How A Film Titled "The Lion King" Fits Into The Genre Of Family Drama (Movie Review Sample)

How the Lion King Fits into the Genre Drama Genre is a French term that means style. More specifically, it classifies art into its different form, enabling one to distinguish them from each other. The film industry has many genres including comedy, drama, horror, action, and documentary. However, genres such as drama typically incorporate other styles of production in order to tell a more cohesive story. The animation movie, The Lion King is a family drama film that incorporates music and comedy to show how families can be torn apart because of greed and a hunger for power. Drama is supposed to reflect human behavior in everyday life as well as in the midst of crisis. It relies heavily on realistic characters dealing with emotional aspects such as morals, violence, corruption and class issues (Buffam). In The Lion King, the audience is given a glimpse into the evil character of Scar where he warns his brother Mufasa not to turn his back on him when the film starts. The theme of drama is most apparent where Scar is envious of Mufasa’s power as a king and because Simba is next in line, he plans to get rid of both threats for good. He kills Mufasa and tricks his young nephew (Simba) into exile (Shmoop Editorial Team), in order to take over the kingdom of “Pride Lands”. This is no different from the world we live in as families usually break up over matters such as financial squabbles. Thus, just as drama reflects everyday human life, The Lion King movie captured this through the lives in the animal kingdom. The genre of drama often meshes with other genres. As with most animations, the directors of The Lion King, Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff brought in comedy to chronicle the life of young Simba after he ran away from home. Moreover, the characters of Timon and Pumbaa are useful in that they show how the young cub lived a good life despite the tragedy that had befallen him (Shmoop Editorial Team). Through comedy, the drama is enhanced as the audience is left wondering about the fate of the now abandoned “Pride Lands”. By incorporating comedy into the drama, Allers and Minkoff not only show that life has its ups and downs, but also builds on to the drama as the audience is left wondering about what happens next. Drama films aim at telling stories of human struggles. When in conjunction with other genres, a film is able to tell a story on a different dimension (Buffam). Musical films usually use music to tell their stories through the songs that characters sing. In The Lion King, we can see Simba grow up from a little cub to a full grown Lion. He and his friends, Timon and Pumbaa cross a bridge while singing “Hakuna Matata” by Elton John and Tim Rice, capturing his transition from cubhood all the way to a grown lion with a full mane. Additionally, music is used to expound the drama in the movie when we see Simba f...