Why BE PREPARED Is Deeper Than You Think

Once again we're delving into another Disney villain song! This time we're taking a look at "Be Prepared", Scar's villain song from The Lion King. In this analysis/review, we'll dissect the themes of this song and explore just how it ties the entire film together.

[speedracer]

You have to consider that Scar immediately put the blame on Simba for Mufasa’s death when he asked him “What have you done?”, plus Simba was too torn up about the death of his father to question why Scar was blaming him.

[grey-spark]

I love this verse:
Meticulous planning (we'll have food)
Tenacity spanning (lots of food)
Decades of denial (we repeat)
Is simply why I'll (endless meat)
It perfectly showcases how Scar and the Hyenas have totally different motivations and work on different levels. His lines have twice as many syllables than theirs. 6 to 3 while sounding luxuriously Shakespearean meanwhile they talk like cavemen, not even rhyming in the second line. The fact that they sing this while he's talking shows they're not even listening to him, and clearly don't care about his entitlements. It sort of foreshadows that their alliance is doomed.

[rendumguy]

I think Scar told him not to go to the graveyard, using reverse psychology to entice Simba into going into a "cool" dangerous place.

[casperpedersen]

Never noticed the similarities between the 2 songs. So cool to learn about. I am however still thinking that alot of Simba's motivation to running away is that he thinks he triggered the events that killed his father, BUT it is a super cool new perspective which I honestly never considered. Great video. Looking forward to the next one. Appreciate your hard work :D

[maximsavage]

A few critiques here: Simba starts rather selfish, naïve, gullible and incompetent, yes. You know why? Because *he's a child*. All children come to the world as selfish, naïve, gullible, incompetent larvae who's parents job is to help them become better. Saying that he would've grown up to be a bad leader is ridiculous; if Scar hadn't had Mufasa killed, there's a whole lifetime of experience and parental input he could've had. Also, Scar didn't "send" him to the elephant graveyard. He told him never to go there, and pretended to "let slip" that it was an elephant graveyard, knowing that Simba would decide to go there... Because he's a curious, naïve and adventurous child. Yes, we, the audience, know that he's evil, but there isn't a single scene where Scar reveals his nature to his nephew until the final confrontation. Also, remember that he spent the whole time between inciting incident and climax explicitly avoiding thinking about what happened or taking responsibility (the point of Hakuna Matata, which you showed you understood). Now, I agree that in all those years, maybe he could have figured out that there was no "surprise" from Scar... Except it makes perfect sense for a detail like that to be buried by the immense trauma of nearly dying and seeing his father killed trying to save him.

[AmishParadise]

If Simba truly didn't care about his father's death, then why was there an entire scene where he is emotionally distraught and visually crying over the death of his father?

[boomkruncherzzshred]

“Simba and Scar are eerily similar.”

Geez, it’s almost like they are family

[MrEffectfilms]

First of all, Simba is just a kid, taken into account how he behaves I'd say he'd be about 10-12 if he were a human child. How in the world can anyone blame a 12 year old for being like he was?! Part of what I loved so much about Simba as a kid was how relatable he was, he seemed like someone I'd want to hang out with. His father did a great job raising him and his child tendencies are perfectly acceptable and normal.

Secondly, Scar specifically told him NOT to go to the elephant graveyard, basically using reverse psychology in the event Simba brings up the fact that he visited Scar right before he and Nala went there. No reason for Simba to suspect anything especially being a child.

Finally what kid in Simba's place would think Scar killed Mufasa? When Scar shows up the first thing he says is "What have you done?" immediately blaming Simba for the death which Simba was already doing anyway. And he wouldn't question why Scar led him out there because Scar told him that Mufasa had a surprise for him. Keep in mind this is right after the elephant graveyard and Be Prepared scenes so Simba would just be glad that his father was going to do something for him. Honestly this probably adds to the tragedy for him, he'd feel guilty about his father wanting to surprise him with something but instead he got killed.

All of these things combined would likely be too much for an adult to handle let alone a child, so I don't think it's fair to put that on Simba and say "Well you should have figured it out!".

And wow man you seem to have an INCREDIBLY cynical mindset, Mufasa never said that he wouldn't be there for seriously go back and check, he never says this, in fact he says the opposite. Simba asks if they'll always be together and Mufasa doesn't immediately answer, instead he tells Simba about the great kings of the past and how, should Simba ever feel alone, those kings will always be there to guide him, and so will he. He literally tells Simba that he will always be there to guide him and so when Simba needs his wisdom the most he gives it to him. I know I'm going on about this but that comment really hurt because Mufasa appearing before Simba is one of my favorite scenes in all of cinema and is just so damn beautiful it always makes me tear up.

[doomarang]

11:45 Uh Dude, Did you forget that line Mufasa said earlier in the movie? When Simba asked him that "will they always be together?" and Mufasa talks about the stars and the night sky that all the dead kings of the past will always be there to guide him whenever Simba feels lost and alone. Then finishing off his sentence with, "And So Will I" So Mufasa didn't "Undermined" what he said.

[vitoriadias]

I'd describe Simba's "dumbness" as trauma and selective memory because of said trauma.

Hellfire still best villain song tho. :>

[ambregille]

I believe Simba's "laziness" to teturn to the pride is simply that he doesn't know what's going on there he's too far away, likely due to the guilt he believes they are living all good and well under Scar or someone else, someone that shouldn't be him because he killed his own dad, why would he be any good for the pride? No everyone is far better off without him in the picture.

Calling that selfish feels wrong to me.

[PeninsulaPaintings]

Scar didn't send Simba to go into the Elephant Graveyard, Scar (seemingly) told him specifically NOT to. Simba went - yes because he was manipulated - but completely on his own accord. Scar also didn't seem to put him in front of a stampede. Scar left Simba alone in the gorge to 'go fetch Mufasa' because he said: "Your FATHER has a marvelous surprise for you." I'm sorry dude, but weren't you listening? Simba roared loudly which he believed spooked the wildebeests into stampeding - making it seem like it was his own fault. Scar was a very calculated and manipulative character, who is also Simba's own beloved uncle. Simba was a naive child who was specifically TOLD that he was responsible for Mufasa's death. Do the math. I'm sorry but you lost me there for expecting Simba to see signs that (from his perspective, not ours) weren't there at all.
Scar is a terrifying character because of this, when it's family especially; manipulation is harder to recognise. How else do you think child sexual abuse victims (for example) feel as if it was their own fault for so long (sometimes forever), made even worse if the perpetrator was a family member.
Scar fooled everyone around him, not just Simba. Give the kid a break for not figuring it out.

[crazyhiena]

It's important to remember the detail that Simba ran away from his past for a long time. He was so traumatized by his father's death that he preferred to forget it ever happened, forget about his responsibilities and his old life. Simba never got to suspect Scar, precisely because he decided to not think about what happened anymore. At least that's my interpretation.
I loved how you showed in the video how similar Simba and Scar are! I never thought about it!

[alexandrefrauches]

I agree about Simba and Scar similarities, I 100% disagree about Simba being petty and lazy. Arrogant sure but none of the others. In many scenes of the film he acts on his own to achive his goals (like go to the elephant graveyard) and does shows concern for friends like Nala, even trying to defend her from the Hyenas, showing he is not entirely blind to his mistakes and doesn't want other to pay the price for them. That's why the death of Mufasar is so traumatizing for him, with Simba feeling that his father died because he once again he came to rescue him from a problem he put himself in.

Also, I understand Simba not suspecting Scar being resposible for his father death since that would be a terrible thing for kid to think about, the idea that not only he lost his father but the responsible is his uncle, another member of his family and one he is very close.

[brittanybrown]

It is interesting the parallels of both Simba and Scar being arrogant and “lusting” for power without knowing the responsibility it took. But I think the thing you are missing is the guilt and shame aspect. Simba was still looking at his fathers death from kids eyes. Scar was an elder and an uncle he trusted, an authority figure, and he was made to believe that he did something. He ran away from his troubles and hid basically. There are a lot of lessons in this movie. Rafiki tells him you can’t hide from your past even if it hurts.

[djmocha]

I’d say the biggest thing I disagree with is Simba wanting his father to die (although, I could be wrong). When he found out that he was gonna be king one day, I believe he thought that it was gonna be like how a new president enters office; the former one doesn’t die, they just step down. My reasoning behind that is when Mufasa actually *did* die, he didn’t get excited about it, and say “Alright. It’s my turn now.” . As I said, I could be wrong, and I can use that same instance. If he knew that his father had to die before he could take over, and he couldn’t wait for it, the stampede could’ve been an example of “Be careful what you wish for.”

[RoninCatholic]

Another lesson you could take is that Simba's attitude as a child is what you'd expect a young prince to have in an absolute monarchy, but with the guiding hand of a good father and taking discipline to heart he might grow up to become like Mufasa. A son who disregards his father's discipline and clings to the childish attitude towards ruling winds up like Scar.

[tarvoc]

One reason why I love the song is because it's full of super effective stealth puns and double meanings. For example, "my words are a matter of pride" could be Scar singing about his wounded ego, or he could mean that he's talking about the Pride, i. e. the lion way of saying "I'm going to talk politics now". This may be cheating a little bit, but another great example for this is from the German dub (which I grew up with), where e. g. the line "the lights are not all on upstairs" was translated to "die obren Etagen sind leer" - "the upper levels are empty", which can be him saying that the hyenas have no brains, but also that they lack leadership. If this song was a real political speech, it would probably be considered a masterful example of propaganda and demagogy. Disney really did a great job with portraying the kind of villain Scar is supposed to be.

[matityaloran]

5:13, actually I am. Simba says in Can’t Wait to be King that he wishes he were king so that he could do whatever he wants and Scar after becoming king brags that since he’s king he can do whatever he wants. Since even though Simba says it Scar is the one who actually can’t wait to be King and this makes him a foil for Simba

[matityaloran]

9:52, technically Scar explicitly told him not to go to the Elephant Graveyard specifically because Scar knew Simba well enough to know that telling him not to go there would get him to do exactly that.