Is Lion King a Remix?

A lot of movies we see today are based on plotline/ ideas that are familiar to people whether that’s past plays or books, most of the new movies are based on characters that have been around since the 60s, they are not new ideas, coming from stories from the past. Most popular Disney movies/ cartoons we know have similar plot line and ideas, for example, most Disney princess’s movies (sleeping beauty, beauty, and the beast) have almost identical storylines. One of the most successful classic Disney animation film “Lion King” has been argued that its ideas were taken from the Shakespeare play “Hamlet.” Growing up Lion King was my all time favorite, and it still is, and I remember in high school it was required for all student to read Shakespeare “Hamlet.“ Although I didn’t see the similarities between the play and the movie growing up, a few weeks ago my friend/roommate referred that fact that the ideas of Hamlet were quite similar to the film. According to the article, both Simba and Hamlet were from a royal family, and Hamlet was the prince of Denmark while Simba was the son of the King Mufasa, they also didn’t have siblings, they both have manipulative/evil uncles. They both have close male friends Simba’s friend Timone and Pumbaa and Hamlet’s has a friend from college Horatio who he trusts and was his true friend. Lastly, their fathers were betrayed by their brothers leading to their deaths, Mufasa was murdered by his brother “Claudius” who wanted his throne, Hamlet claimed he could see his fathers ghost, who wanted him to avenge his death, Mufasa also appears to Simba(in the stars). Although there are differences between the play and film, the similarity outweighs the differences; one main difference is that Simba had a happy ending while Hamlet’s end was tragic. This indicates how must ideas are not original