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Our adventure is set in the Pride Lands of Africa(loosely based on the lands/deserts of Kenya and Tanzania). Our story centers around a young lion cub named Simba, son of Mufasa (the King of Pride Rock) and Sarabi (Queen of Pride Rock), who is soon to inherit the throne as his father's successor.

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It's the Circle of Life!

Soon after the young Simba is born, various animals across Pride Lands gather at Pride Rock to celebrate and cheer as the prince has been ceremonially anointed as the son of King Mufasa and Queen Sarabi as heir to the royal throne. Meanwhile, behind Pride Rock, we are introduced to a disgruntled Scar (brother of Mufasa) who is now further angered by the news that his brother now has an heir to the throne and learns that he will never be eligible to be king now. The movie’s timeline fast forwards to Simba as a budding youth as he is filled with energy, excitement, and much curiosity. One morning, Simba excitedly awakes his father and urges him to take him to see all of the Pride Lands to fully know the lands he will inherit one day. Mufasa simply illustrates that everything the light touches is a part of the kingdom and that the lands hidden in the shadows are forbidden to Simba. Mufasa goes on to talk about the Circle of Life and how everything in life has a balance, which soon becomes a central theme of the movie as the storyline continues. After talking and learning from his father, Simba must return home as his father, Mufasa, had to tend to the kingdom.

When Simba returns to Pride Rock, he notices his Uncle Scar is lurking about and begins to brag about his fate to be king of the Pride Lands one day. This clearly upsets Scar and he devises a plan to rid of Mufasa and Simba so that he may become king of the Pride Lands. With some not-so-subtle urging, Scar convinces Simba to venture into the elephant graveyard, which is apart of the land that King Mufasa said was forbidden to Simba. With the company of Simba’s friend Nala and Zazi (King Mufasa’s majordomo), they set out to explore the elephant graveyard and are quickly faced with bloodthirsty hyenas. Thankfully, Mufasa sweeps in just in time to save the cubs. Meanwhile, Scar wages agreement with the hyenas that if they join his plan to kill Mufasa and Simba, he will supply them unlimited food when he is named King. The hyenas agree and continue to work alongside Scar to see their plan to completion.

Knowing Simba to be a curious cub, Scar lures Simba to a giant gorge by promising him a “surprise”. Behind the scenes, the hyenas sent a stampede of wildebeests over the edge of the gorge. Consequently, Simba has been swept away in the stampede and is at risk of being taken over the edge of the gorge also. Mufasa gratefully sweeps in and is able to get Simba to safety, but is then swept away into the herd of wildebeests himself. In Mufasa’s final efforts, he clings to the edge of the gorge and pleads for his brother, Scar, to help in pulling him up. Power-hungry Scar throws Mufasa off the cliff and allows him to fall to his death. Amidst mourning his father, Simba is easily manipulated by Scar into thinking that he is responsible for his father’s death and urges him to flee from the Pride Lands and into exile.

While in exile, we continue to see Simba grow into his adolescence as he befriends Timon (a meerkat) and Pumbaa (a warthog) who show him the ways of the jungle. However, it is made apparent that Simba soon forgets his role as King of the Pride Lands, until he stumbles across his childhood friend, Nala. After some convincing from Nala, Rafiki (who anointed Simba at birth), and his father’s ghost, Simba finally decides to return to the Pride Lands to resume his role as king. Upon Simba’s return, we see that Scar has completely destroyed the once-beautiful kingdom with all the greenery being tarnished and the lions of the kingdom are left famished. Simba goes onto urge Scar to descend from the throne and allow him to take his rightful place as King of the Pride Lands. Scar isn’t very fond of Simba’s proposal and announces to the kingdom that Simba was responsible for Mufasa’s death. Ultimately, this revelation leads to a fight between Simba and Scar for the throne. Simba results in dangling from the edge of Pride Rock and Scar is prepared to send Simba to his death. In this time, Scar confesses that he is responsible for Mufasa’s death to Simba. That acknowledgment brought forth a burst of energy for Simba to pull himself up from the cliff and finish Scar into the pit of hungry hyenas who have now turned on him. After defeating Scar, Simba assumes his rightful place as King of the Pride Lands. Simba and Nala soon get together, create a family of their own, and the Circle of Life continues.

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Erikson's psychosocial development | Individuals and Society | MCAT | Khan Academy

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Stage 2: Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt

When Simba is a cub, he likes to go explore the land with Nala. They are so naïve to the dangers of the oasis. Mufasa warns him about the elephant graveyard and tells them not to go. Simba thinks he is old enough and tough enough to go without Mufasa’s permission so Simba and Nala venture to elephant graveyard where they are met by hungry hyenas who want to eat them.

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Erikson's Stage 2: Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt

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Stage 4: Industry vs. Inferiority

Scar convinces Simba that it is his fault that Mufasa dies and tells him he should flee into exile. In this scene, Simba is feeling guilt for something he did not do. Simba is so young and impressionable that he does not know what to do in this situation. He truly believes that his father’s death was his fault, and he carries this guilt with him. He feels inferior in this situation. He flees and believes that he now is not worthy to be apart of the kingdom.

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Industry vs. Inferiority

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THE LION KING (1994) Scene: "Run away..."/Simba escapes.

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Stage 5: Identity vs. Role Confusion

While Simba is In exile, he confused about what to do with his life now that his father is dead and he believes its his fault. He meets Timon and Pumbaa and they raise him and teach him how to navigate and survive in the jungle. As Simba gets older, he forgets his role as king in the Pride Lands until he stumbles across Nala.

Nala, his father’s spirit and Rafiki instill strength into Simba to go save the Pride Lands from Scar. Here we see Simba struggling with his identity.  He is reminded of who his is and what his role is and builds up confidence to fulfil that role which is king of the Pride Lands.

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Identity vs. Role Confusion

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Stage 6: Intimacy vs. Isolation.

When Simba sees his father spirit, he regains his strength and confidence he had as a cub and goes back to take back the Pride Lands. There he “admits” to killing Mufasa and fights with Scar. Scar ends up confessing to killing Mufasa and Simba kills him and becomes King o the Pride Lands. Here we see Simba recognizing who he was meant to be. After isolating himself from everyone because he was convinced, he killed his father, he finally comes back takes the throne and reunites with everyone.

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Intimacy vs. Isolation.

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Stage 7: Generativity vs. stagnation

When Simba becomes king again, he and Nala get together and have a son  who will be the next king. Simba now is there to serve the animals of the Pride Land and ensure their safety and well being along with his new family.

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Generativity vs. Stagnation

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The Lion King Explained: Let the Darkness In

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Erikson's Stages Of PsychoSocial Development

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Erikson's Stages Of PsychoSocial Development

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Erik Erikson’s Theory based on the stages of psycho-development are divided into 8 basic parts that are based on a human's stage of life as well as age. Erickson first articulated his theory of development in his book, Childhood and Society in 1950.  Erickson believed that the human continues to grow and develop key personality characteristics as they enter different stages of life. He believed that the different situations you're faced with in each stage of life stem directly from the stages of psycho-development the human currently resides in and thus is proof that the stages of the theory coincide with the experiences the human goes through.

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As an Infant, for about the first year of the baby's life, the infant deals with the basic conflict of Trust vs. Mistrust. This can characterize as crying for the mother with the hope that its cries will be tended too, if they're not it can result in mistrust which can lead to social problems with dependency later on in life.

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During Early Childhood, from about one years old to three years old, the child deals with the conflict of Autonomy vs. Shame. This displays as the child explores themselves and discovers their own identity without their parents' influence. They're essentially understanding their own will and sense of self control.

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Erickson's Stage 3: Initiative vs. Guilt

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Erickson's Stage 3: Initiative vs. Guilt

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During Preschool, from about three to six year old, the child deals with the basic conflict of Initiative vs. Guilt. As the child begins to explore socially, they become aware of their actions and compare them to those around them. They begin to question themselves and how they function in simple terms such as “good” or “bad”.

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Erickson's Stage 4: Industry vs. Inferiority

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Erickson's Stage 4: Industry vs. Inferiority

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During School Age, from about six to twelve, the child deals with the basic conflict of Industry vs. Inferiority. As the child begins to understand how the world works it shows they have come to understand the basic concept of competence. They start to question, now that they basically understand how the world works, how they can contribute to it.

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Erickson's Stage 5: Identity vs. Confusion

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Erickson's Stage 5: Identity vs. Confusion

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During Adolescence, from about twelve to nineteen years old, the teenager deals with a slightly more difficult concept of Identity vs. Confusion. As the child continues on their life journey they become increasingly more dependent on themselves and as such try to understand themselves in relation to themselves as well as to society.

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Erickson's Stage 6: Intimacy vs Isolation

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Erickson's Stage 6: Intimacy vs Isolation

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During Early Adulthood, from about twenty to twenty five years old, the young adult struggles with the conflict of Intimacy vs Isolation. The young adult attempts to understand the complexity of co-existing with significant others as well as dealing with existential questions relating to love.

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Erickson's Stage 7: Generativity vs. Stagnation

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Erickson's Stage 7: Generativity vs. Stagnation

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During Adulthood, from twenty-six to about sixty-four, the adult learns to deal with the concept of Generativity vs. Stagnation. As the adult continues to age they want to ensure they did or can do something worthwhile with their life with the time that they have left. They essentially want to avoid becoming stagnant and no longer progressing.

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Erickson's Stage 8: Integrity vs. Despair

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Erickson's Stage 8: Integrity vs. Despair

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During Old Age, from about sixty-five on to death, the adult deals with the final concept in Erikson's theory of development named Integrity vs. Despair. In this stage of development the older individual focuses primarily on the life they lived. Questioning whether they believe their life was meaningful as well as if it wasn't.

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Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial development perfectly captures the character development that we see in the character Simba. As the movie's audience could see Simba physically develop, it made ciphering out which stages best apply to Erikson's theory much easier and supported the validity of the psychosocial development theory.

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Once Mufasa was killed, Scar framed young Simba which broke him. He ran away and never looked back because of the guilt he felt.

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This also was a reality check for Simba because this is one of the first times he thinks about and reminisces about what happened for a long time.

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Seeing his father in the clouds was a reality check for Simba. His father brought back the light in Simba and helped him remember who he was and what role he had.

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Defeating Scar and Reuniting with Family

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Defeating Scar and Reuniting with Family

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Getting Scar to admit out loud what he had done to Mufasa lit a fire in Simba and made him even more passionate to get justice for his father. After he defeats Mufasa, we see him reunite with everyone and live the life he was meant to live as king.

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The identity of Simba is definitely a unique one in this movie because he is placed at so many angles. While not directly making him a certain race, the movie definitely possesses an African culture reference. Erikson's theory is valid in this assortment of conditions for the movie because the identity of Simba's role is very dependent of the struggles that he faces, how he defeates him, and how it changes his as an individual. This theory expressed that because it makes it known that each stage of life is different, equally important, and very relevant to future psychological development.

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The main character of The Lion King, Simba, begins the film as a newborn and ends as an adult. Erikson's theory deals with the different stages of life being represented as contemplated two general themes in that specific stage of life. For this reason this theory explains Simba's development because it is representative of the different tribulations he went through in life. For example, as he matures, though he is facing the same life issues, his concerns about them vary with age. When his father first passed his concern was mostly identity because of his exile. When he grows older her now finds himself still dealing with his father's death but instead in terms of intimacy with reuniting with his home and handling unfinished business.

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Erikson's Theory and Character Experiences

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Erikson's Theory and Character Experiences

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In this film, the cycle of how things in life are processed and how everything has meaning is prioritized. Erikson's theory emphasizes this theme by making each portion of Simba's life seem important in its own way. The theory is based off of the differences in stages of life based on the focus of that time period. This helps explain a lot of experiences Simba has because majority of the time they are based on the focus that is relevant at that age.

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This theory is a good fit for the explanation of the psycho-development Simba goes through because it concentrates, not only the difference of challenges he goes through, also how he matures through and is able to advance psychologically from stage to stage. For example, Erikson's theory provides explanation for Simba's drastic gradual viewpoint changes that are caused by his maturation and exposure to different ideals. When he is in exile and meets Timon and Pumba he goes from having a more "big picture" view on life in which everything is connected to having a view on life that entails possessing "no worries" and that everything is an isolated event. In the end he eventually comes to the realization that he possesses more of the primary ideals with some of the latter.