collider.com: The Lion King may be one of those iconic films that is instantly identifiable by its music and its score. The 1994 Disney classic ultimately earned Hans Zimmer his first Academy Award, but it has endured to the point that it's no longer just a movie score. It's been transplanted onto the stage, into concerts, live-action, you name it, for more than 30 years. Yet the most remarkable thing about it might be that Zimmer never even wanted to score The Lion King in the first place.
6 comments:
Both the Lion King movie and musical are remarkable award winning productions, and it is no surprise that the music was composed by world renowned artists such as Elton John, Tim Rice, and Hans Zimmer. Reading about Zimmer's initial hesitancy to work on the project came to a surprise to me, but his reasoning actually opened up a larger conversation that I personally resonate with. Learning that Zimmer was initially too prideful to work on a cartoon, but eventually came to terms with the production after relating to his own father's death made me ponder the work I look for.
In the past I felt that I also was more hesitant to accept more "juvenile" work, such as working at a children's theatre or a smaller community theatre, compared to regional houses and prestigious summer festivals. However, similar to Zimmer, I can find authentic purpose and passion in a project where I initially looked down upon.
When I was a little kid, I used to be scared to watch pretty much any movie. This meant that I never saw the lion king until I was around 12 years old. Some may consider this a wrongdoing by my parents, but this gave me the opportunity to watch this movie and truly have my brain register the beauty of it. The absolutely incredible score by Hans Zimmer truly sets the tone for the masterpiece that you are about to see. One of the best modern retellings of Shakespeare has made these stories more accessible to young audiences and has left profound impacts on kids and adults alike. Hans zimmer deserves every award he has ever won for his music, from interstellar to dune to pirates of the caribbean, his music transports stories and adds to them such emotion and narrative that makes watching them even better.
I think something really common and special about all the childhood animated movies we used to watch is the hidden messages, themes, and deep seated emotions within them that we don't realize till we are older. So much thought, time, and detail goes into these movies and funnily enough the kids watching them barely realize or perceive any of it till years later when they rewatch the movie or experience the same things as the characters do. I feel as if these childhood disney movies are almost time capsules just waiting to be opened years later when we are all grown up. To see that Hans Zimmer had to look back at his own life and the emotions he buried I think really supports my idea of childhood films and how they are fun to watch as kids and we see the buried honesty as adults. Quite ironic that he never thought it would be a musical yet now it's one of the most popular.
I don’t remember a ton from my early childhood very clearly, but one thing that I do remember was the very first time my little brother and I watched The Lion King. It’s one of my dad’s favorite movies, and he was so excited to show it to us. We loved it, of course (though I do remember being really scared of the scene talked about in the article), and we listened to the music non-stop for months on end. It’s interesting to think about what an impact that score had on my childhood. Music from Disney movies, especially, was pretty much the only thing I would listen to for years, and I think it’s because all of those movies are so magical. Hans Zimmer might not have known at the time what a phenomenon the Lion King would turn out to be, but it was so impactful for so many people, kids and adults alike.
Reading how Hans Zimmer was forced to confront a problem buried for years reminded me of this quote from Sarah Kane: “Not everything that’s faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it’s faced.” While it takes time and can be a hurtful journey to confront the problem and solve the issue, it ultimately leaves a splinter in the skin until you acknowledge it and attempt to pull it out; then you can heal it. I am very glad that Zimmer has taken this opportunity and challenge and produced beautiful and moving music for the world to resonate with. If it wasn’t for this article, I wouldn’t have imagined how The Lion King would turn out if Zimmer hadn’t scored it. The pieces always make me so emotional and can be impactful and applicable for so many different scenarios in life.
The lion king is one of my all time favorite movies both as an adult and when I was a child. It influenced the movies I watched a lot and I think it’s one of the main reasons I like musicals so much now) . The movies definitely has one of Disney's best soundtracks, I revisit it a lot and it’s one of the reasons why the the movie is so memorable to me and I also think that the reason the lion king 2 wasn’t that memorable to me because the music wasn’t as good as the 1st one since they got a different composer( which I understand since they don’t have a lot of budget for a direct to dvd sequel, that movie still had some bangers though just not as many as the first movie). I also find it a bit funny that people told Zimmer that a stage adaptation would never happen when the lion king literally is one of the best movies to have and adaptation and it ended up being one of the most popular and iconic live musicals to date
Post a Comment