Hi everyone! These posts are way overdue, but I will start with the hot topic in A.P. Hamlit: Hamlet. When I was finished reading the play and when my class was discussing it I could not get the musical numbers from The Lion King out of my head. It's sad to think that in grade school when I first encountered Hamlet i did not immediately pick up on how similar the Disney film and Shakespeare tragedy are. Here is a list of the parallel characters with the Shakespearean characters matched up to their Disney counterparts.
Prince Hamlet= Simba
Claudius= Scar
King Hamlet = Mufasa (say his name several times)
The Ghost= Rafiki
Queen Gertrude= Sarabi (Simba's mother)
Ophelia= Nala
Horatio= Timon and Pumbaa
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern= the hyenas Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed (gotta love Ed!)
Polonius= Zazu
Before the comments go out about some of these parallels being wrong, I am leaving out the differences in plot. For example, Simba does not die, but Disney does not usually kill off the good guys. They leave it to Pixar (Up comes to mind). Also, even though Zazu could not father a lion, I saw him as an adviser just like Polonius was.
Another point to note is that I had Hamlet's father and the Ghost be different characters because Hamlet doubts whether he actually encountered his father or the devil, and Rafiki was the one who allowed the adult Simba to hear Mufasa's message telling him to defeat Scar.
You should notice that I did not list a parallel for Laertes. Please post your thoughts!
Some say The Bad Sleep Well by Akira Kurasawa, the great Japanese director is an adaptation of Hamlet. I am not sure what I think. Do you think The Lion King is a great film? Is there an African template for the movie, an African Hamlet?
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