The Most Shakespearian of all Disney's Movies: Lion King the War for the Crown - Scar & Mufasa's First Clash by Dan

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Disney villains have come in all shapes and evil. Ursula is a manipulative, gaslighting witch who wants to control the oceans, Jafar is a vizier who wishes to rule Agrabah, and Gaston wants to control one woman. But almost none can match the iconic villain that is Scar, the Uncle and villain of one of Disney’s most famous movies, The Lion King.

The voices of Jeremy Irons and James Earl Jones work well together, and both being legends are amazing, and establishing Scar early was vital for the story to introduce us to the status quo that changed after Simba was born. Scar was crown Prince until Simba was born, and it frustrates him that he is to be left in the shadow of his older brother, and now his younger nephew. He is rather sore about this, and pouting, he refused to attend the introduction ceremony of the young infant Prince.

A first class case like this will of course make everyone fall in love with the movie, and it really shows. Scar always is rather calm, yet intimidating, and Mufasa is proud, regal and strong.(I do admit, when I heard Mufasa had a deleted song, I went to listen to it, and I am glad it was removed from the movie. Jeremy Irons did not sing it very well.) The scene is a rather legendary one, that starts with an innocent mouse just wandering about.

It looks ominous and small in the world around it, and it just does what it does, grooming itself. It looks rather harmless, and possibly representative of innocence, and then Scar smacks it, grabbing it. Then he starts musing and playing with it. He whines about how it’s not fair, which is rather childish of him. He then comments on how the mouse is pretty much dead, then as he is about to eat it, he is soon interrupted by Zazu, the advisor, and number two bird to Mufasa, the King of the Pride lands.

Zazu comments on how Scar shouldn’t play with his food, and this tells us a lot about Scar’s fatal flaw. He tends to play with his food and he enjoys his work. Scar looks rather annoyed, especially when the mouse slips right through his fingers. Zazu tells him that he should have a good excuse for not attending. Scar then replies with a clever line, “Oh, look Zazu. You made me lose my lunch.” and Irons says it in a very dry and monotone way. He is being sarcastic, and it does have a double meaning. First, he literally loses his lunch. It also says that it makes him sick to be displaced as the heir. Only a Shakespearan trained actor can pull off such a line with such talent.

Zazu then boasts, and warns Scar about Mufasa’s state of mind, then Scar looks like he’s about to eat Zazu, and comments that he “quivers with fear”, knowing that Mufasa would not hurt him, and he isn’t scared of the King. Zazu realizes that the villain would not be above trying to eat him, so he tries to fly away, and we see that Scar is actually pretty fast as he catches Zazu as he’s flying.

Then we have Mufasa’s first line, commanding with such authority and regalness to have Scar spit up Zazu. Admittedly, I always cracked up seeing Zazu’s beak pop out of Scars mouth commenting about good time, only to be spat out. Then Scar pretty much gives a mocking welcome that is obviously fake. It is also full of contempt and passive aggressiveness.

Mufasa reminds Scar of the event, but Scar feigns mocking ignorance, clearly he has no respect for his brother. When Zazu scolds him, a fake chomp scares the bird that hides behind Mufasa’s leg, after telling him he should have been first in line to appear, but then Scar says that he WAS first in line, and the way he addresses Simba, shows that he has nothing but disdain for the infant and Mufasa interrupts reminding him protectively of Simba’s place in the family.

It is interesting to note that in this scene, Scar is always seen in shadows, whereas Mufasa always is in brighter light, displaying their true hearts. After a bit more sarcasm, Scar turns around,and Mufasa tells him not to turn his back on Mufasa, which Scar answers with the same comment. It is a warning that Mufasa doesn’t appreciate, and asks Scar if he’s challenging him for authority, which Scar lazily denies. He just comments on Mufasa’s temper, Zazu asks him why he doesn’t challenge Mufasa, Scar just answers honestly that he’s smarter than Mufasa, but physically he isn’t anywhere close to Mufasa, this time in a melodramatic tone.

The two let him go for the moment, and Zazu starts up with his opinion on Scar, He states that there’s always that one relative that just kills the mood when they are present. Mufasa then asks in an exasperated voice about what to do with him. Zazu then half-jokes that Scar would make an excellent throw rug, implying that it would be best for Mufasa to just beat Scar, something that Mufasa eventually has good reason to regret. But to do this or to commit fratricide would be a poisonous act for Mufasa, which would taint the King. Therefore Mufasa just talks about his brother like he is a petulant child.

Mufasa loves his family dearly, including his brother, but he does a lot of bluffing, whereas Scar kept calling his bluffs. With a scene that is hard to forget, as we see the dueling between the two, and how neither will yield to the other. Both Jones and Irons demonstrate what it means to voice for cartoons and we can’t deny that the interplay between the two characters show that jealousy is what motivates Scar, as he feels displaced from what he thinks is rightfully his.

This scene does much to establish the story, the tone and even sees Scar threatening Mufasa when he says ‘don’t you turn your back on me,’ which is interesting. As Mufasa thinks its a challenge rather than a threat and growls.

Not recognizing the threat due to what we must assume is wilful stubbornness he maintains’ that it is only Scar’s childish nature, not seeing just how depraved and wicked his younger brother has become.

The two could not be more different, yet there is something truly cold about the manner in which Scar spoke, so that one could be mistaken for thinking them strangers. Mufasa as we see is naive, and optimistic not wishing to see just how vile his baby brother is and not wishing to face down the evil that stands before him. Zazu sees it, but cannot seem to convince or hint enough to his ruler about Scar. All might have been well with Scar content to simply bide his time and wait out his brother’s lifespan were it not for Simba.

Now his rights are challenged by an infant, and Scar is now thinking of how to get rid of his nephew. He already wants both Mufasa and Simba out of the way, hoping to rule himself. And this version of Hamlet really pulls out everything that shows that a bunch of lions can push the limits of what Shakespearan adaptations could do. Mufasa is a great and benevolent ruler, and Scar is a scheming mastermind who doesn’t bother to show his disdain. One has to give Disney credit back in the 90s.

They really knew who to choose in order to bring out the best performances. Characters like Genie, Hades and even Mulan really made this decade an extremely memorable. one.

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