Simba: Remember Who You Are
There is something about The Lion King that becomes almost an entirely different story when you watch it as an adult. As a child, I saw Simba as a young lion who couldn't wait to become king. I saw the funny friendship with Timon and Pumbaa, the frightening battle with Scar, and eventually the triumphant moment when Simba returned to Pride Rock. But as an adult, I see a story about grief, guilt, running away from the things that hurt too much to face, and eventually finding the courage to return to the parts of ourselves we thought we had lost. When Simba is young, he cannot wait for his future to begin. He wants to grow up, become king, make his own rules, and live without anyone telling him what to do. There is something wonderfully innocent about that because children tend to imagine adulthood as freedom. They don't yet understand that growing older also means responsibility, loss, difficult decisions, and discovering that sometimes life changes before we are ready ...
