The Lion Guard

You're a Lot Like Me
Medium: digital painting

Wait, Simba has a son? Yes. Yes, he does.

In Disney Junior's new hit show The Lion Guard, King Simba's second cub Kion is the leader of the Lion Guard, the "team that protects the Pridelands and defends the Circle of Life." Kion and his friends Bunga the honeybadger (the bravest), Fuli the cheetah (the fastest), Beshte the hippo (the strongest), and Ono the egret (the keenest of sight) have many adventures solving problems and fighting off villains such as Janja the hyena and his clan. Kion has the power of the Roar, which means that when he roars, all the past great lions of the Pridelands roar with him.

Lion Guard isn't exactly like The Lion King, so anyone going into it expecting Lion King all over again will be disappointed. It's a television show, so the animation and music aren't as polished as the movies, although they're still quite nice, especially the animation and character designs. It's also aimed at very young kids, so you have to think of it as such. All in all it's a cute show!

Just like in Lion King, the hyenas are the villains. While little kids might not pick up on this, many people don't like that Disney type-cast an entire species as "evil." Yes, they're all just animals and it's a cartoon, but replace the word "hyena" with any race or demographic of people and suddenly you would never let your kids watch The Lion King. After Lion King's release in 1994, a lot of hyena-lovers and wildlife biologists were actually quite upset with Disney for such a negative portrayal of hyenas, but some people have asked if it's a good thing to subtly teach kids that it's okay to judge others on account of something superficial like what they look like. Did Disney mean to do this? I don't know, but you can't deny that it's a little strange how the animals are grouped by species, not individual behavior and actions. Scar was the only exception: a bad character from the "hero species."

Disney appears to want to fix this problem in one of their Lion Guard episodes, however, by introducing a new character: a good hyena named Jasiri. Kion is initially distrustful of Jasiri, but she eventually wins his trust (with a song, so Disney!) and explains to him that hyenas have a purpose in nature and shouldn't be regarded as useless vermin. (Spotted hyenas generally aren't scavengers in real life, but I'm not sure if the hyenas in the Lion King universe are supposed to be spotted hyenas in particular or just a general hyena of sorts.) Jasiri also doesn't demand that Kion compromise his ideals, which is actually quite different from the typical "acceptance" idea pushed in modern culture. Instead of asking him to accept an ideology that's contrary to his own, she says that they "both know a higher call." She and Kion acknowledge their differences; they don't try to hide them or pretend that they don't exist. She tells him not to judge others easily, like judgments based on appearance, first impressions, or preconceptions. I personally think Disney made a very good move with Jasiri. Kids can learn a valuable lesson from her, about both people and hyenas. Lion Guard fans are waiting to see if she'll make a return later on in the series!

"Sisi ni Sawa" song sung by Kion and Jasiri
More about Jasiri

More about Lion Guard (music)
More about Lion Guard (characters)