The Lion King As A Metaphor For Working With The Inner Child

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

The screen version of The Lion King, which is now being shown in cinemas, can be viewed in different ways. Someone sees just a beautiful fairy tale story, someone criticizes for giving the animals a naturalistic look, but this does not occur in wildlife like what is shown in this fairy tale. Mandrills are not friendly with lions, and little lion cubs do not run carelessly among the antelopes.

I've always loved this cartoon.

And I want to share with you what metaphors I see in it. Any good fairy tale or story, in my opinion, is permeated with archetypal plots, and this one is no exception.

Little lion cub Simba was born to the king of beasts Mufasa. Simba really wants to be worthy of his parent, and therefore listens to the whispering voice of the traitor Scar, his father's brother. And when Mufasa dies, Simba leaves the pride. He is rescued by the meerkat and warthog Timon and Pumbaa. Simba lives a strange life - like a lion, but eats maggots and does not hunt animals. And one day the mandrill of Rafiki, a shaman, learns thanks to natural signs that Simba is alive … At the same time, Simba is found by a young lioness Nala, with whom they were friends when they were children.

I will not describe the plot of the cartoon further, you probably know it. This is the actual plot, the first "surface layer".

But any symbol and any metaphor has another hidden, deep meaning. I would like to pay special attention to them.

In the Jungian approach (and not only in it), when we want to decipher a dream or message from a fairy tale, myth, history, all characters can be considered as internal figures.

And then all the characters and plot twists of the cartoon take on different meanings.

Simba is a little lion cub who for some reason really wants to please his powerful father. He wants to please him, wants Mufasa to be proud of him, and therefore trustingly listens to the whispers of the villain Scar. Mufasa is shown to be a good, accepting, forgiving, protective parent. Then why is Simba acting this way? Here you can recall Adler's theory of an "inferiority complex", who believed that every child experiences his own "inferiority", "insufficiency" in childhood, this is a universal experience, since the child is faced with a world that is larger than him. When your father is the king of beasts himself, this feeling of "insufficiency" can be exacerbated.

There is also the figure of Scar, brother of King Mufasa. Scar can also be viewed as a "dark", "shadow" parental side. Any child sooner or later encounters this side of his parent. It's another matter which side will "outweigh" in the end. Abusive parents, those who subject their children to physical or violent emotional abuse - those same Scars. Often, such parents can turn to their child either as the receiving party (Mufasa), or rejecting and whispering and imposing guilt feelings (Scar). And - the important message of the cartoon - the child (Simba) completely believes this insinuating treacherous voice.

Scar tricks Simba into a trap in order to destroy both Simba and Mufasa, and take his place on the throne himself. A tragedy ensues, Mufasa, trying to save Simba, dies - Scar pushes him off a cliff and whispers to Simba that he is to blame for the death of his father, and therefore cannot return to the pride. Scar gives the order to kill the lion cub, but Simba miraculously escapes and leaves for the desert.

Let us dwell on the plot of the death of Mufasa. This can be a real situation when a child is faced with a traumatic experience, receives some kind of emotional trauma. Something terrible is happening, “something happened that should not have happened” - this is how D. Winnicot wrote about childhood trauma. For example, a parent really dies or something else happens, but also very traumatic. But it so happens that, as the child grows and matures, the place of Mufasa, the adoptive parent, is taken by Scar, and his reign begins. And then the child can remain an orphan even with a living parent, and the feeling of a complete lack of acceptance on the part of the parent can be internally experienced as a real loss …

Scar later becomes an "internal persecutor" (the figure who is often called the internal critic, but often the internal critic can be just a persecuting figure).

So, Simba goes into the desert and there falls exhausted. The desert is a vivid metaphor for the suppression of feelings. When the experience of loss is unbearable, feelings can dry up. The lion cub in the desert is found by Timon and Pumbaa, the bearers of "positive philosophy," chanting "akuna matata" (which means "carefree life").

Psychological trauma is an internal stop when there is no strength to cope. This is the inner stop of unbearable experiences. Simba goes into an unreal world. He is a lion. But he feeds on larvae, does not growl, and is very surprised how sometimes some animals are afraid of him (remember the episode, how the doe jumped off him and told him: "Oh, I thought it was a real lion"?).

Timon and Pumbaa can be viewed in this context as internal defense mechanisms that prevented Simba (the inner child) from dying. But as it grows, these defenses begin to interfere with our growth.

Often, "positive philosophy" for a person also becomes this protective mechanism, which does not allow seeing reality. A person reads affirmations, is fond of various "positive" practices and cannot see that in fact he is a lion, who eats food that is not suitable for him, and does not allow himself to experience grief. At the same time, he feels bad inside, but he does not understand why. This moment is also shown in the cartoon, when Simba lies at night and looks at the stars, and does not understand why he is sad, because he now lives like a heavenly life.

It is important to emphasize that internal defenses are our friends, something that once prevented us from perishing. But sooner or later, in order to live a full life, you will need to see reality and face difficult inner experiences. What I like about the ingenious plot of this story is that it shows exactly when the forces appear to face reality. And they appear thanks to the call of the soul.

Nala, Simba's childhood friend, cannot stand the Scar regime, as a result of which the lands are captured by jackals, and goes in search of help. And suddenly she finds Simba, they fall in love, and Nala reminds Simba that he is a lion, he is the heir to the throne, and he must save his kingdom.

Until reality is seen and denied, "jackals" rule in the inner life - those who believe and serve Scar, the inner persecutor. What is happening in Simba's kingdom (and about which Simba seems to know nothing) may also be a metaphor for what is happening in the inner world of a person. This can be a metaphor for depression - life leaves, there is no food left, the balance is disturbed when Scar dominates inside, and not the accepting inner parent.

The figure of Nala is interesting. In many fairy tales and myths, the hero is saved by a female character, who is a symbol of the soul. Nala is Simba's soul, a healthy part of him. And she calls Simba, calls to shake off sleep in the carefree world of "hakuna matata" and finally save his kingdom. And Simba hears this call. And just when Simba heard the call of his soul, a guide comes to him - the mandrill of Rafiki, the shaman of the tribe.

Rafiki is happy that Simba is alive. And he realizes this after Simba met with Nala. When we hear the call of the soul, then everything in the inner world begins to come to life.

Rafiki reminds Simba of what Mufasa told him and says that Mufasa is alive. Rafiki is the guide to whom a person comes when he finally hears the call of his soul. It may be a psychologist, in other cultures they were shamans, guides, mentors. Rafiki leads Simba through thorns, narrow passages, Simba does not understand where he is being led, sometimes gets stuck in the thickets - a good metaphor for psychological work. And in the end, Rafiki leads the young lion to the water and shows him his own reflection, and tells him "here is your father." And in the reflection Simba sees himself …

Water is usually a symbol of feelings and the unconscious. Simba finally faces his grief, which he "paused". He grieves for his father. He hears his father's voice and sees it in the starry sky (a metaphor for the archetypal Father), and he has the strength to see reality. Simba's father is alive because Simba became a parent to himself. He has an inner adoptive parent, and now he has the strength to deal with Scar - his inner persecutor.

Interestingly, Timon and Pumbaa also come to the rescue after that. For me, this is about the fact that we cannot give up our internal defenses at all, they once helped us. When a person copes with internal traumatic experiences, these defenses become more flexible and can continue to be helpful. I always tell my clients to thank our defenders first. Now they can interfere, but once they saved. And they can help afterwards. And when there is a battle with Scar's army, Timon and Pumbaa tell Simba that “although this is not typical for us, we actually worried about you” and also help him. In my opinion, it is important that the defenses become somewhat different when the figure of an internal adoptive parent appears, that is, when Simba has become a good parent to himself. Until then, they will remain denying defense mechanisms chanting "akuna matata".

The battle with jackals is also a metaphor for difficult inner work. And it is quite heavy and costly. And maybe that is why some people prefer to live in the illusion of a carefree life, because otherwise they will have to face what they do not want to see in themselves …

When Simba and Scar converge on a rock for battle, we see how the inner wounded child is activated again, and how he still believes in the haunting voice. That he was to blame for the death of his father, not Scar. When Scar is sure that Simba has surrendered, he confesses that it is he, Scar, who is responsible for Mufasa's death. And then Simba has the strength to resist the inner persecutor. When we finally give responsibility to the one who caused the damage, then we have the strength to change something in our life. And Simba changes. He stops believing Scar's voice and no longer obeys him. Man subjugates the inner pursuing figure, becomes the receiving parent to himself, and peace comes in his kingdom.

Now Simba is an adult lion (and here we can say that the very figure of the inner adult has been formed), who is the rightful ruler of his inner kingdom.

I don't know about you, but I once again wanted to revise the adaptation of this wise story, permeated with archetypal plots, in which the inner child, and the inner parent, and the inner critic (persecutor) and the inner adult are manifested …