Here’s some important news. I won’t be posting as often on this blog for April. This is going to be a crazy busy month since I have some creative priorities going on especially with a certain annual challenge I do multiple times a year with April being one of those key months. Normally, I post on here Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, but I may post once a week on there assuming if I have time given my other priorities.
However, I do have some good news. Some of you are already doing this, but I will still have things going on with Iridium Eye which is my film/anime/documentary blog which you can check out here. I have reviews set up for the month including a Top 7 list that I’m sure will get some attention. Feel free to check out that blog if you want to see my thoughts on obscure movies, foreign films, documentaries, short films, lesser-known anime, art house films and even some non-mainstream animation.
Hope you’re all doing alright.
Tag Archives: Anime
Let the spectrum in! The Colo(u)rful Stories Tag!
It has been a long time since I’ve been tagged on this page, but it has happened. I was tagged by 7mononoke from Anime Rants. Thank you very much! This sounds like a very unique tag to be a part of. Also, bonus points if anyone gets the music reference in my title for this post.
Here are the rules for this tag:
#1 Share your favourite stories—movies/books/anime/manga/drama/songs—by classifying them on these seven colours’ traits:
- red: passionate, exciting, invigorating
- blue: peaceful, calming
- pink: romantic, caring
- orange: warm, motivating
- black: mysterious, thrilling
- green: fresh, unexpected
- white: random
#2 Send this challenge invitation to at least one of your friends. Let them fear your superiority, as you—decide their fate.
#3 Link back to the original post here! And, enjoy!
Alright. Let’s do this!
RED
Paprika
This would be my pick for red. Paprika is certainly experimental like most of Satoshi Kon’s work, but it’s very exciting and passionate with the imagery and multi-tiered storytelling. Some of you know about my strong feelings when it comes to an obvious film plagiarism issue associated with this movie, but I’m going to focus on the obvious original factors. Paprika also plays with passion or in Konakawa’s case lack thereof and the journey between dreams and reality is surreal, but forces you to pay attention.
BLUE
Alamar
This is more of a recent-ish watch since I first saw it a couple of years ago. There’s certainly lots of blues since most of the movie takes place near or on the ocean, but this really was a calming movie. Alamar wasn’t some deep watch, but it was very relaxing with this father and son bonding near the water. I first saw it during the winter when it was insane with the extreme polar vortex and with tons of snow on some days. It was a peaceful movie of characters just living life and there’s a healthy family relationship that doesn’t involve family drama nor does the father die in this film.
PINK
The Place Promised In Our Early Days
This one was tough because I’m not a fan of romantic movies. The closest thing to a romance work that I really like is Makoto Shinkai’s first full-length film. The Place Promised In Our Early Days would be far closer to describe as a war drama with some sci-fi elements given the concept of the parallel universes playing a major role in the plot. This has one of the best love triangles I’ve ever seen in movies and there was some great characterization. Of course, most anime fans will Stan harder for Your Name, Weathering With You, or (GOD FORBID!) The Garden of Words, but The Place Promised is still an impactful watch even years later.
ORANGE
Hikaru no Go
Hikaru no Go is one anime and manga series I’ve enjoyed since I was in high school and it still holds up. I’ve certainly praised it for it’s originality, believable characters, and destroying multiple shonen anime tropes. Heck, this series was a major inspiration for the last single and video I made (notice the go imagery) late last year. This was a motivating series to watch not just with learning about the game of go, but it also shows perseverance in a non-cheesy light while being genuine about it.
BLACK
Maasai: The Rain Warriors
Even more recent than watching Alamar, I discovered this Kenyan movie not too long ago. I don’t want to just put anime on this list even though I certainly have a reputation for talking about that subject on one of my other blogs. Maasai: The Rain Warriors was a very fascinating watch with it using actual Maasai actors, using the Maa language as opposed to English or even Swahili, and incorporating Afro-fantasy with a low-key magic realism to it. There’s mysterious aspects with the adventure to stop this demonic lion from cursing the land with drought. There were some nice twists and turns while being respectful to this indigenous tribe in Kenya. No, there is absolutely no pun involving the choice of movie with this color, so calm down.
GREEN
Lunch Time Heroes
This is the first Nollywood movie I have seen! I know there were some pacing and plotting issues, but Lunch Time Heroes was one movie that I thought was better than what most critics said. It was fresh and unexpected with how much I enjoyed this movie. Sure, the plot is simple with a teacher thrust into a classroom full of troublesome students while taking part in an academic competition against other schools in Nigeria, but how they did it was entertaining and in some cases deconstructive. I’m not a fan of “save our students” plots, but this was done right. Lunch Time Heroes was also the 2nd “save our students” movie I’ve seen in my life that DIDN’T resort to white savior tropes (the 1st is Stand and Deliver) even if it was due to the geographic location. Not only that, but it’s an African movie that takes place in a middle-class setting which is something Hollywood wouldn’t dare show that side of the continent. Lunch Time Heroes was a simple, yet very unexpected watch for me.
WHITE
Shinesman
You know, my interests can be quite random. I can delve into avant-garde and arthouse works, but at the same time I can watch something wacky from time to time. I’m not always this super serious or highbrow person, everyone. I do have a sense of humor and a sense of levity. Shinesman is one of my favorite anime comedies and parody works in general. When I tell other people about this, I mention that Shinesman is like a mix between Power Rangers and The Office, but that’s scratching the surface. It has one of my top 3 dubs that are better than the original Japanese version. The humor consists of over-the-top tokusatsu spoofing, low-key zingers, and even makes some cheeky jokes about anime fandoms. This still makes me laugh to this day seeing this obscure 90s OVA series. I would also like to see a remake and if they could get as many of the original dub cast members to reprise their roles, I’d be elated.
I will nominate the following people:
Never Argue With a Fish
Fiddletwix
Traditional Catholic Weeb
Aizen_Kuro
James Humphrey
Red Metal
Scarlettiger
All photos are property of their respective owners and used under US “Fair Use” laws.
Paprika is property of Satoshi Kon, Madhouse and Sony Pictures Classics. The GIF is from Gfycat and is property of Satoshi Kon, Madhouse and Sony Pictures Classics.
Alamar is property of Film Movement. The screenshot is from Cinema Tropical and is property of Film Movement.
The Place Promised In Our Early Days is property of Makoto Shinkai and ComixWave. The screenshot is from Madman Entertainment and is property of Makoto Shinkai, ComixWave, and Madman Entertainment.
Hikaru no Go is property of Yumi Hotta, Takeshi Obata, Studio Pierrot, and Viz. The screenshot is from YouTube and is property of Studio Pierrot and Viz.
Maasai: The Rain Warriors is property of ArtMattan and Facets Video. The screenshot is from ArtMattan and is property of ArtMattan and Facets Video.
Lunch Time Heroes is property of PHB Films and FilmOne Distribution. The screenshot is from YouTube and is property of PHB Films and FilmOne Distribution.
Shinesman is property of Production I. G. The Japanese DVD cover is from My Anime List and is property of Production I. G.
Contradictions by a Brow
Avant-garde art and experimental films one day
Indie BritWres matches the next
Anime after that
Historical documentaries the day after
Sprinkling some nonfiction books in between
Before delving in manga pages
After writing haikus and fiction concepts in a notebook
Why am I a walking contradiction with these hobbies?
Some positive things despite the insanity of the world: African travel vlogs, traditional Burundian drumming, and Hikaru no Go song covers
I know things are still very intense in this world. I’m not ignoring them at all. This is just a slight change of pace. I had some rough emotional moments earlier this week, but I’m better now. It’s been amazing by getting some encouragement from offline and online friends recently. Here are some things that I thought were fascinating recently.
I’ve been getting into Miss Trudy’s videos a lot over the past few weeks. Miss Trudy is a Kenyan YouTuber who makes travel videos mainly of different African countries. I checked out some of her videos on Sierra Leone and Liberia among other countries and I was astounded by the beauty of those nations. That’s the Africa they NEVER show you especially in the West. Here’s one of her videos where she’s in Freetown (the capital and largest city). Also, did you know Freetown was actually created by freed African slaves from America, the Caribbean, England, and Canada? I thought that was very fascinating.
Burundi has been one country I didn’t pay too much attention to, but I have to thank Miss Trudy as well as Dr. Y. for exposing me to more things about that country. One cultural tradition in that country is their drum corps. These drummers carry on a legacy dating back centuries when Burundi was a kingdom. The drummers would play for the king and they had their own unique rhythms. This was wonderful and I even picked up the live album of the Drummers of Burundi on Bandcamp where they played at Real World Records which is owned by Peter Gabriel.
I got back into the anime and manga series Hikaru no Go this year. It was one of my favorite series during my high school years, and after rediscovering it, HNG still holds up. Seriously, if you think all anime is nothing but martial arts ultraviolence, collectable monsters, or hentai, then please rethink your priorities. I found a cover of the 2nd opening theme “I’ll Be the One” by HAL that was performed by this Thai singer named MindaRyn. I thought she did a great job at singing this song. This was almost as good as the original in my opinion.
Besides all of that, I’ve been having some thoughts about what to post, but I’m debating about having it here or on my other blogs involving different topics.
Hope you all are doing well today.
Double Neat! I was nominated twice for the Real Blog Award!
Here I go again with these delayed award posts! Sorry about that. Recently I was nominated by two different bloggers for the Real Neat Blog Award. They are AK from Everything Is Bad For You and Red Metal at Extra Life. Thank you so much, guys!
Here are the rules:
1. Display the logo
2. Thank the bloggers for the award.
3. Answer the questions from the one who nominated you.
4. Nominate 7 to 10 bloggers.
5. Ask them 7 questions.
Here we go now, and I’ll start with AK’s questions first.
1) Is there a game, book, or other work that you’d like to experience but that you can’t because it’s untranslated, not ported, or otherwise inaccessible?
Good question. It would be cool to play Dance Dance Revolution Club Version for Dreamcast.
2) What’s one work that really affected you or stuck with you in the last year, and why do you think it did?
Since discovering Ousmane Sebene, his debut feature film Black Girl really affected me. As someone with a film background, I was angry not knowing about this director. This work was incredible as it had great metaphors about neo-colonization and some of the most realistic displays of racism with various dog whistles from the French people against the Senegalese main character and the story was so believable and still relevant despite being made in the 60s.
3) If you could revive one series of works that’s been abandoned or dropped by its creators for any reason, what series would it be and why?
Despite the stream of remakes going on over the past few years, I would actually like to see a remake of Shinesman. I know the manga went farther and the satire could still work especially with the glut of superhero media even if Shinesman parodies Power Rangers/Super Sentai. If that got dubbed, then need to get the original English VA cast for it if they can still pull off the voices.
4) When it comes to music, do you prefer songs with vocals and lyrics or instrumental pieces, or do you have a preference at all? If you prefer one type over the other, why do you think that is?
I don’t have a preference at all, actually.
5) When was the last time you bought a magazine, newspaper, or other form of print media?
This was months ago and I bout a book from Dr. Amos Wilson. I’m glad to discover his work on anti-racism and black psychology last year. I’m also not counting e-books, by the way.
6) Is there a holiday you don’t get to celebrate/take off because of family or work reasons but that you wish you could?
Depends on my schedule with work. I know I get Christmas and Easter off which is guaranteed. I’d say Juneteenth would be excellent having that off on so many levels.
7) If you had to create a new holiday, when would it be and what would it involve?
I would make a commemorative holiday for Black Wall Street. This will be a federal holiday where schools and businesses will close to honor those that were affected by that horrific attack. Next year will be the 100 year anniversary. NEVER FORGET!
Now for Red Metal’s questions:
1. What is your favorite variety of meat? Or if you don’t eat meat what is your favorite meat substitute?
Seitan. News flash, I’m a vegetarian! Most of you didn’t know that fact about me.
2. If you could permanently remove one installment from a series you like (which would erase its existence from everyone’s memory), which one would you choose?
I do like Ghost In The Shell. As much as I was disappointed in the GITS sequel and some of the Arise prequels, but at least they offer decent elements to the overall story. If there was one thing I could erase from that series, then (to the surprise of no one) I would erase that live-action remake. Shame on the directors and shaming on the casting agents who thought it was a good idea to let Black Widow play the Major. #Whitewashing
3. If you lost a bet, would you rather read the worst book, play the worst game, listen to the worst album, or watch the worst film that you know of?
I’d say reading the worst book because I’d likely forget about it the most out of those options.
4. If you won a bet, what kind of punishment would be in store for your friend?
MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!! If this was a good friend of mine, I would be a bit soft by making them do 100 pushups and then a mile run. Side note: I did 100 pushups a day all throughout December. If this was a frenemy, I would have them be a part of a pro wrestling match against “Big Wavy” Roy Johnson. Here’s a sample of what would happen. #PounceParty
5. What is your favorite month of the year?
October. I’m biased since I was born that month.
6. What is a piece of obscure trivia you like to mention during social gatherings?
I’m full of obscure trivia. Hahaha! I think the ones I mention somewhat frequently are smart apartments in Kenya that use iPads to control the AC, kitchen stoves, ovens, lights, etc. It’s great mentioning facts that destroy stereotypes about Africa.
7. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you choose? In this hypothetical situation, assume your choice would grant you complete fluency in the area’s official language.
Speaking of Africa, one place I would like to live would be Brazzaville, Republic of Congo. I have a bit of fluency in Lingala, but being fully fluent in that and the other Congolese languages would be sweet. I saw very fascinating things in pictures and video, it’s quite modern, and there’s lots of things to do in the country.
8. What is the longest amount of time you’ve ever driven a car or other vehicle in one sitting?
It was en route to Cornerstone Festival in Bushnell, Illinois. That’s a 4.5-5 hour drive despite being from the same state. I’m from the Northern part of the Land of Lincoln and Bushnell is a tiny farm town in West Central Illinois. The closest city to it is Macomb which is 20 minutes away and there’s nothing major besides Western Illinois University. Driving can be a bit easy once you get outside the Chicagoland area, but it can be tiresome seeing cornfields and farms for most of the scenery.
9. What is the most annoying fictional character you can think of?
I can think of several. Haha! I think a ton of the Disney Princesses are annoying to me with most of them being Mary Sues, spoiled brats, get helped by too many plot coupons/plot conveniences, and I can’t see how people can relate to them.
10. What is the most underrated fictional character you can think of?
Yugo Beppu from Yugo the Negotiator. I like how he’s intelligent, culturally aware, and has an extraordinary level of toughness despite not being a violent person. However, there’s one superhero I want to check out called Mr. Terrific. I heard he is good in the comics and that his character was butchered in Arrow.
11. With the decade coming to a close, would you say this was a good period for films, comics, animation, music, literature, or video games?
It was good with the indie and international films I saw, more or less. It was the decade of mediocrity and a tremendous lack of originality in Hollywood with pointless sequels, prequels, adaptations, and of course…so. Many. Freaking. Useless. REMAKES!
Alright. Here are my 7 questions for my nominees.
1. If you’re favorite band’s lead singer quit, who would be a good replacement for them?
2. Who is a supporting character in a movie or TV series that should get their own spin-off? (this can be live-action or animated)
3. The world would be a better place to live in if…?
4. What was the biggest fact or story that really opened your eyes about reality?
5. Which language would you want to learn that isn’t an official tongue in your nation and which places would you visit that uses that language?
6. What is something that you wished never got ripped off or stolen?
7. If you can give great advice in just four words, what would they be?
Nominees:
Rodrovich
Al’s Manga Blog
Kreb
David Boone
Bill Ziegler
The Alchemist
Nesie’s Place
DEAR INNOVARE IS HERE! You can stream and buy it now!
It’s finally here!
My first full-length album “Dear Innovare…The Souls Of Ignored Pioneers Shall Be Ignored” finally drops. It’s only $7 for 41 songs. If you pre-ordered it, then you should get the whole album now.
If you didn’t buy it, then please support me whenever you can. Regardless if you do or not, you can stream the FULL ALBUM on my Bandcamp page or this album player on this post. This thing was a fun experimental genre roulette while making songs involving various inventions, artwork, medical breakthroughs, music, film, architecture, and even anime. This is a unified theme of creators who were overlooked for their creations and/or had their works stolen.
Feel free to check out this album!
Ichise
Limbs are torn
While suffering in a solitary state
I hobble by with whatever strength I have left
My fighting spirit temporarily broken
Until I can walk again
I remain speechless for days
Until hope from unlikely places comes in
However, this help had ulterior motives
I wanted to feel and to be human
Even when I feel like a machine
This fighting spirit needs to be revived
Fandom As Idolatry
Cel-created characters and comic strips have become gods
To those begging for heroes in their psychological wanting
Living vicariously through fiction
When it caters to those who look like them (the most)
Schisms erupt between various incorporated sects
There is no reformation in those attempts
Theme songs become worship anthems
Movie quotes become scriptures
Cons become congregations
Regardless if the followers believed in an Elohim or not
The irony is strong for different reasons
Even when it comes to real people, they become deified
Not realizing they would soon prove to be quite mortal in some time
Who knows? Maybe what I’m saying is blasphemous.
Iridium Eye ends its hiatus!
Hello, everyone.
I thought I would give you a quick reminder that I have more than just one blog. There’s another page of mine that delves into reviewing indie films, international cinema, short films, anime, non-mainstream animation, documentaries, and other obscure movies called Iridium Eye. I hadn’t posted on there in months, but I now have three reviews up today on that page. If you’re sick of whatever Hollywood has been spoon feeding you, then I suggest you check out that blog. Interestingly enough, Iridium Eye is my most-viewed blog of all time.
Feel free to check it out.
This week I have reviews involving movies from Senegal, the DRC, and Uruguay up there.
How I Learned to Utterly Despise that Expensive Ripoff, Overrated, and Bigoted Movie Called The Lion King (And the Existence of Kimba the White Lion Isn’t the Only Reason)
[Warning: This post contains a very contrary opinion to most people and will contain controversial content. Read at your own peril]
EDIT (2022): This rant post was written prior to me watching The Lion’s Share which is the documentary involving the Mbube/The Lion Sleeps Tonight plagiarism case, the Petite Noir/Beyonce music video controversy, or finding out about disturbing parts of Matthew Broderick or Rob Lowe’s pasts that they got free passes for. It seems like this rant has been getting a considerable amount of attention for some odd reason over the past few months (I have my theories why though). I wouldn’t be surprised if people are angry at my observations as they defend this work. Anyways, I’m more offended about other aspects of The Lion King than the Kimba controversy like the Hakuna Matata trademark, the depiction of the hyenas, Mufasa’s protagonist-centered morality, and the aforementioned Mbube case for example. If I can go off-tangent for a bit…Ringing Bell is the best-animated movie involving a parent getting murdered by an animal with dark brown fur and a wounded left eye. Just saying.
I’m sure some of you are probably sick of me at this point bashing this Disney movie if you’ve read earlier posts on this blog or saw certain reviews on Iridium Eye. I’m not sorry for what I’m about to say on here. This frustration has been building up for the past couple of weeks and it’s something I need to vent about on this blog of all things regardless if people agree with this post or not.
[sigh] Here we go.
For starters, I didn’t always hate The Lion King. If anything, it used to be one of my favorite Disney movies when I was a kid. This is going to partially give away my age, but I saw that movie during it’s first theatrical run when I was very little. I even saw the stage adaptation in Chicago at the Cadillac Theatre when I was a bit older. One of my favorite soundtracks back then was the “Rhythm of the Pride Lands” which was the companion soundtrack and it was also the first time the song “He Lives In You” was used. Not Lion King II or the Broadway version. I saw the original VHS tape probably a hundred times during my childhood. I used to know the words to most of the songs way back when. However, I stopped paying attention to Disney during my teenage years because I was really into anime. Okay, I still like Japanese animation, but I was nowhere near as much of an otaku as I was when I was in high school.
It was also around this time when I first heard about Kimba the White Lion. I heard that The Lion King ripped it off, but I thought it was shallow with just the main characters. Flash forward to my adult life when I saw a Cracked article involving childhood icons you didn’t know were shameless rip-offs, and the memories came back again. This piqued my interest, did more research and started to rent the DVDs on Netflix after Kimba stopped airing on Hulu (Disney is a partial owner of that site, so I don’t know if it was because of them or not). While it has it’s issues and has aged animation since it was made in the 60s, I enjoyed that anime for it’s usage of subject matter, originality, and seeing obvious facets that Disney stole from it. If you don’t believe me, check out this link. I couldn’t believe the scenes of Caesar (AKA Original Mufasa) consoling Kimba from the beyond in the night sky. I couldn’t believe the scene where the villainess Belladonna tried to kill Kimba by pushing him off a cliff. I couldn’t believe one of the major villains (Claw) just happened to be a scarred lion usurper with a black mane, dark fur, and had hyena henchmen with him. Every character not named Timon and Pumbaa in that movie is a copy of someone from Tezuka’s manga/anime series. Seriously, shame on Disney for stealing from this classic anime and for trying to block the Jungle Emperor Leo ’97 movie from North America. Trust me, you won’t be looking at The Lion King the same way again once you see the obvious similarities. I can’t see how any sane person could watch Kimba and not think that no one from Disney saw this. Why does The Lion King get a free pass in plagiarism when other media like Yuki Yuna is a Hero gets lambasted for having similarities to Madoka? You know if the situation was reversed, then all you Lion King fans would scream bloody murder that your favorite movie got plagiarized by a foreign (majority non-White) country if Kimba came afterwards. It would be amazing if Disney admitting to stealing from Tezuka’s creation, paid royalties to them, or got epic backlash for their thievery, but I know that will never happen because wishes never come true.
This segues into my next point. I wasn’t aware of this as a child, but growing up, I realized how racist the implications were with the hyenas. Have you not listened to how they talk? They straight-up talk in stereotypical African-American Ebonics (Shenzi) and an exaggerated Mexican accent (Banzai). What ticks me off is when Disney fans don’t call their depiction racist or handwave it because you have Black cast members voicing some of the heroic lions namely James Earl Jones playing Mufasa. No, just because you have Black people playing both sides of the good/evil paradigm, it doesn’t make it bigotry-free (this also applies to the remake). It’s the equivalent of a racist claiming they have a Black best friend or family members to prove they aren’t racist. That or saying slave owners can’t be racist because they have Black people around them. Let’s not forget Disney has a history with using animal characters as POC proxies with racist undertones. Look at the crows in Dumbo and the lead one’s name was JIM! You know, like the same laws in America that involved having enforced segregation, lynchings, or it being legal for White people to rape African-Americans? There’s also Siamese cats talking in broken English in Lady and the Tramp, Aristocats, and even an episode of Chip & Dale: Rescue Rangers for crying out loud. You could even throw in Tito from Oliver & Company as a slap against the Latino community. Coincidentally enough, Cheech Marin would voice both Tito and Banzai in his voice acting career. Is this why so many Americans falsely assume that Black people let alone other ethnic groups act like the hyenas all the time? If you think so, then you need your head examined and we should question if you’re a bigot.
Extending onto that point is how the hyenas were treated with the Elephant Graveyard. Besides the name being a blatant carbon copy of the place in Kimba where the animals had to rescue Roger Ranger in one of the later episodes, I found the place to be disturbing, but not for the same reasons as it was portrayed in the movie. As an adult, I had this realization that this punishment against those animals involved isolating the hyenas in a barren wasteland and they’re forced to starve. It hit me when I researched lesser-known aspects of history: Mufasa was committing genocide against them and I was sickened by it. Scar did bad things, but his big brother is not much better if you really think about it; he’s just applauded for his actions. If you think I’m being crazy, then maybe you should read up on the Congolese Genocide under King Leopold II or the Namibian Genocide by Germany’s 2nd Reich. The former had a body count of 10 MILLION Congolese and Leopold never got punished for it. If you take away the hand-chopping, guns, and mass rape, then it would be the same thing. The latter had a concentration camp called Shark Island where the Germans starved out the Herero and Nama tribes and there was a valley of bones left behind. By the way, one of the perpetrators was General Franz Ritter von Epp who would eventually employ Adolf Hitler and Hitler said he was influenced by this general. LET THAT SINK IN! It’s as if the animators were aroused by putting anti-Black racism with that act as they believe melanated people don’t belong in their circle of life. Come on, if those hyenas talked in Yiddish accents instead of stereotypical Black and Latino accents, then the ADL would’ve thrashed Mickey Mouse in a heartbeat and everybody knows this. But because it’s happening to the bad guys and because they talk in a racially-coded way, it’s somehow justified in the animators’ and fans’ eyes. No, that’s protagonist centered morality on Mufasa’s part (saying nothing how that punishment contradicts his circle of life speech), and it’s propaganda in a form of G-rated White Supremacy. In my adulthood, I’ve seriously pondered if White people actually saw me as one of those hyenas in the past before. I’ve been discriminated against, so I wouldn’t put it past them. It’s hard to watch that knowing about the genocides against Black people, the 1994 crime bill which overloaded the prison-industrial complex (while being soft on Caucasian offenders, let’s be honest), Apartheid South Africa, and gentrification to name a few things to punish them. Do you enjoy Black people or any other POC group getting punished or afflicted at all costs and is The Lion King your film of choice of vicariously having that joy in a supposedly “innocent” way? Are you more offended by me pointing out the racist implications of this Disney movie than the millions of dead bodies from those aforementioned genocides let alone other atrocities?
Let’s also talk about the depiction of Africa. There are no humans in it! Was there some extinction of Africans before the beginning of the story? Disney sucks at this fact and Tarzan is another example of this when that continent is shown without Black people. So people who look like me and darker shouldn’t be seen? Is this a wish-fulfillment about depopulating Africa in animated form? Think about it. They wouldn’t try it with Europe or America. Even if they do have furry characters (don’t lie. furries love The Lion King and you all know this. Also, how come that movie doesn’t get called a furry film with all the anthropomorphic stuff in it?), they make them upright, clothed and human-like in attitude like Zootopia or DuckTales for example. Are they insinuating that Africa should just be one giant savanna or natural utopia without the humans who would live in that part of the world? If not, then they’ll show it as one big piece of poverty porn and/or a giant war zone. It’s as if the animals are treated with dignity if something happens to them than the humans who live there. Cecil the lion? I rest my case. Screw stereotypes. Those furries and their sick fantasies can go away. Also, I’m aware of the issues of the original Kimba manga and some of the other iterations which I wasn’t a fan of (that’s an understatement), but at least Tezuka Productions owned up to it and improved with the later iterations. All these Disney fans are hypocrites for turning a blind eye to the depiction of Africa and the hyena characterizations.
Those are some of my main points that have angered me. Disney needs a moral overhaul. Was it enough to steal from a 60s Japanese anime and from millions of Swahili-speaking Africans by trademarking “Hakuna Matata”? I could go on about the plot holes such as the Nala incest theory, how much that movie ripped off Kimba, how heredity monarchy is not always a good thing, how that movie isn’t that deep/meaningful, or how The Lion King or it’s fanbase avoids being called furries when other movies get labeled as such, but I think you get the point. Even I’ve had enough from defenders of this movie franchise and for people trying to shame me for not liking that film, let alone bullying me for my ethnic background or even what media I like. You’re only proving me right that way. It sickens me how there’s that remake coming out (it’s not live-action, people. it’s just realistic looking CGI) and for people making fun of me for not liking it anymore. You all have no right to moralize to me especially with all the things that have happened in American history let alone what happened to the African diaspora. I’m not saying you’re automatically evil if you’re White since that would be very stupid of me to insinuate that of one’s skin color. Spare me from your attempts of putting words in my mouth or for strawmanning my arguments. What I am saying is that you shouldn’t take movies at face value and assume everything is innocent just because it’s family-friendly from a content standpoint. For one, I’ve become offended the more I’ve learned about history, part of my culture, and with storytelling techniques. I’m sick and tired of being a scapegoat because of the color of my skin and my heritage. I would never even imagine doing the things done to my ancestors to anyone regardless of race. Not everyone is going to like what I typed, nor am I begging people to like it.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to listen to real artists from the continent instead of that artificial crap from Hans Zimmer and Elton John.
All images and videos are property of their respective owners and used under US “Fair Use” laws.
The fan art is property of WhiteLionWarrior at DeviantArt.
Kimba is property of Kimba the White Lion and Tezuka Productions.
Simba is property of The Lion King and Disney.
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