The Lion King (Live-Action)

[Sotiris]

Do you think this change was politically motivated so as to make the villain "white" or was it just an aesthetic/creative choice in order to further differentiate him from the rest of the pride?

[Disney's Divinity]

It probably is to code the character white moreso considering the issues with the hyenas back in the day... Well, now, too; I forget Disney classics never die. Making him appear more "white" would make sense anyway considering the character always had a British voice actor.

White hair would seem like a more realistic way to differentiate him than black, or am I wrong? I don't know enough about lions to know. The black mane always seemed like the typical cartoon villain = black thing (trope?). Are there lions that actually have black manes? Anyway, I do always like when villains who manipulate the protagonists are given more benevolent-seeming designs/colors that disguise them (like Saruman the White, the White Witch, the Man in the Yellow Suit, etc.). The devil in the guise of a lamb, basically.

[DisneyFan09]

Do you think this change was politically motivated so as to make the villain "white" or was it just an aesthetic/creative choice in order to further differentiate him from the rest of the pride?

Most likely the former. We live in a politically correct world anyway where people whine more about such things than priorly.

[JeanGreyForever]

I don't particularly care for the choice. Scar has an iconic appearance and changing his appearance would be like changing the Genie from blue to pink or making Ursula green instead. However, I'm also not familiar with different varieties of lions so I'm not sure if there are real life lions that reflect his animated appearance. I imagine making him white though is a politically motivated decision rather than an emphasis on fact. I'd rather they not go through with this decision but I'd be curious to see how he looks in a concept design.

[Kyle]

I guess they are fully embracing the "kimba the white lion" comparison now?

[nachonaco]

Okay I made my peace with Beyonce but this is too far.

[Disney Duster]

I'm fine with the choice and I don't think it's a political move. It probably is to make him look negative actually. Thin and sickly. And different from all the other lions, like they said.

[unprincess]

yeah but inst that kinda like look-ism? he's different from the others so he must be "bad". I would have preferred they had stuck to the original film's colors.

I wonder if this is tied to the rumor someone who claimed he was supposedly tied to the production posted on 4-chan that they were gonna make Scar more a tragic villain & the hyenas more sympathetic and sort of "oppressed" b/c they dont want to get the same criticism of the original that the hyenas represented ghetto minorities.

However, I'm also not familiar with different varieties of lions so I'm not sure if there are real life lions that reflect his animated appearance.

yes the Barbary lion subspecies supposedly have black manes and there are also white lions though Im not sure if the white color is a natural occurrence in nature or due to humans breeding them white.

[Sotiris]

Yeah but isn't that kinda like look-ism? He's different from the others so he must be "bad".

This concerns me as well. His look in the animated film, while distinct, wasn't that radical compared to the others'. Being white in a pride full of yellow and brown lions screams "different". It correlates looking different with being "evil". Unless, they're planning to address that and weave it into his backstory like having him ostracized or bullied as cub due to his appearance and lack of physical prowess. This would make him into a more complex and sympathetic character though I'm skeptical if this is the suitable approach with the type of villain Scar is.

[Disney's Divinity]

Othering the villains is a problem with most Disney films, including the animated TLK. Scar already stood apart visually from Mufasa, Simba, Nala, Sarabi, etc.

[PatrickvD]

I don’t want to be a social justice warrior here, but if they’re going to make Scar an albino lion that would be incredibly dumb and ignorant. Disney should look into how Africa pursecutes Albinos and realize this is not going to go over well. I understand they want to move away from black haired lion = evil, but this is the opposite end of the spectrum.

There are smarter ways to make sure he looks evil.

[Kyle]

I don’t want to be a social justice warrior here, but if they’re going to make Scar an albino lion that would be incredibly dumb and ignorant. Disney should look into how Africa pursecutes Albinos and realize this is not going to go over well. I understand they want to move away from black haired lion = evil, but this is the opposite end of the spectrum.

Its not just people that persecutes albinism, nature doesn't treat them well either. They can never blend into their surroundings, it makes hunting basically impossible. Which might not matter as much for a male lion (the females do the hunting) but just being around an albino lion might give the others away to their prey.

[Disney's Divinity]

^ That's another reason it would've worked better for what they meant the character to be in the original film, actually. The Scar-Mufasa dichotomy was based in Scar being weak, at the "shallow end of the gene pool."

I completely understand why this is not a change most of TLK's fans like--I'd feel, will feel, the same about questionable changes to The Little Mermaid--but I personally like the extra layer of complexity this would give to Scar. His hatred of the others would have more reason behind it, even if his actions are still evil. (Perhaps they could go even farther and have him be the elder brother who wasn't allowed to lead because he was too "weak," meaning he could only lead when there was no other lion left in the pack.) I hope they also take the musical's idea of Scar's nightmares about Mufasa, too. I mean, it's vaguely there in the animated film, with how terrified Scar is when adult Simba shows himself and he thinks it's Mufasa, but I'd like them to be more explicit.

[Disney Duster]

I agree with those of you saying this will give Scar more sympathy and motive and an extra layer.

[tsom]

I don’t want to be a social justice warrior here, but if they’re going to make Scar an albino lion that would be incredibly dumb and ignorant. Disney should look into how Africa pursecutes Albinos and realize this is not going to go over well. I understand they want to move away from black haired lion = evil, but this is the opposite end of the spectrum.

There are smarter ways to make sure he looks evil.

Ummm...Africa is a continent, not a country.

[PatrickvD]

I don’t want to be a social justice warrior here, but if they’re going to make Scar an albino lion that would be incredibly dumb and ignorant. Disney should look into how Africa pursecutes Albinos and realize this is not going to go over well. I understand they want to move away from black haired lion = evil, but this is the opposite end of the spectrum.

There are smarter ways to make sure he looks evil.

Ummm...Africa is a continent, not a country.

Ummm, could you point me to where I said that Africa is a country? The persecution is mainly in Tanzania and Malawi, but they are discriminated against in more countries across the continent, so that’s wh I said Africa.

[tsom]

Ummm...Africa is a continent, not a country.

Ummm, could you point me to where I said that Africa is a country? The persecution is mainly in Tanzania and Malawi, but they are discriminated against in more countries across the continent, so that’s wh I said Africa.

You could've said "Disney should look into how Albinos are persecuted in parts of Tanzania and Malawi" instead of basically implying all of Africa does that, or that it's something that is done regularly in both countries. It's basically like saying "Disney should look into how Europe persecuted Jews."

[PatrickvD]

You could've said "Disney should look into how Albinos are persecuted in parts of Tanzania and Malawi" instead of basically implying all of Africa does that, or that it's something that is done regularly in both countries. It's basically like saying "Disney should look into how Europe persecuted Jews."

No I shouldn't have, do you go around telling people what to say all the time? But I'm sorry if I offended you, next time I'll list Burundi, Congo, Malawi, Kenya, Swaziland and South Africa to make sure we're all clear here.

I didn't list a slew of African countries because this thread isn't about geography, and I doubt anyone seriously thought I was implying all countries in Africa are doing this. But I'll gladly play along if it satisfies you.

Applying your strict geographical rules to Europe; they did persecute jews in world war II. Saying Germany alone persecuted jews ignores the complicity of Austria, Switzerland, Russia, Italy, Spain and many political movements across the continent from The Netherlands to France.

[tsom]

No I shouldn't have, do you go around telling people what to say all the time? But I'm sorry if I offended you, next time I'll list Burundi, Congo, Malawi, Kenya, Swaziland and South Africa to make sure we're all clear here.

I didn't list a slew of African countries because this thread isn't about geography, and I doubt anyone seriously thought I was implying all countries in Africa are doing this. But I'll gladly play along if it satisfies you.

Applying your strict geographical rules to Europe; they did persecute jews in world war II. Saying Germany alone persecuted jews ignores the complicity of Austria, Switzerland, Russia, Italy, Spain and many political movements across the continent from The Netherlands to France.

My point in saying Europe is that the persecution of Jews occurred in different countries, but to lump the whole continent collectively in those persecutions is not fair to the countries that did not participate in them.

Frankly, I really don't care. My point was that people tend to speak about Africa as if it's a country. If something was happening in Ghana or Nigeria or wherever, people have a habit of saying "Well, in Africa, they do such and such" when it could just be happening in those two countries. That's all I meant.

[PatrickvD]

Frankly, I really don't care.

You seem to care a lot.