Deception- The Lion King

In the movie The Lion King, there are many different ways communication is used. One of the forms of communication most easily seen is deception. According to Floyd (2011) deception “the knowing and intentional transmission of information to create a false belief in the hearer” (p. 384). Simba’s Uncle Scar uses deception with him throughout the movie to manipulate Simba. Scar manipulates Simba so that he can become king.

               

One of the scenes that Scar uses deception with Simba is the scene where, he tells Simba about the elephant graveyard. In this scene, Scar uses the Act of Simulation. The acts of simulation fabricate or exaggerate information to mislead others (Floyd, 2011, p. 389). There are two forms of simulation, falsification and exaggeration. Scars uses exaggeration when he is talking to Simba about the elephant graveyard. Exaggeration is when information is inflated or overstated (Floyd, 2011, p. 390). In the movie, Scar says “It’s far too dangerous. Only the bravest lions go there” and “I suppose you would have found out sooner or later. You being so clever and all”. Scars exaggerates when he says only the “bravest lions go there” because in reality no lions really go there. He also exaggerates how clever he really thinks Simba is. Scar uses the exaggerations to spark curiosity in Simba. Simba’s curiosity causes him to want to go to the elephant graveyard and explore.

                A real world examples of deception can be seen in politics. One example is when Donald Trump says that all immigrants are criminals. This is a major exaggeration that can cause stereotypes to develop or further develop.

Another place that Scar uses deception is when he tells Simba to leave after Mufasa dies because everyone will blame Simba and hate him. Scars uses acts of dissimulation. According to Floyd (2011) acts of dissimulation are “forms of deception that involve omitting certain details that would change the nature of the story if they were known” (p. 390).  Like acts of simulation, acts of dissimulation have two different forms, omission and equivocation. Scar uses omission because he left out the part where he pushed Mufasa off the cliff into the pack of wildebeest instead of helping him when he was talking to Simba. Omission is when a person leaves out important details of the story entirely (Floyd, 2011, p. 391).

One common real life example of omission would be when two little kids are playing and one goes running up to their mother screaming “Josie hit me!” When the mother goes and asks Josie why she hit her sister, Mara, the mother finds out that Mara took a doll out of Josie’s hand. This one action was left out of the original story that Mara told her mother. If she would have told her mother that she took the doll then her sister hit her, it would have changed the reaction the mother gave.

References

Allers , R., & Minkoff, R. (Directors). (1994). The Lion King [Motion Picture].

Flyod, K. (2011). Interpersonal Communication. Boston: McGraw Hill.