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Activities and Lessons | The Circle of Life | The Lessons of 'The Lion King' | Parents and Children | Journeys
"ANTHROPO-what?"
Animal Stories and Folklore
 'The Lion King' continues a tradition of storytelling that is
centuries old: anthropomorphism, or giving animals human speech and
feelings. In her book Animal Land: The Creatures of Childrens
Fiction (William Morrow & Company, NY,1975), Margaret Blount
writes, "Talking animals seem to be as old as man; and folklore
tales read like Mans remotest dreams." Every culture has its
own animal stories. When we tell stories about animals acting like
humans, we are better able to see ourselves in the Circle of Life.
'The Lion King' is very much in the great Disney tradition of
using allegories with animals for storytelling purposes. In the
early days, Walt adapted many of Aesops fables for animation and
used animal characters like Mickey and Donald to tell his stories.
Later Bambi, Lady and the Tramp and One Hundred and One Dalmations...
further explored the approach of telling stories about animals in
human terms and with strong moral themes."
Roy E. Disney, Vice Chairman of the Walt
Disney Company and head of Feature Animation.
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