Comment by throw681158
6 years ago
I don't think this is accurate. The hyenas are fundamentally sadistic and difficult to satiate. That's why they're poor - it's what got them banished. They make them hyenas to reinforce it's not brought on by the situation, they're just like that. You run the risk of a racial analogy whenever you use species to articulate personality but i don't think it's intended, even subconsciously.
I think it's actually a very deep analogy to real fascist regimes. Recruit the type of poor who beat people up in bars via rhetoric that implies the rich are responsible for both their situation, and that behaviour. One implication is that the rich are the only ones who are exploitative, and the leader of the revolution in particular is not. "When we win, I will be good to you." Then you end up with a dictator.
At a meta-level the point is that the hyenas are the type of people who are insatiable, which is why they're persuaded by empty promises of power and why everything turns to wasteland once they're in charge.
But even then, conflict is a fact of life. If the hyenas hate you, allowing them to take charge will suck for you, even if it's nice for them. It's not a nice point but IMO it's an important life lesson.
> The hyenas are fundamentally sadistic and difficult to satiate. That's why they're poor - it's what got them banished.
Based on what? I’m only basing what I said on the original movie as I never saw any other content. I see the lions portraying them that way, but I see no obvious reasons to believe it’s true from the content of the movie. Maybe I’m misremembering, it’s been a while, but from what I remember they were a bit extreme but that just seemed like desperation.
> They make them hyenas to reinforce it's not brought on by the situation, they're just like that.
Except real Hyenas aren’t just like that which is why the movie got criticised by hyena conservationists.
I haven't seen the movie since I was a kid, but don't the hyenas live among the bones of elephants? That gives me the impression of insatiability. They gorged themselves on elephants yet they're still hungry.
Or maybe they were driven out of the fertile food-rich lands by the lions? Why is it presumed that they must be evil, their motivations were only ever shown to be that they were hungry.