs share the same kind of message and position in the film when Elton and Time started to write the music for the movie they changed it completely and started over and came up with Hakuna Matata. (https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Hakuna_Matata)
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