Analytical essay example
Media Analysis: The Lion King
- Subject
- Film Studies
- Type
- Analytical essay
- Citation style
- APA 7
- Level
- Undergraduate
- Length
- 4 pages
About this sample
The paper examines how two songs from The Lion King, "Be Prepared" and "Circle of Life," use African musical features to reinforce the film's African context. It also considers the role of Western instruments and the idea of hyper-reality in the score. The essay is organised as an introduction followed by instrumental and vocal analysis of each song and a brief concluding paragraph.
- African musical influences in film
- "Be Prepared" instrumentation and rhythm
- "Circle of Life" vocal and percussive elements
- Western instruments in an African-themed score
- Hyper-reality and the fantasy of Africa
How it opens
Being a musical film, The Lion King showcases various musical numbers. A musical number can be described as a scene where characters start singing and dancing, pausing the advancement of the plot. These musical numbers help to enhance the feel of the movie and provide some realism. Five musical numbers have been featured in the Lion King: "Hakuna Matata," "Circle of Life," "Can You Feel the Love Tonight," "Be Prepared," and "I Just Can't Wait To Be King." Although each of the song's styles are characterized by African influences, the musical numbers that will be explained are "Be Prepared" and "Circle of Life" because they provide the most outstanding instances of the instrumental, rhythmic, and textural components that Americans usually link with African musical cultures. In the film The Lion King, these two songs accentuate The Lion King's African context in multiple fundamental scenes of the film, by either reimbursing musically for an exclusion of visible African components (Be Prepared) or improving the African elements that are evident (Circle of Life).
The opening section, transcribed from the PDF. The full paper continues below.
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Using an example well
Read it for how the paper is built, not for wording to reuse: how the introduction frames the question, how each paragraph moves from a claim to evidence, and how sources are cited in APA 7. Submitting any part of it as your own work would be plagiarism, and it is written for a different brief than yours.
Writing one yourself? Read the guide How to write an essay and the APA format guide.