Freud and Klein in The Lion King

This paper is presented as a potential teaching resource for those starting out in their psychoanalytic understanding, whether aiming at clinical work or the academic study of psychoanalytic ideas. Some central ideas from Freud and Klein are illustrated and illuminated in an accessible way using the Disney film The Lion King. Key elements from the film are used to bring to life concepts such as infantile omnipotence, manic defences, Oedipal conflict, persecutory guilt, destructive envy, the superego, reparation and mourning. The story of Simba is taken as demonstrating universal struggles to overcome Oedipal rivalry and destructive envy in order to reach maturity.