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witchyintention · 4 years

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10 Witches Of World Mythology

Witches and witchcraft have captivated the minds of everyone: from angry villagers wondering why the women of the town were gaining a sense of independence to the average Joe wondering whether that herbal tea last night was a potion or just really bad tea. Witches have been seen as objects of wisdom and evil in folklore for many generations.

10. Kikimora

The kikimora, whose name is extremely fun to pronounce, is a household spirit who must—above all—be respected. She is the female equivalent and wife to the domovoi, or male household spirit, and her presence is always made known by wet footprints. So what makes the kikimora a witch you don’t want to cross? Well, she’s somewhat harmless, but if she is disrespected, she will whistle, break dishes, and throw things around. Unless you like all of your things broken, you’d best stay on her good side.

9. Circe

A famous character in Homer’s Odyssey, Circe was a witch who lived on an island called Aeaea. She took up a rather peculiar hobby—she would turn passing sailors into wolves and lions and all sorts of animals after drugging them. Hey, some people collect stamps, others like turning men into animals. Who are we to judge?

When Odysseus visited Aeaea, Circe turned his men into swine, but Odysseus was given a magical plant by the gods that prevented Circe from morphing him. After making Circe swear not to betray him, Odysseus and his men lived under Circe’s protection for a year before attempting to sail back to Ithaca.

8. Morgan Le Fay

Most people are vaguely familiar with the legend of King Arthur and his companion the wizard Merlin, but few of us remember a character by the name of Morgan Le Fay. In the myths, she works tirelessly with her magic to bring down the good Queen Guinevere, who banished her from the court when she was younger. She tries to betray Guinevere’s lover, Sir Lancelot, and foil the quests of King Arthur’s knights. The ultimate fate of Morgan is unknown, but she does eventually reconcile with King Arthur and brings him to Avalon after his final battle.

7. The Witch of Endor

The Witch of Endor wasn’t necessarily malevolent, but the fate she spoke of was not one to be ignored. As the story goes, King Saul went to the Witch of Endor for answers about how to defeat the Philistines. The Witch then summoned the ghost of the prophet Samuel—who didn’t tell him how to defeat the Philistines—but prophesied that he would be defeated and join his three sons in the afterlife. Saul, who is wounded the next day in the battle, kills himself out of fear. And while the Witch didn’t technically make Saul kill himself, she was certainly an accessory.

6. Jenny Greenteeth

Depending on where in England you’re from, you may know this cruel hag as Ginny, Jinny, Jeannie, or Wicked Jenny. Jenny Greenteeth was a hag who would intentionally drown the young and the old for the sheer fun of it. In some legends, she devours the children and elderly. In others, she’s just a sadist who enjoys the pain her victims go through. She’s frequently described as having a green complexion and razor-sharp teeth. As with many creepy characters from folklore, she was probably used to scare children into behaving and staying close to the water’s edge when taking an afternoon swim. But the main moral to this story is this: stay away from green river hags.

5. Chedipe

Ah, the Chedipe. What art thou: a witch, a vampire, what? Either way, she’s no pretty dame in the moonlight. The Chedipe is a woman has died during childbirth or committed suicide and is to the Indian equivalent of the succubus. She rides on a tiger in the moonlight, and when she enters a home, not a soul will wake or notice her. She then sucks the life out of each man through the toes—yes, the toes—and leaves without a trace.

4. The Weird Sisters

Shakespeare’s Macbeth is one of the Bard’s defining plays, with brilliant characters galore and a story rife with magic, betrayal, and fear. But the very first characters in the story are the ones that set everything in motion—the Weird Sisters. And yes, they are more than a little weird, but in this case “weird” means “fate,” so they are the Sisters of Fate. They act as agents of destruction and not only send Macbeth into a spiral of corruption and paranoia, they send all of Scotland to war just to take one man out of power. Now that’s evil.

3. The Bell Witch

The Bell Witch is the most famous witch in American folklore, and her story is the kind that you’d tell around a campfire. The Bell Witch was supposedly a poltergeist that appeared in the home of John Bell, Sr. in 1817. The Bell Witch would attack members of the household and frequently swear at the family, and she eventually poisoned John Bell, Sr. by leaving a bottle of poison in the guise of medicine. Remind us to burn some sage tonight.

2. Hecate

Hecate was the Greek goddess of witchcraft. She was also the goddess of witches, sorcery, poisonous plants, and a host of other witchy attributes. Hecate was the daughter of the titan Perses, and she is still worshipped by some Greek polytheists today. It is said that the very concept of a jinx came from her, and shrines to her were raised to prevent the wrath of evil demons and spirits in the Greek mythos. One of her names—Chthonia—means “of the underworld.”

So what makes her so fearsome? Well, she’s the goddess of witchcraft. If she existed, she probably wouldn’t take too kindly to Europe’s (or Salem, Massachusetts’s) ancient habit of hating and burning/killing “witches” (who were likely just the unfortunate innocent). The fact that we’ve turned witches from fearsome wise-women who could inflict pain and healing into beautiful, televised women who use magic to cheat on their exams would probably irk her slightly.

1. The Graeae/Morai

So what witches do we conclude our list with? Why the very spinners of fate, of course. The Graeae and the Morai are two separate trios of witches who understand the whims of fate, but since they are often lumped together we’ll mention them both. The Morai spun the loom of fate, and everyone’s fate was tied to their loom, even those of non-mortals.

The Graeae, on the other hand, were three malevolent sisters—kin to the Gorgons (Medusa and her two lesser-known sisters). The Graeae were not the friendliest bunch, but they did share an eye, which they passed between themselves. The Graeae also had knowledge of the unknown and of fate, but they did not control it. So which is worse—sisters to Medusa or those who could snip your string of life? We’d steer clear of both of them if we were you, dear reader.

#witchblr #witchcraft #witch community #witches #witchythings #wicca #mysterious #europe mythology #magick #learning magick #real witchcraft #witchcraft blog #witchcraft 101

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disneyat34 · 3 years

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The Lion King at 34

A review by Adam D. Jaspering

In 1985, Disney released The Black Cauldron. A financial and critical flop, it followed a long string of films ranging from poor to just good enough. The Black Cauldron is widely considered the low-point of Disney history. Nine years later, The Lion King was released. It was the highest grossing film of 1994, and the highest grossing film ever from Disney Studios. The Lion King is widely considered one of the greatest animated films of all time.

The levels of effort on display in The Lion King are apparent from the film’s opening moments. The sun rising from the horizon; a metaphor for a new beginning. We the audience know immediately this day is an important day. Narratively strong, but also visually gorgeous. The animators had the foresight to draw heat haze. We know it’s hot. We know it’s early morning. We know we’re on the African savannah. We know something significant is happening this morning. We learn so much about the film from just the first second.

The film continues, displaying the full scope of the film’s setting. The scenery of Africa is populated by a wide array of animals. A parade of creatures are depicted in full, resplendent glory. Lumbering, titanic elephants. Graceful fleets of flamingos. Processions of zebra. Even lowly ants seem majestic. While the animals will speak and dance later in the film, here they are drawn with complete realism. There are wildlife documentaries not as immersive as this.

While the opening is visually impressive, the sound is just as enrapturing. The aural blast of an unseen singer grabs the audience by the lapels and commands attention. The music of the film’s songwriters, Tim Rice and Elton John, rings out in jubilation. The operatic “Circle of Life” features passionate Zulu lyrics, and a supporting choir. After the opening supernova a warm, matronly voice carries us along. We can hear in tone, this is a film about mother nature, life, birth, and love.

We’re introduced to the film’s principle characters, all dialogue free. We bear witness to the birth announcement of the titular lion king, Simba. This is the power the lions wield over the African lands. Fauna from all over come to honor the future king. Even species the lions regularly feast upon.

As the opening continues, Rafiki, the mandrill shaman, hoists Simba aloft. The gathered animals erupt in a cheer of celebration. The music crescendos into its grand finale. Everything hits its climax simultaneously then stops immediately. The film smash cuts to the title screen. We the audience sit in silence, staring at the film title; a brief moment of respite. All this emotion, all this spectacle, all this majesty, and we’re only four minutes into the film. Whatever follows, we are in for an experience.

Many are quick to credit The Lion King as a loose adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Both feature a young prince whose rightful ascension to the throne is usurped by his malevolent uncle. Hamlet speaks with the ghost of his father concerning destiny, just as Simba does. Both spend long stints absent from their kingdom, abetted by two friends who impugn the seriousness of the prince’s affairs. Both grapple with doubt and their wills to act.

But while the two stories hit several common markers, the differences are staggering. Hamlet is driven mostly by revenge, instructed by his father to kill his uncle. Simba is simply trying to fulfill his destiny, even going so far as to try and spare his uncle. Hamlet is incredibly melancholy, wracked with grief, despair, and often contemplates suicide. Simba is more driven by guilt and shame. Hamlet is reckless and impulsive. His actions lead to the deaths of nearly everyone he cares for, himself included. The Lion King ends in an uplifting manner, with the heroes triumphant and happy.

There’s no doubt Hamlet served as an early framework for The Lion King. But the movie developed and evolved, moving away from its Shakespearean origins. Hamlet and The Lion King have many blatant parallels, which perpetuates the comparison, but calling The Lion King an adaptation is generous.

The Lion King differentiates severely in plot, themes, and structure. It’s loosely inspired by Hamlet, but not directly representative. It’s as much inspired by Hamlet as the biblical tale of Joseph. The Lion King may have once been intended as an adaptation of Hamlet, but that’s not the movie it eventually became.

This brings up the other major “inspiration” of The Lion King, an anime series named Kimba, The White Lion. Kimba was the creation of Japanese cartoonist Osamu Tezuka. Tezuka is considered a legendary figure in Japanese animation, lovingly referred to as “The Godfather of Manga.” His career was defined by a wide library in print and visual mediums, iconic characters, innovative techniques, and clever writing. Many animation scholars consider him the Japanese equivalent of Walt Disney.

Kimba tells the story of a lion cub born on a ship after his mother was captured by poachers. When storms wreck the ship, Kimba swims to dry land. There, he finds an adoptive home in a strange jungle. He forms a motley crew of friends, and learns how to become king like his father once was.

Both The Lion King and Kimba feature lion cubs living in their father’s shadows. Both are beckoned by a heavenly apparition to fulfill their destinies as king. Both feature an evil lion with a scarred eye as an antagonist, ultimately thrown off a rocky cliff. Both feature a menagerie of birds, hyenas, warthogs, meerkats, and mandrills. Both protagonists have 80% similar names.

Narratively, there is a wide gap between Kimba and The Lion King. The Lion King is centrally focused on the life of Simba. Kimba, being an episodic series, has a variety of storylines. The anime focuses heavily on Kimba’s interactions with other jungle creatures, even humans. Kimba spends more time being a hero than a king.

Despite all the similarities, the two works are distinct and different. That said, it is impossible to ignore the visual plagiarism on display. It’s blatantly obvious at least a few storyboard artists lifted ideas straight out of Kimba. Somebody was lazy enough, shameless enough, or crooked enough to outright steal.

It’s one thing for The Lion King to crib story elements from an established public domain work. It’s another thing to steal iconographic elements from a property barely twenty years old. Both directors of The Lion King claimed they were unfamiliar with Kimba. They insist their hands are clean of any wrongdoing. That any similarity was a coincidence.

Several animators on staff also admit to being familiar with Kimba, even being fans of the series. They too insist the similarities were complete coincidence. While innocence is certainly possible, such blatant visual similarities make the claim dubious.

Let’s assume the worst case scenario: somebody on Disney outright ripped off Kimba. They weren’t caught until after the film’s completion. If the truth ever got out, they risked a lawsuit and a tainted reputation. The directors ordered a uniform position from their staff, denying all plagiarism. Because Kimba is widely unknown by most Americans, it would be easy to deny. Their defense would be a refuge in pompous audacity. Disney was the largest animation company in the world. Why would a company so big and influential resort to stealing from a small overseas studio?

Let’s assume the best case scenario: somebody on Disney loved Kimba the White Lion. When they first watched the series, certain moments became rooted in their subconscious. Years later, they became an animator or storyboard artist on an unrelated feature film about lions. Those memorized images manifested, being unknowingly recreated.

Tezuka Productions, the Japanese media company that owns Kimba, have never pursued legal actions with Disney. They prefer to believe the best case scenario. They claimed any two stories about lions in the jungle are bound to feature similarities. More than that, The Lion King’s story is different enough from Kimba’s, it’s a moot point.

Even though Tezuka Productions sees no wrongdoing, others are not so quick to forgive. There’s a very popular theory that Tezuka Productions were either silently paid-off by Disney, or intimidated into submission. Disney’s litigation efforts are notoriously draconian. As beloved as Disney’s parks and movies are, many people fear the company’s corporate side.

Notable figureheads in both Japanese and American media have campaigned for the truth. Not even financial restitution, but a mere acknowledgement Tezuka influenced the Disney film. Both The Lion King’s production staff and Disney’s corporate side have refused. Since Disney insists upon its innocence and Tezuka Productions refuses to investigate, it’s increasingly unlikely we’ll never know the truth.

The big premise at the center of The Lion King is a concept known as “The Circle of Life.” The Circle of Life is an explanation of fate, recurrence, existentialism, and somehow also conservation. It explains life and death and purpose in a way that makes sense for animals. It’s a very elegant metaphor that encapsulates all the themes of the film, making it accessible to kids. This is deep-seated philosophy, bold storytelling, and Disney pulled it off easily.

As Simba’s father, Mufasa, explains, the Circle of Life is the concept that all life is connected. One’s life is influenced by all others through birth, life, and death. A king’s reign begins with the death of his father. Predators will eat their prey, but in death, the predator’s bodies become grass, which the prey eat. Life is in a perpetual, delicate balance. All have a role to play.

Which is why it’s odd the film features a deep-seated hostility between lions and hyenas. If Mufasa is so intent on maintaining the natural order, predisposed by nature, why does he scorn an entire species? They’re not an invasive species. They’re not parasitic. They’re not overpopulated. Mufasa outright scorns them and never gives any real justification why. We’re all part of the Circle of Life, except for the hyenas who can go die alone in a pit.

Mufasa makes his disdain for hyenas clear. He spends the first act keeping the hyenas corralled and contained in a desolate area of the Pride Lands. He doesn’t allow them to leave. Them venturing beyond the desolate Elephant Graveyard is considered an emergency. The three hyenas prominently featured are jerks, but what could hyenas be doing as a species that’s so evil?

The Lion King does many things well. It’s fantastic animation, fantastic music, and fantastic emotional resonance. It falters with its story. It’s not poorly written or unengaging; it’s problems lie in theme. The Lion King advocates certain points the screenwriters probably did not intend.

For starters, the film advocates the necessity of a monarchy. It proffers the idea that rulers are divinely chosen through heredity. That a populace should not have a say in who leads them, but be subservient to the system in place. An idea most of the world rejected in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Mufasa is the leader of the Pride Lands. Just as his father before him, and Simba will after him. When Simba is manipulated into believing he killed his father, Simba abandons his lineage. Simba runs away, choosing a life free of responsibility and obligation. He’s choosing this life based on bad information, but he is choosing it.

Many characters insist Simba return. Not because they’re his friends and family and they miss him. Not because they worry about him and his unhealthy grieving practices. Not because they need a leader, and believe in his ability. They encourage him to return because he is the rightful king. If Simba wasn’t heir to the throne, it’s implied they’d let him stay exiled. The world is thrown out of balance because the prince has abandoned his birthright. This is improper, and everybody wants things put right, regardless of what Simba wants. The Circle of Life is also a curse, apparently. It invalidates free will.

Second, the hyenas are unfairly subjected to second-class citizenship. Every animal in Mufasa’s kingdom has a level of autonomy and respect. Some are hunted for food, but they’re still respected. The hyenas are not afforded such privilege.

The fact that hyenas are forced to live on the outskirts, patrolled, subjugated, and demeaned is concerning. Their existence implies the kingdom can only operate through segregation. That certain animals, by virtue of birth, are undesirables. Whether through prejudice, scapegoating, or intolerance, Mufasa has decried hyenas as uncivilized and unworthy of society.

It’s no surprise the hyenas group in large number to help overthrow Mufasa’s reign. Their efforts are incited and devised by Mufasa’s younger brother, Scar. Desperate to usurp his brother’s throne, he exploits the hyena’s plight to his own advantage. The hyenas have been mistreated for generations, and they demand change. But the hyenas aren’t painted as a noble resistance or freedom-fighters, they’re anarchists.

If the film’s hero is a king; revolutionaries are of course villains. There’s no grey morality or debate. The hyenas are depicted as Nazis and the allegory is not subtle. The hyenas literally goose-step in rank as they parade past Scar.

To the film’s credit, the writers also accidentally make a very good point. While the hyenas have every right to rebel, their movement isn’t an organic one. They’ve been radicalized and manipulated by Scar into believing it’s something they want. Scar is an outside instigator, forcing himself into a political struggle so that he may profit. It’s not a hyena demanding hyena rights. It’s a lion exploiting hyena discontent for his own purpose. It’s glossed over in the text, but Scar demonstrates how easy it is to astroturf a revolution.

Once again, Disney trots out serious themes of demagoguery and populism. A charismatic leader boosts his power by pandering to the lowest common denominator. He paints the established system as the source of all misery. In exchange for devotion, they and they alone can eliminate the oppressors. They and they alone can save the population. They and they alone can usher in a new era of prosperity by demolishing the status quo. An almost cult-like devotion is formed, violently installing this so-called savior.

With no other recourse, the system is forced to install a leader with no experience and no desire to actually lead. Things fall apart due to a combination of inaction and incompetence. The rabble-rouser had no intention of ever taking his role seriously. His reign is nothing but an ego trip that negatively impacts the entire populace. He wants neither the duties or responsibilities of leading. He only wants the prestige, and to spite the previous administration. Thank goodness this is only a cartoon and nothing like this would ever happen in real life.

The Pride Lands descends into a totalitarian state. A grim warning for all those watching. Fascism is dangerous, no matter how many claims of unity are disingenuously promised. Be aware of sudden changes to election laws or hierarchal structure. Watch out for the installation of paramilitary goon squads to enforce order. Beware when those who speak out against the new leader are imprisoned or derided. It happened in the Pride Lands. It could happen here.

The repeated recitations of the tenets of the Circle of Life is grim foreshadowing. No movie discusses death in great lengths for no reason. To fulfill his ascent to the throne, Scar conspires to kill both Simba and Mufasa. He leads Simba into a gorge, incites a stampede of wildebeest, and lets the inevitable happen.

Mufasa rescues Simba, but Mufasa himself is trapped by the steep canyon walls. His feeble attempts to climb out are thwarted by Scar. He kills his brother, staring him in the eye, throwing him into the stampede below. Mufasa is crushed by the stampede, killed instantly.

Despite appearing unbruised and unbloody, Mufasa is dead. He is unequivocally dead. He’s not battered and exhausted, rousing when all hope seems lost. He is not in an eternal slumber, waiting for a miracle to wake him. There is no magic in this world, making his death a temporary inconvenience. Mufasa’s body is motionless. He’s not breathing. The pleas and cries of his son do not make him move. Mufasa is dead.

In 1941, Disney made the shocking decision to depict the death of Bambi’s mother. While she was shot offscreen, her death was deliberate and unmistakable. It was a shocking, dramatic moment, especially for a kids film. It’s impact was felt for generations. Bambi is often a child’s first introduction to the concept of death. Both its permanence and its severity.

As impactful as the moment was, Disney did cheat slightly. Bambi addresses the heavy theme of death and murder, but cuts and runs early. Bambi is shaken and forever changed by his mother’s death, murdered by unfeeling hunters. But he doesn’t grieve. The primary emotion displayed is confusion. He barely understands where his mother is and what happened to her.

When Bambi is told his mother is dead, the scene cuts immediately. We don’t see Bambi process the death, grieve, or mourn. His mother is dead, and that’s the end of the scene. The film jumps forward in time, well after his mother’s death. Bambi is an adult who’s fully moved on. In Bambi, death is a part of life. It can be both sudden and traumatizing. But it’s not something worth focusing on. Disney begins a conversation about death, but abandons it quickly.

The Lion King addresses trauma properly. Mufasa was killed in front of Simba’s eyes. It was violent, unexpected, and instant. What’s more, Simba is convinced he is at fault for the whole affair. Simba believes had he not been in the gorge, none of this would have happened. Not only must Simba deal with the death of his father, but also the ensuing guilt. Unable to cope with all these emotions, Simba literally runs away from his problems.

Upon Simba’s exile, he’s found by a pair of passing travelers. Timon, a meerkat, and Pumbaa, a warthog. The duo live in a picturesque rainforest, past a desert outside the Pride Lands. Both have tragic backstories forcing them to abandon polite society (or the animal equivalent) and live as recluses. Timon and Pumbaa welcome Simba with open arms. Partially because they feel sorry for the isolated child. Partially because there’s an advantage to befriending an apex predator while living in the jungle.

While the film has had moments of comedy so far, its primary concern is its trenchant themes. Timon and Pumbaa are so broadly humorous, they significantly shift the tone of the movie. Timon is a motormouth, hyperactive, prone to screaming, and will never pass up an opportunity to make a bad pun. Pumbaa is large, dimwitted, overly dramatic, and has surprisingly deep, sensitive tendencies despite his oafishness.

These two characters clash in both style and substance with the rest of the picture. In another movie, this would be a significant black mark. In The Lion King, the pair works.

Comic relief is a necessary element of storytelling. Recentering away from harsh elements lets audiences acclimate to what has happened. When laughing, audiences let their guard down. When a film’s intensity is lowered, the storyline has a moment of respite. The audience is at ease. New elements can be introduced for the next pivotal scene. A movie cannot redline throughout its runtime. It needs peaks and valleys.

This theory is doubly important in children’s media. Fickle and emotion-driven audience will abandon media if they feel threatened or bored. The Lion King has some of the heaviest themes in the Disney canon. And with the powerful drama comes the requisite need for powerful comic relief. There’s a balance to be maintained. A kids movie can have deep philosophical discussions about mortality and destiny if its partnered with a farting warthog.

This is a justification of whether Timon and Pumbaa belong in The Lion King. Whether they contribute to the fullest of their abilities is another matter. Timon and Pumbaa are the film’s designated comic relief characters, but do they contribute anything else?

Timon and Pumbaa take in the young Simba at the beginning of his exile. Their home is tropical jungle paradise, free of worry, work, or obligation. The three are free to do whatever they please. As a traumatized child, this benefits Simba. It helps him cope with his father’s loss. As he grows into adulthood, it raises question of idleness and disengagement. Much like the Odyssean Lotus Eaters, Simba is trapped in a world of excess and unfulfillment.

It’s exemplified by the motto and accompanying song, “Hakuna Matata.” Directly translated as “No Worries,” the Hakuna Matata lifestyle is detachment. That an individual must forget their troubles and enjoy life.

Not necessarily a bad message, but confusing within the context of the film. Simba has many responsibilities as king of the Pride Lands. Eventually, he rejects Hakuna Matata by the film’s third act. It’s wrong for Simba, but is it wrong in general? Are Timon and Pumbaa advocating an unhealthy philosophy? Hakuna Matata seems the antithesis to the Circle of Life.

Timon and Pumbaa aren’t corrupting or deceptive. They’re not leading Simba astray like Pinocchio to Pleasure Island. They’re trying to help Simba. They’re sharing their worldview; their personal credo that made them content. Hakuna Matata works for them. If it were a bad lifestyle, it would be declared a bad lifestyle at some point in the movie. If its long-term degradation effects were meant to be subtext, the filmmakers wouldn’t give such a bad lifestyle a jaunty song, would they?

The two leave their jungle paradise to assist Simba in reclaiming his throne. They help defeat Scar and his hyena army. Both are seen at the film’s conclusion, celebrating the victory. After a time jump, both stand alongside Simba at the birth announcement of Simba’s own son.

But did Timon and Pumbaa learn anything? Did they change at all? Did they say their farewells and return to the jungle, or do they continue to live with Simba? Do Timon and Pumbaa join the Circle of Life, rejecting Hakuna Matata, moving to the Pride Lands? Are they simply visiting for the birth announcement? Are they still isolationists, or have they reintegrated into society? Are they teaching other animals about Hakuna Matata?

We don’t know what happens to Timon and Pumbaa. We don’t know how they feel or how they think at film’s end. We don’t know if their goals are met, or changed, or even if they had goals at all. They have no character arcs because they’re barely characters. They’re the comic relief. Their purpose is to tell a joke and get out of the way.

With only one shallow purpose, one would assume everything Timon and Pumbaa does is comedy gold. The two borrow heavily from the oeuvre of Genie from Aladdin. They seem consciously aware they exist in a movie. Timon directly addresses the camera, asking Pumbaa to censor his language for the sake of “the kids.” Pumbaa makes a reference to the 1967 police film In the Heat of the Night (“They call me Mister Pig!”). Both know the lyrics to “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” despite living in an uninhabited area of Africa, hundreds of miles from the nearest radio.

While humor is a subjective thing, these pop culture references are distracting. There were plenty of ways to be funny within the context and environment of the film. Instead, Timon and Pumbaa tried to be trendy. Being referential doesn’t suit the style of the The Lion King.

Child actor Jonathan Taylor Thomas voices young Simba. He does an admirable job voicing the bravado and naivety of a privileged youth. There’s an undeserved arrogance and young exuberance in his voice. But Thomas also has opportunities to show his range. Young Simba’s voice has a weighty feeling of genuine sorrow and fear in the film’s more tragic scenes.

Adult Simba is voiced by Matthew Broderick. While Thomas had a brief career in television before The Lion King, Broderick was an established actor. He was a household name for over a decade. Disney learned something important from Robin Williams in Aladdin: big stars attract big crowds. Broderick was chosen not exclusively for his acting abilities. He was chosen because his name would attract potential moviegoers.

Matthew Broderick has a very low-key, almost monotone acting style. While this may serve him well in live-action productions, his stoic delivery isn’t suited to animation. His rendition of Simba comes across as bored and detached. The required energy for an animated character is never expressed. Broderick’s performance isn’t fitting of a lion in Africa, but a lazy housecat.

Broderick’s inability is all the more obvious when he acts opposite James Earl Jones, the voice of Mufasa. Jones has one of the most powerful, authoritative voices in film history. Every word he speaks has gravity and panache behind it. Every word by James Earl Jones are the words of a king. Everything said by Matthew Broderick are the words of an actor hired for marquee value.

The Lion King features conflicting themes, inconsistent morals, and paper-thin characters. Upon scrutiny, one may consider it to be a wildly problematic film. In another text, an evil king somehow causing a drought would be a sign of bad writing. But watching The Lion King, one never feels slighted, cheated, or deceived. Not even after examination. When the film is examined as a whole, it’s apparent the movie is accomplishing something different from the rest of the Disney canon.

More than just a fable or a narrative, The Lion King is a philosophical story. The actual plot isn’t all that significant, and neither are the characters. They’re flavors and they make the film interesting to watch, but its not really their movie. They’re assisting the central thesis. The deep-rooted theories of life and death, the Circle of Life, are the crux of the film. All that matters is Simba learning and embodying this ideal. All else is scenery.

The Lion King is a film of contrasts. Stellar animation and unforgettable music are matched with crude humor and nonsense gags. Heavy philosophy is the bedrock for a wispy plot. Underdeveloped characters deliver amazingly powerful scenes. It’s flawed, but it’s a masterpiece within the flaws. It wouldn’t be the same film without its blemishes.

Every element plays its own part. Everything is in delicate balance. Nine years earlier, Disney Animation was once in a nadir. Now it was at its apex. The Lion King itself takes place in the circle of life.

Beauty and the Beast Fantasia The Lion King Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Cinderella Alice in Wonderland Sleeping Beauty The Little Mermaid Aladdin The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh Pinocchio The Jungle Book Robin Hood The Sword in the Stone Bambi The Great Mouse Detective 101 Dalmatians The Three Caballeros Lady and the Tramp The Rescuers Down Under The Fox and the Hound Peter Pan Dumbo The Black Cauldron Melody Time Oliver & Company The Rescuers Saludos Amigos The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad The Aristocats Fun and Fancy Free Make Mine Music

#The Lion King #1994 #Disney #walt disney #Walt Disney Animation Studios #disney studios #Disney Canon #movie review #Film Criticism #film analysis

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foodreceipe · 4 years

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'Secret Life Of Groceries' Shines A Light On Bounty's Dark Side

November 7, 2020 John Henning Schumann

A pre-pandemic Seattle supermarket boasts row after row of prepackaged snacks. Even before the coronavirus pandemic put extra stress on grocery workers, keeping shelves stocked with the variety that Americans have come to expect took a hidden toll on producers, distributors and retail workers, says author Benjamin Lorr.

The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly heightened our awareness of our food supply — and the grocery stores we visit to stock up. Grocery workers became even more essential in March and April, as many of the rest of us were sent home to work or were laid off.

But how much do most customers know about what really goes on behind the scenes in our local supermarkets — now or before the coronavirus pandemic? What's gained and lost as all that food makes its way to the shelves?

Author Benjamin Lorr spent five years looking into that as he studied all aspects of American supermarkets — from the suppliers, distributors and supply routes to the workers in the retail outlets themselves. In the reporting for his new book, The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket, Lorr met with farmers and fieldworkers and spent 120 hours straight driving the highways with a trucker as she made her multistate rounds. He worked the fish counter at a Whole Foods Market for a few months and went to trade shows to learn about entrepreneurs who were trying to break into the industry. He also traveled to Asia to learn about commodity fishing — finding human rights violations along his journey.

The result is an intense, immersive, humorous and sometimes shocking portrait of the modern American supermarket, which for all its abundance and convenience leaves the reader with concerns about the insatiability of American appetites and how the markets can be a force for good and bad.

Shots interviewed Lorr from his home in Brooklyn, N.Y.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Your book is subtitled The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket. For all their plentitude, our giant grocery stores mask a great deal of human and animal suffering.

Yes! Here is this institution we spend 2% of our lives in, so routine we often take it completely for granted. And yet, if you stop to think for even a moment, you realize it is completely unprecedented in the human experience. The grocery store is a miracle. It offers a continuous, dreamlike bounty of products at prices that get lower each year, even as the quality gets higher and higher. And as a customer, this bounty all appears completely frictionless, like some suburban American birthright. Of course, from the inside, it is the opposite of frictionless. It requires tremendous power to maintain. And when you scratch the surface of that power, you realize there is something slightly menacing underneath it. And if you scratch further, you get suffering — from our factory-farmed animals to the many workers in our food supply chains.

Far too many Americans suffer from paradoxical afflictions — food insecurity and health conditions related to obesity, like diabetes and heart disease. How do our supermarkets contribute to these problems?

It's a great question. But to answer, I'd almost flip it. Because it's not that the supermarket contributes in a uniquely malevolent way — it merely echoes other structures in our society. So, for me, the question is "What can the supermarket teach us about our responses to these diseases that typically get overlooked?"

And, again, I think this starts with what the supermarket does really well. Rather than respond to our mouthed pieties, the industry caters to our actions, working very hard to provide a few key values that we select at the checkout counter again and again: convenience, low price and choice. And by choice, I mean something very particular — food options that allow us to express meaning. That is, food that allows us to demonstrate who we want to be — whether that is worldly and sophisticated, thin and athletic, decadent and indulgent, ecologically virtuous, connected to our ancestors, distinct from our kin, etc., down the line of human aspiration.

Now, to circle back to your question: We know that food insecurity, noncommunicable disease and poverty track closely. But our public health responses could benefit by mimicking the grocery store, focusing less on a predetermined idea of what people should do and more on what they actually need and want. Poverty is multidimensional. There is financial poverty, i.e. the lack of wealth we are all familiar with. But there is also poverty of time. And poverty of choice. And rather than being distinct, all those different forms of poverty compound. And they parallel the very things grocery excels at serving.

So simply offering cheap vegetables from a CSA is not enough. Nor is pummeling food-insecure folks with "education" about the "right" foods going to flip a switch. Very often that switch has long been flipped, but there are other barriers getting in the way.

To get more concrete, I'd say that means supermarkets are going beyond merely offering affordable healthy options, into affordable healthy options that are also convenient, grab 'n' go, ready-to-cook, pre-made or in individual servings for a kid left on their own while a busy parent is working a second job. Similarly, it means recognizing that "health food" all too often expresses a value set that doesn't dovetail with people who are actually poor.

I was surprised to learn that food quality and taste are not the leading criteria that supermarket employees consider when stocking their shelves.

Yes! And maybe not even the third or fourth qualities! Again and again, when talking both to food entrepreneurs working to get their product on the shelf or supermarket buyers evaluating a product to add to their mix, they'd say things like, "Stop focusing on taste — rookie mistake," or "Stop thinking about this as food — this is a 'food product.' " And they didn't mean that in a sneering, holier-than-thou, "Velveeta is not cheese" sense. They mean that a grocery item needed to excel as a retail product before its identity as food even mattered to them. So qualities like gross margin, stability of the underlying commodities in its ingredient list, shelf life, packaging, availability in a continuous manner — these are what got a buyer's attention. Far more important than knockout flavor.

Health certifications for food, like "gluten-free" or "non-GMO," are laden with compromises that consumers are not likely aware of. How can we be better, more informed shoppers?

The audit process that undergirds most food certifications — from "non-GMO" to "fair trade" — is deeply flawed. I think the simplest answer here, from a consumer perspective, is not one people want to hear: Shrink the supply chain. These problems accumulate from lack of visibility in a supply chain that has grown enormous and complex from serving the needs of a supermarket. Buying from sources you implicitly trust, not ones you need dubious proof of that trust, is the way to go. That means local, direct from the farm.

And let me say, farmers are ready to set up these relationships. I get my pecans from a single family farm, New Ground Orchards, that I trust. Do I need to see a list of their certifications? No.

Though we profess to care greatly about the provenance of the foods we eat, price seems to be the main driver of our choices. This can have deleterious effects on laborers like farmhands or fishermen.

Yes, again and again, labor is the place where the industry can extract "efficiencies." It really fits together with what we have been talking about previously. To become a global commodity, you need to meet all sorts of certifications and standards just to gain entry — safety standards, environmental standards, packaging, shipping and volume standards — and a lot of these can be tracked empirically in ways that are much more difficult with labor. Then, once you are trapped by these fixed costs, every few years your buyer comes and asks for a lower price, as that buyer is competing with other outlets back home. If you are a producer looking at your cost structure, trying to meet your buyer's demands, labor is often the place where you have control. And so it is the place where cuts occur.

The result, of course, when translated into human lives, is devastating. Humans are adaptable and can adapt to misery when they are desperate. For me, a key part of the book is helping readers see the connections on a human level, elevating the "out of sight, out of mind" voices at the bottom of the chain into a visible place.

As part of your research, you worked as a "team member" at the Bowery Whole Foods in New York City. You relate difficulties among your fellow workers in feeling valued as team members.

I was really surprised by the ways these minimum-wage jobs have changed. I've worked a lot of minimum-wage jobs over the years, but I worked them 20 years ago or more in high school and right after college. So I had a memory of them that was almost tinged by nostalgia. But just like everywhere else in the chain, labor in retail has become more "efficient." Industrywide practices like variable scheduling, on-call scheduling, just-in-time scheduling — where employees don't have a fixed schedule, but rather one that varies week to week by up to 40% or who only receive their schedule a few days in advance — have devastating effects. You can't get a second job, because there is no schedule to schedule around. You can't arrange child care, and your take-home pay swings wildly with the changes in hours worked.

And, of course, given our growing wealth divide, these jobs are no longer "high school" jobs but careers for middle-aged adults. So the nostalgia I and many people hold can be actively harmful when grappling with the reality and empathy for others.

You also embedded with a long-haul trucker to see what it's like to bring food to market. The freedom seemingly offered by life on the road made me think more of Sisyphus endlessly rolling a boulder uphill. And it's even tougher for women drivers.

Yes. Trucking is this enormous profession — 10.7 billion tons of freight per year, the No. 1 form of employment in the majority of states — that serves as a literal circulatory system for our economy. And yet, the life of the trucker has been systematically degraded. In the 1970s, trucking was this true middle-class profession — blue-collar, outlaw maybe, but also deeply stable. Over the last decades, that has all changed. Truckers now work to create twice the output at 40% less in wages. Many are caught in a debt peonage they call "sharecropping on wheels," a descriptor that seems overblown until you hear the stories.

And you can see the effects of everything we've talked about here in their lives. The trucker I rode with for the book was racked with health problems, suffering from many of the noncommunicable diseases we started off talking about. Yet this was not the result of lack of education. She knew what it meant to eat healthily and talked about wanting to "go paleo." Yet in the book it almost reads as a joke. The demands of her job, the extremely variable scheduling, the sedentary nature of the profession, the lack of food options at the truck stops — it all conspired to make health an impossible bar for her.

My friend makes his own barbecue sauce — we like to say he should bottle it and sell it. But getting shelf space in our local supermarket is a lot harder than any hobbyist can imagine.

I'd say, "Good luck," but then suggest that before investing any of his own money, he do a real gut check about how important this is to him. And maybe read my book. The entrepreneur I followed, Julie Busha, who was marketing a delicious condiment called Slawsa, disabused me of any idea this was to be easy. Julie was one of the hardest-working, most intelligent people I've ever met, and yet as a small-business woman, she was extremely vulnerable to an industry geared to dealing with much bigger players (or those with easy access to venture capital). Most people don't know that supermarkets make a significant amount of their profit directly from these entrepreneurs — i.e., extracted through direct fees, like a landlord leasing space. And so at every stage, Julie was met with demands for payments — for shelf space, for free product, for advertising, for demos. Julie kept moving forward, but it was like watching a hurdler.

Do you see ways supermarkets could do better by their customers?

In the book, I talk with a retail architect, a brilliant guy, Kevin Kelley, who talked about the intricate ways he helps stores create meaning for customers. But this is rarely — if ever — applied to people who are food insecure. What does a consumer in the South Bronx or San Joaquin Valley want to express? How can we craft messages around healthy food that will speak to their cultural values, as opposed to a Marion Nestle/Michael Pollan paradigm? If you provide all that, I am sure they will get snatched off the shelves. And I am sure people will become healthier for it.

John Henning Schumann is a doctor and writer in Tulsa, Okla. He hosts StudioTulsa's Medical Mondays on KWGS Public Radio Tulsa. Follow him on Twitter: @GlassHospital.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/11/07/931348023/secret-life-of-supermarkets-shines-a-light-on-bountys-dark-side?utm_source=pocket-newtab

#Groceries #supermarkets

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Science Fiction and Fantasy New Releases: 23 March, 2019

Jules de Grandin, Black Tide Rising, Russian wuxia litRPGs, and Larson and VanDyke’s Galactic Liberation return in this week’s roundup of the newest releases in science fiction and fantasy.

Black Moon (The Complete Tales of Jules de Grandin, Volume Five) – Seabury Quinn

Today the names of H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, August Derleth, and Clark Ashton Smith, all regular contributors to the pulp magazine Weird Tales during the first half of the twentieth century, are recognizable even to casual readers of the bizarre and fantastic. And yet despite being more popular than them all during the golden era of genre pulp fiction, there is another author whose name and work have fallen into obscurity: Seabury Quinn.

Quinn’s short stories were featured in well over half of Weird Tales’s original publication run. His most famous character, the French supernatural detective Dr. Jules de Grandin, investigated cases involving monsters, devil worshippers, serial killers, and spirits from beyond the grave, often set in the small town of Harrisonville, New Jersey. In de Grandin there are familiar shades of both Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot, and alongside his assistant, Dr. Samuel Trowbridge, de Grandin’s knack for solving mysteries—and his outbursts of peculiar French-isms (Grand Dieu!)—captivated readers for nearly three decades.

Available for the first time in trade editions, The Complete Tales of Jules de Grandin collects all ninety-three published works featuring the supernatural detective. Presented in chronological order over five volumes, this is the definitive collection of an iconic pulp hero. The fifth volume, Black Moon, includes all the stories from “Suicide Chapel” (1938) to “The Ring of Bastet” (1951), as well as an introduction by George Vanderburgh and Robert Weinberg and a foreword by Stephen Jones.

Bone Dungeon (Elemental Dungeon #1) – Jonathan Smidt

Ryan doesn’t remember much about his life before becoming a dungeon core. Only that he had a bit of a disagreement with the church — something to do with a beheading?

Now reborn, Ryan begins to arm his darkness dungeon with devious traps, bestial zombies and ill-named skeletal creations, without doing anything too evil. Well, mostly. Some adventurers just deserve a stalactite to the head.

But Ryan quickly learns being a darkness dungeon isn’t all loot and bone puns. With a necromancer on the rise and the Adventurer’s Guild watching his every move, he must prove that not all darkness dungeons are malevolent… even if they do have a few skeletons in their caverns.

Sadly, all of these issues keep distracting him from his own guilty pleasure, skeletal fight club. But don’t tell his fairy about that.

Bushido Online: War Games – Nikita Thorn

Promises have been made, and promises will have to be kept.

After all the drama surrounding the invasion of the White Crane Hall, Seiki gave his word to Ippei that he’d join the War Games. So, when he hits level 14 and finally gets eligible for his first troops, Seiki gets ready to face the Demonic Clan and begin his climb up the military ranks.

But before he can claim his unit from the Shogun, Seiki has one last promise to fulfill. Together with the whole band, he has to clear Nezumi Temple—aka the rat dungeon—in order to secure a rare armguard for Yamura as a thank you for saving their neck back at the siege. However, the drop rate for the item could be as low as 4%. And after running the instance for close to twenty times, they’re all starting to wonder whether the darn piece even exists…

Dragon Heart: Stone Will – Kirill Klevanski

“Dragon Heart” is one of the top-rated Wuxia LitRPG novels in Russia.

He was born anew in a world where martial arts were indistinguishable from magic. He only received a neuronet and meaningless desires from his past life.

What lies ahead?

He dreamed of adventure and freedom, but those dreams were taken away from him. The same way his mother, father, and sister had been taken away. They took the Kingdom, they took his own destiny.

But he is willing to wage a war, against the whole world if need be, to bring everything back. Even if the army opposes him, his sword won’t waver. Even if the Emperor sends the legions, his step won’t falter.

Even if demons and gods, heroes and enemies alike are to unite against him, he won’t bend to their will. His own will is iron itself, unstoppable.

His name is Hadjar and he heeds the call of the dragon heart within him.

Homeguard (The Kin Wars Saga #4) – Jason Cordova

The Dominion has been torn apart by betrayal—the likes which had never been seen before—and civil war reigns. Brother wars against brother as factions vie for control, and the losses are staggering.

For the Espinoza clan, the war within the Dominion of Man has taken a far more personal turn. A horrible truth has been revealed at last, and the surviving members of the family battle the rising tide of betrayal and hopelessness. Blood has been spilled, and the only response is to take blood in return. For every member of the family, the shadow of war against their kin is out in the open. From the shattered cities on Belleza Sutil to the still-smoldering throne world of the Dominion itself, the cardinal Espinoza rule is still the same:

Above all else, family remains.

But can even family survive when all hope seems lost?

No Planet for Good Men (Forgotten Fallout #1) – M. R. Forbes

Earth. After the invasion.

The planet is in ruins. Humankind struggles to survive.

Hayden is a Sheriff in a world without law. A good man in a world gone bad. He knows the fallout of an alien attack when he sees it. He’s never seen anything like this before.

Isaac is a Marine in a world without order. A good man with troubles of his own. His mission was to protect the innocent, including his son. Instead, he’s the only survivor.

Two good men. Two frightening discoveries. Two paths to one inescapable truth:

The invasion may be over, but the real fight is just beginning.

Return (The Resistance #3) – Nathan Hystad

The Rift opens once again.

The battle for Earth continues.

Only the Eureka and her crew can turn the tides.

The Eureka returns to Sol through the Rift as an extreme time dilation creates complications. With a familiar face now the Earth Fleet’s Grand Admiral, Ace and the others struggle to acclimate to their new reality.

When one of the heroes is captured by the Watchers, the others plan a rescue that hinges on the success of the entire war. To end the thirty-year endeavor, the Fleet must align with a longstanding enemy, but knowing who to trust isn’t so simple.

Straker’s Breakers (Galactic Liberation #5) – B. V. Larson and David VanDyke

It’s been five years since the end of the Hive Wars. Straker has handed over the burden of governing the Earthan Republic to civil authorities.

This should be a happy time, as Straker and his most loyal soldiers retire to a planet and step off the galactic stage. Unfortunately, authoritarian forces within the Earthan Republic are still simmering with rage at his victory. Rumors reach Straker of a growing new Republic Fleet manned by state loyalists. Planets begin to fall under their influence and go dark. Even in retirement, they see Straker’s Breakers as a threat.

Fearing he may have to move again in the name of freedom and the people, Straker begins to train and plan. Will they dare to come for him? His battlesuiters have formed families and planted roots on Culloden. What of their children and stories of neighboring worlds reverting to dictatorships?

Valhalla Station (The SynCorp Saga: Empire Earth #1) – Chris Pourteau and David Bruns

Revolution threatens a longstanding peace…

Thirty years after the Syndicate Corporation saved Earth from climate-change extinction, SynCorp’s Five Factions rule the solar system with an iron fist wrapped in a velvet glove. Food, entertainment, safety, security–SynCorp provides it all. In return, the Company requires complete loyalty and obedience to corporate law.

The Soldiers of the Solar Revolution claim life under SynCorp is slavery cloaked in comfort. They launch their rebellion, targeting the pillars of corporate production: sabotaging refineries on Mars, shattering Callisto’s orbital ring. Meanwhile, brutal pirates siphon off Company resources in the Belt, and hackers tap into citizens’ implants, addicting them to fantasies shaped from their own dreams.

Besieged on all sides, SynCorp’s Five Factions are in retreat. The rebels aim to destroy the Company to free mankind. But does mankind really want to be freed?

Voices of the Fall (Black Tide Rising #7) – edited by John Ringo and Gary Poole

The zombie apocalypse is here in these all-new stories from John Ringo, Sarah A. Hoyt, Michael Z. Williamson, Jody Lynn Nye, Travis S. Taylor, and many more. Sequel to the best-selling anthology Black Tide Rising.

Civilization had fallen. Everyone who survived the plague lived through the Fall, that terrible autumn when life as they had known it ended in blood and chaos.

Nuclear attack submarines facing sudden and unimaginable crises. Paid hunters on a remote island suddenly cut off from any hope of support. Elite assassins. Never-made-it retirees. Bong-toting former soldiers. There were seven and a half billion stories of pain and suffering, courage, hope and struggle crying out from history: Remember us.

These are their stories. These are the Voices of the Fall.

Science Fiction and Fantasy New Releases: 23 March, 2019 published first on https://medium.com/@ReloadedPCGames

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