Anastasia DeLacey Song/book/movie
I can’t remember the first time I saw it, but I do remember being obsessed with it. Ever since I was two or three, I’ve been in love with Disney’s The Lion King. I’ve been told many times that I used to watch it at least once every single day for over a year. I had the entire movie committed to memory and I would say each line, sing each song. I even had an entire bed set that was The Lion King, complete with a body pillow for little kids which I still have. Even now I’m capable of reciting several lines from the movie and my sister often chimes in with me. One weekend Shyanne and I were in the car on the way to our mom’s house, all conversation had died, and I was getting bored. I sat there thinking for a minute before I turned to Shyanne and said “Coconuts”, and that was all it took. Perfectly in sync we both started with, “Nobody knows my sorrows. Oh Zazu, do lighten up. Sing something with a little bounce in it. It’s a small world after all… No! No! Anything but that. I’ve got a lovely bunch of coconuts (dee dee dee dee dee), there they are a-standing in a row (buh-bum buh-bum buh-bum buh-bum). Big ones, small ones, some as big as your head…. Oh I would never have to do this for Mufasa...” As soon as we finished we looked at each other and laughed, loving how we were able to do that. Mom rolled her eyes and said, “You still know all of that? When was the last time you watched that movie anyway?” “Umm… like two years ago, maybe?” I answered. “Hey Ana! Let’s do the monkey’s uncle one!” Shyanne practically screamed in my ear. “ Hey Uncle Scar! Guess what. I’m going to be king of Pride Rock. Oh goody, goody…” we said together, continuing until we reached “When I’m king what’ll that make you? A monkey’s uncle. (Ha ha) You’re so weird. You have no idea.” The Lion King just unlocks so many memories of mine because it was a huge part of my life for quite awhile. Granted, not all the memories are good, like the one I have of a trip to a Holocaust museum last year. That trip is actually what led to me actually giving thought to how twisted some Disney movies are, starting with The Loin King. We were watching a video of Hitler and his troops when I noticed how familiar it looked even though I had never seen it before. Then it clicked, it was just like Scar and all the hyenas. This temporarily killed the movie for me because it made me realize what I’d been watching, and loving every second of, for years. Despite some of the negative memories that I have linked to the movie, all the positive ones cancel out the negatives. Thinking about the movie makes me think about happy times with my family and it reminds me of when everything was so much easier and simpler. Still to this say, The Lion King is one of my favorite movies. I can still recite parts of it and it still effects the way I look at things in life, always remembering the phrase “Hakuna Matata” and knowing to just give things a try.