The Lion King: An Allegory About the 2000 Election? Jeffrey M. McDonald mcdonald.tx@hotmail.com I work as a graphic designer, and often I am tasked to create imagery that will invoke a certain type of emotion. In doing so, I will often consult work that has been done by others in order to get a sense for what types of images will invoke the particular feeling or feelings that I am trying to achieve. I was sitting in my study last night, evaluating some images from scenes of The Lion King, when I came to a stunning realization. As I thought back over the movie (thanks to raising a couple of little girls, I know every scene by heart), and its roller coaster emotional ride of happiness – freedom – fear – heartbreak – doubts – confusion – conflict – sorrow – and back to a happy ending via a hard-fought triumph, a feeling of real familiarity kept washing over me. It took some amount of soul searching to find the source of what my sub-consciousness was trying to tell me. So now, I'm going to briefly rewrite the highlights of this classic movie, replacing its key characters with real live, modern day characters in place of the original animated players. Here is the new cast I came up with: Mufasa: Bill Clinton Simba: Al Gore Scar: Shrub Timon: Joe Lieberman Rafiki: Justice John Paul Stevens Pumbaa: Honorable Charles E. Burton Nala: Al Gore's Conscience Banzai (hyena): Justice Antonin Scalia Shenzi (hyena): Katherine Harris Ed (hyena): Jeb Bush Pride's Lionesses: The American People Hoard of Hyenas: The GOP and Corporate America Tell me this…do I even need to say anymore? Perhaps nothing more does need to be said. Nevertheless…people, the happy ending did not come without the true leader of the people stepping forward to claim his rightful place, and the lionesses joining in the fight. Watch the movie again. You will find nothing less than astounding parallels between what happened in the election and has happened since, and the story line of the movie, itself.