Lion king gay
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They’re big softies, using their wits and farts to overcome any situation.
That is until they decide to rescue Simba, who challenges them to a new level. The movie reveals how they were present at every plot point — while exploring the origins of their budding, affectionate relationship.
There’s no better way to put this: The Lion King 1 ½ is the gayest Disney movie of all time.
From the get-go, the film establishes Timon as a gay-coded, Jewish-coded — his mother calls him a meshuggah at one point — Disney princess.
Are Janja and his clan simple predators wanting to get their meals, an enemy faction trying to chase the lions off the Pride Lands to take their place (as hinted in Outta the Way), or villainous gluttons who just want to eat as much as they want without caring about consequences and disrupting the balance of the ecosystem justifying the Guard's antagonism towards them?
And if only he would've done [that], the world would've been entirely different. In real life, they'd be doing it because they're competition for food, but obviously this risks the lions looking like jerks for chasing off starving hyenas. Kion gets similar questions on whether he is an expy of Simba's non-canon son Kopa or whether it's coincidental.
Often, boys have the pressure to follow in their father's footsteps, including certain cultural expectations of masculinity. Did Scar believe a lifetime in exile away from the Pridelands he spent his whole life coveting and wishing to rule would be worse than death? However, some of these depictions have been more forward than others.
Few Disney characters are explicitly declared to be gay by the studio or its filmmakers, but viewers have picked up on "gay coding," meaning characters exhibiting traits corresponding with LGBTQ.
Hahn notes that, in lion prides, there typically is only one male because he's killed off the previous king and any rivals, including cubs. They look into each other’s eyes lovingly. In the last few years, Disney has featured its first lesbian kiss, its first gay protagonist, and a couple of amazing queer personalities.
This film’s Scar, like Jafar and all of the others, has been leached of anything even remotely resembling queerness.
We all know by now that this film lacks almost any semblance of the beauty and the majesty that characterized its animated predecessor.
Do you like what you read here at Omnivorous? Do you like supporting indie writers? As viewers we find ourselves compelled by Scar even as we’re also revolted by his actions, particularly the joy he takes in murdering Mufasa (Irons’ whisper of “long live the king” is something that will live in my mind forever).
In the new version of The Lion King, by contrast, the photorealism of the animation and the much “straighter” vocal performance renders Scar into a much more straightforward representation of evil.
Every little bit helps. To quote Timon’s narration directly, “Rescuing Simba was a cinch. That’s queer culture!
As Disney still stumbles through their “exclusively gay moments,” The Lion King 1 ½ is a reminder that sometimes subtext is better — especially when it’s this texty. Scar clings to this lie almost to the bitter end, until his hubris gets the better of him and he tells the truth to Simba, only for the young lion to finally find his inner strength and defeat his uncle, leading to the latter’s being devoured by his former hyena allies.
In preparation for this piece I decided to rewatch the 2019 live-action film, in the hopes that I might be able to uncover some residue of the queer malice that made the original character such an inspiration (if I can dare to use that word) for me as a young queer kid constantly existing on the outskirts of heterosexual society.
Slowly and steadily, however, queer characters like Specter have become more prominent in the mainstream media. Elton John and Raven Symone on one soundtrack? A year later, the film shows Diazo and Ethan dating.
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Ethan is an amazing queer representation in a film that is also about father-son relationships.
Timon insists Pumbaa stay with him and says he’s his best friend in the world. Loveable slackers who save Simba's life and help him deal with his trauma, or two feckless wasters who encourage a vulnerable young boy to hide from his problems and responsibilities so he can stick around as their bodyguard?