Disney

The Lion King, Sacral Kingship, and Why Presidents Get Blamed for the Economy

Toward the end of the Lion King, Simba returns from his self-imposed exile and walks through his devastated and barren homeland.  There has obviously been a drought.  We know from earlier dialogue that the lions have no food.  Something has gone terribly wrong.  Is it just Scar’s bad luck?  If so, why does it start to rain as soon as Simba has defeated Scar and reclaimed his rightful place on… Read More »The Lion King, Sacral Kingship, and Why Presidents Get Blamed for the Economy

A Machiavellian Analysis of Why Scar Failed

In some ways, Scar, the villain from Disney’s The Lion King, might seem like the perfect Machiavellian leader. He is cunning, devious, and completely lacking any moral scruples. But I don’t think that Machiavelli would have admired Scar. The sixteenth-century Italian political theorist and father of modern political thought, who once claimed that a ruler must seek to be like the lion or the fox, probably would have found much lacking… Read More »A Machiavellian Analysis of Why Scar Failed

Aristotle, Locke, and the Disney/Pixar Divide

Aristotle once famously claimed that man is a political animal, by which he meant: “man is an animal whose nature it is to live in a political community.” He less famously followed that up by claiming that the few men who choose to do without a political community are usually very bad men indeed. This is because, so Aristotle thought, it is political community that perfects humans in justice and… Read More »Aristotle, Locke, and the Disney/Pixar Divide