Psychologist Carolyn Newberger, reviewing the Disney film The Lion King in the Boston Globe, June 27, 1994:

This movie is full of stereotypes: The good-for-nothing hyenas are urban blacks; the archvillain's gestures are effeminate, and he speaks in supposed gay cliches. The film embeds messages that are hostile to the impoverished and the different. Why should lions be rich while hyenas are poor? The implication here is that somehow the lions deserve what they have and must guard against those who have less. Why does Pride's Rock [home of the lions] deteriorate to barren rubble when the hyenas move in? Because they have too many children—they eat too much. There's no thought of sharing here, no compassion for their unequal plight.

†