Analysis of power dynamics in scenes

from Disney’s “ The Lion King”

Valentí n Novo
Table of contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................3
Mood, modality and speech acts............................................................................................................3
Mood..................................................................................................................................................3
Modality.............................................................................................................................................4
Speech acts.........................................................................................................................................5
Person....................................................................................................................................................5
Polarity...................................................................................................................................................5
Multimodality.........................................................................................................................................6
Conclusion..............................................................................................................................................6
Introduction
“The Lion King” is a Hamlet-esque coming-of-age story about young lion cub Simba, whose right to
the throne is usurped by his uncle after killing Mufasa, Simba’s father. What follows is a surprisingly
thoughtful narrative about duty and personal overcoming for a children’s film. However, what is
unsurprising is that a story that involves royalty in any form would hinge greatly in the believability of
the power dynamics between different social standings as well as between royals themselves. As
such, “The Lion King” conveys a palpable power dynamic between Simba and Scar even when they
do not share the scene. This analysis shall go over the climax of the film, from Simba’s return
onwards, and discuss the makeup of power throughout it. Very good

Mood, modality and speech acts

Mood
By the climax of the movie Simba has matured greatly and his demeanor becomes much more
resolute and imposing, whereas he had has struggled with reluctancy for most of the film. This
change can be easily observed in his form of speech, which is now mainly a mix of the declarative and
imperative moods, i.e.:

“(The pressures of ruling a kingdom) are no longer yours. Step down Scar”

Declarative mood. Imperative mood.

“The choice is yours, Scar. Either step down or fight”

Declarative mood. Imperative mood.

“No, Scar. I'm not like you. (…) Run. Run away, Scar. And never return.”

Imperative mood. Declarative mood.

In contrast to Simba, Scar is a devious and cunning character who is always trying to gain the upper
hand through schemes. Thus, he uses the interrogative mood to put Simba in a situation that would
make him lose his power, then strikes back using the declarative mood once he has gained power:

“Oh, must it all end in violence? I'd hate to be responsible for the death of a family member. Wouldn't you agree, Simba?”

Interrogative mood. Declarative mood. Interrogative mood.

“You see! He admits it! Murderer!”

Declarative mood.
Although not worth looking into as in-depth as Simba and Scar, the tendency among the secondary
characters —Nala, Sarabi and Timon, specifically— is to use the declarative mood to reinforce the
notions of power between the protagonist and the antagonist that the audience already holds; that
Scar is a terribly unjust king that has doomed the Pride Rock and that Simba is above him as the
rightful king and the only one fit for the role. Very good, I really like the way you have illustrated the
different moods.
Modality
Modality affects the way in which information is transferred between people. As such, it is, by its
very nature, an expression of power. Status is also an expression of power, albeit an intrinsic one,
though as it turns out, Scar has done such a bad job as king that his status holds no power in the eyes
of his subjects, seeing as how Sarabi talks to him with no respect whatsoever in phrases such as:
“You can't do that. (...) If you were half the king Mufasa was you would’ve never-”

Since Scar holds no power even as king, he needs to reassert his authority:
“I'm the king. I can do whatever I want.”

Here they use modulation with “can(‘t)” to express obligation of a high degree. This is a thematic
throughline of the film, since Simba has to rise to the duty of being a king that Scar neglects. In
addition to the above-mentioned, other examples of this type of modulation exist throughout the
scene:
“We must leave Pride Rock”
“Oh, Simba, you must understand.”
“Besides, this is my kingdom. If I don't fight for it, who will?”

The latter example might be argued against as an example of obligation, but the reason why one
should consider it as such is that it can be rephrased as “I must fight for my kingdom” which shows a
much clearer modulation.
Eggins mentions that modulation is a way for speakers to express their attitudes or judgment about
actions or events (Eggins, 1994, p. 181), so through just these dialogue exchanges the audience
knows how dire the situation at Pride Rock is, Scar’s willingness to save face even after Simba arrives
to dethrone him, and Simba’s sense of obligation for fighting for his birthright. Very good

Regarding modalization, there is hardly any use of it in the final stretch of the film. However, one
worth pointing out could be when Shenzi the hyena says: “Friends? I thought he said we were the
enemy!” which by Eggins’ metric would be a median modalization, though in this particular case it
hardly counts, as it is more of a rhetorical question with which she is instead referencing what Scar
said earlier. Indeed, a lack of use of modalization serves to reinforce that there is no uncertainty in
what needs to be done, since Simba is resolute in taking over Scar’s position. Very good

Finally, to briefly touch upon while on the topic of modality, there are examples of the exchange of
information/goods and services. For example, when Simba says: “Give me one good reason why I
shouldn't rip you apart” he is demanding information, which in any normal conversation would mean
that he is below Scar in terms of power, but this is not the case here since this is a confrontation with
a threat of violence and therefore yet another expression of Simba’s power. At one point Scar says:
“Simba, Simba. Please. Please have mercy. I beg you.” Here he is asking for the “service” of having his
life spared. By begging for his life, Scar has lost any semblance of power that he once had, both as an
individual in a confrontation and as a ruler. Very good
Speech acts
Because speech acts relate to the meaning behind words and the effects that they may produce on
others, it should come as no surprise that Scar is quite adept at using them to manipulate people.
One such example is when he tells Simba:

“Oh, must it all end in violence? I'd hate to be responsible for the death of a family member.
Wouldn't you agree, Simba?”

Here, he conveys three illocutionary acts. First, he implies that, if things were to become violent, he
would overcome Simba and kill him. Second, earlier in the film Scar managed to convince Simba that
it was his fault that his father died, so by bringing up the death of a family member he concocts a
psychological attack to remind Simba of his supposed guilt. Finally, he means to destroy Simba’s
credibility in front of the lionesses that are witnessing the scene.

Needless to say, that is quite complex for a single line of dialogue. Additionally, it serves to
characterize Scar further as villainous schemer while also establishing the power hierarchy between
him and Simba, since—through the resulting perlocutionary acts—he quickly strips Simba of
confidence in his strength, his resolute state of mind and his status among his people. Excellent

Person
The way in which characters address each other informs the audience of their standings when
compared to one another. For example, royalty is often addressed carefully in such ways as “your
majesty” instead of simply using the exophoric “you”. Granted, the kingdom that “The Lion King”
deals with is the animal kingdom, but even so, the way that Scar is addressed by Sarabi seems
particularly bold and disrespectful as current king, which is indicative that he is probably not viewed
as such by Pride Rock’s inhabitants or at least by its previous queen, Sarabi.

Furthermore, “you” is the most common pronoun utilized in this final stretch of the film, roughly
twice as much as “I”, the reason for this is clearly that there are far more dialogues than monologues.
That might seem obvious, and in a sense it is, but the constant use of “you” also serves to represent a
constant back and forth of declarations between Simba and Scar during their battle. In arguments
one is supposed to attack what is being said and not who says it—lest they commit an ad hominem
fallacy—but because this confrontation is almost entirely passional and driven by feelings it makes
sense that both participants are constantly either accusing one another (“If it weren't for you,
Mufasa would still be alive.”) or declaring their worth (“You don’t deserve to live”). Very good

Polarity
Polarity, both negative and positive can alter the meaning of a sentence by either boosting or
hedging something like a command or declaration, making for different degrees of intensity and
equally different levels of response on the addressee. Because of this, polarity is yet another way for
interlocutors to externalize power. A couple examples throughout the scene are as follows:

“Besides, this is my kingdom. If I don't fight for it, who will?”

Because the question incorporates the negative polarity into its structure, it can be inferred that
Simba is not looking for an answer to his question, instead he implies that no others would fight for
his kingdom and stresses just how dire the situation is. The result is significantly clearer for the
listener than “Who would fight for my kingdom?” since it answers itself and does not merit a
response (despite Nala answering regardless).
“You don’t deserve to live.”
Here, negative polarity manages to boost the intensity of this statement as a threat because it
conveys the sense that Simba is personally negating Scar’s right to life, as opposed to “you deserve to
die”, which seems slightly more passive in comparison.

You wouldn't kill your own Uncle...?

Similarly to the first example with a negative polarity question, Scar appeals to Simba’s righteousness
to make him believe that the idea of killing his uncle is intrinsically wrong by painting it as an
absolutely immoral thing to do. “You would kill your uncle?” instead gives way to the possibility of
Simba thinking “Yes I would”, making for a far less effective plea for his life. Very good

Multimodality
One of the biggest advantages of cinema, over other media like books or music, is that movies can
incorporate both visual and audio stimuli in artistic ways and have it convey otherwise impossible
things to the audience, or enhance storytelling by having all these different aspects work in unison.
One such aspect is power and “The Lion King” manages to deliver its audience a fantastically dynamic
sense of it.

Take for example the aforementioned scene where Scar makes Simba feel guilt over Mufasa’s death.
Here, Scar corners Simba both figuratively as well as literally, as he backs Simba into the edge of a
cliff while berating him and framing the murder of Mufasa on him.

This all happens while another audio-visual element transpires. Lightning begins to strike,
accompanied by ominous thunder. Thunder and lightning are classic uses of “psycho-cosmic
parallelism”, a literary trope where the weather of a scene matches the emotions or state of mind of
its characters, in this case it would be a parallel to the rising tension during the scene. The parallel is
only heightened as lightning sets the surroundings on fire for an even more direct comparison to the
heated battle that unfolds between Simba and Scar. Naturally, what follows is that rain puts out the
fire after the end of the climactic battle, and as it does, the swelling dramatic music gives way to a
bittersweet swan song for Scar’s life and rule over the kingdom. Likewise, Simba’s roaring is a
proclamation of his start as king and so the scene once again shifts, this time into the luscious green
fields and cheerful music that represent Simba’s aptitude for the throne. Excellent

Conclusion
“ The Lion King” utilizes every mean in its disposal to emphasize the dichotomy between Simba and
Scar by utilizing linguistic resources, such as mood and modality, to establish Simba’s righteousness
and kingly qualities while doing the opposite for Scar. Because of this Simba holds power over Scar at
the beginning of their confrontation, until the latter begins to take it back through the use of
illocutionary and perlocutionary speech acts as well polarity to weaken Simba’s standing and
conviction. Their power balances out when the conflict escalates into a physical confrontation where
both are directing ad hominem attacks at one another. Once Scar has to beg for his life, he has lost
his power for good. The visual and sound design also match this power struggle through the use of
clever music cues and weather as symbolism for their battle. All of these resources work in harmony
to enhance the rivalry between protagonist and antagonist, by delivering a very thorough sense of
back-and-forth in power dynamics. Excellent

Content: 10/10

GR/Voc: 5/5

Org.: 4/5

Congrats!
Bibliography
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Halliday, M.A.K., & Matthiessen, C.M.I.M. (2004). An Introduction to Functional Grammar. 3rd
edition. London: Arnold.

Allers, R., & Minkoff, R. (1994) The Lion King. Buena Vista Pictures.

Nordquist, Richard. (2020, August 27). Speech Acts in Linguistics. Retrieved from:
https://www.thoughtco.com/speech-act-linguistics-1692119

Nordquist, Richard. (2020, August 25). Definition and Examples of "Exophora" in English Grammar.
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Leong, Alvin. (n.d.) SFG Page: Mood. Retrieved from: https://www.alvinleong.info/sfg/sfgmood.html