Strolling across his animated kingdomโPride Rock in the distanceโMufasa explains to his young son Simba: โEverything you see exists together, in a delicate balance.โ
The line is a hallmark of the Disney movie the Lion King, which debuted in 1994. A visually rich update of the classic, also by Disney …. hit theaters this July. In the quarter-century gap, the film saw a few significant changes …. But other aspects of the movie remained unchanged, including Mufasaโs original lesson about nature being in balance.
John Kricher just rewatched the scene from 1994. While the Wheaton College professor and author of The Balance of Nature: Ecology’s Enduring Myth is a fan of James Earl Jonesโ deep baritone delivery, he says โitโs not sound science.โ
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Scientists have long abandoned the idea of there being a โbalance of nature,โ in favor of more dynamic ecological frameworks. But, having been ingrained in popular culture over millennia, itโs proven much harder for the public to shake. The metaphor is alive and well today, appearing everywhere from newspapers, Legos, and a health food brand name to social media, and, of course, the Lion King reboot.
Read full, original article: The โbalance of natureโ is an enduring concept. But itโs wrong.
