Narrative Analysis of a Pixar Movie

In class we looked at the conventional narratve arc, in which we discussed each stage of the narrative. There are 5 key stages to a conventional narative:

• The film normally starts with an ordinary word.
• The world is disrupted.
• The journey/quest is presented to the protagonist.
• The struggle or epiphany.
• The restoration/return.

This is the linear narrative arc my classmates and I made for “The Lion King”  (1994) . In the film we see the coronation of Simba and Mufasa becoming a father, this is the beginning equilibrium. We then see the disruption, the death of Mufasa and Simba running away. We get the revelation of Simba challenging Scar to reclaim the throne and to save Pride Rock, which leeds to the new equilibrium. We then determined the internal journey for Simba, this was because we identified that it was a self-revelation and we as the audience got to see him grow up and have the epiphany.

We then discussed the conventional characters of the film and the roles they play to support the narrative and the conflicts within the narrative. There were many conflicts within the narrative of The Lion King, these included:

• Protagonist VS antagonist
• Future VS past
• Equality VS injustice
• Searching VS finding
• Loss VS discovery
• Love VS appearences
• Responsibility VS rebellion