Stefan Molyneux
  • 2 days ago
In this episode, we engage in a critical discussion about the film "Mufasa," reflecting on our experience of arriving just after previews and leaving with mixed feelings. We analyze the film's storytelling and character development, critiquing the disjointed narrative that lacks depth and moral lessons. Our conversation highlights the impact of animation's technological advancements, especially in water scenes, while emphasizing that stunning visuals cannot substitute for coherent storytelling. We examine gender roles portrayed in the film and their implications on audience perceptions, as well as the disconnect between depictions of nature and real-life survival lessons. With personal anecdotes about nature, we underscore the importance of conveying realistic life lessons through storytelling. Ultimately, we conclude that "Mufasa" falls short as a narrative, advocating for films that entertain and educate, leaving listeners to reflect on these themes.

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Transcript
00:00All right, who begged you to not go to the movie who begged no one what I was apparently future selves begged
00:06Yeah, I was apparently being
00:09Unenthusiastic. Yeah. Oh, yes
00:10Well, no a regular amount of enthusiasm for a 16 year old cuz you were like do you want to do a movie tomorrow?
00:16To me mom and I was like, yeah, yeah sure. Okay. Yeah, and then I have no idea if she wants to go
00:20And I'm like I said, yeah, yes, but it's tone that matters
00:25What you say, it's how you say it exactly I am a valley girl, we know that let's not fight it okay the movie
00:32That we went to go in half see was called move
00:36Ah, was there a second half that I'm not aware of we didn't actually watch it. So we wouldn't know well
00:42We got in there now. We we've got it down to a fine art, which is that the movie started at 1 p.m
00:48And we got there at like 114. No, we got there at 107
00:53But sorry, yeah 107 by 114 they were just finishing up all of the previews
00:58So we have got it down to a fine art. We know exactly what's going on
01:02yes, and the previews all seem to suck donkey as well, so
01:07then the movie started and
01:10Sadly for a little bit the movie started and I as always I'll say this every time. I'm absolutely amazed at the technology
01:17They've got water scenes. They're kidding. I was bad
01:20No, no, the technology is great the way they used it was not great the visuals
01:23Well, yeah, I thought the animation was pretty bad going but it did not look fluid
01:28I saw that one obviously probably a maybe a higher budget. I don't know but I
01:33saw that dinosaur
01:36Documentary on like from David Attenborough. Oh the way back one
01:40We saw this like the year or two ago three two years ago 20 years or 2022 or something like that
01:45Okay, way better technology and the fact that this was done like three or four years later Wow
01:49Makes me think huh? No for you. Yeah, I'd be personally
01:53I thought it was pretty good
01:54But I can certainly understand where you're coming from just to me like the amount of water the fluid
01:59Dynamics the fact that they've got all this wet hair. I mean, it's pretty pretty neat for me as far as the technology goes
02:05But oh man, yeah, it's like everything's on the story. Should we turn around and try the other way?
02:12The way we came we could this is like, yeah, we could look in books. Yeah, so it was a
02:18Zillion dollars on the technology and
02:21Zero dollars on the story. Yeah, so genuinely I could have written a better story, bro
02:26And I'm like, oh like and they're paying people to do this. I would have done it for free
02:30so yeah, the way that it seems to work is
02:34They just they think that a story is a series of events no not this one
02:41It is a series of events so
02:45Someone gets born they go to the waterhole because it's raining and then there's a disaster in the waterhole and then
02:52There's a fight from the white lions because you know, even in lion country white guys are the bad guys
02:57Yeah, but there although there are I think in fact white lions, but it's all just like a series of things that happen
03:03But there's no actual story a story has to have some kind of moral to it
03:07And it's also simplistic and dumbed down and like I think again the events are important because sorry
03:14The events are important, but they're those they're supposed to be happening because of a story
03:17Yeah, like there needs to be a reason more than just ooh rain is cool as to why he went to the water pool
03:23Maybe he was going to meet let's say his friend or like that the opposing lion like the prince, dude
03:30Though the bad guy, I assume the guy who grows up to be the bad guy. You know what I'm saying, right?
03:34Yeah from the other tribe. Maybe they have like left it what no, right. Are you sure? Yeah
03:40Got it. Okay as an example, I don't know maybe the tube
03:46It's left
03:48Yeah, it's this way. Okay, my apologies because I know we turned right come on
03:52We went down there and then we turn. Oh, yes. Yes. Okay, even the GPS saying it
03:56I know but the GPS is trying to take us the wrong way. We turned around cuz anyway, okay, man
04:00okay, so sorry, I was saying like the two brothers are
04:05Again not biological brothers
04:07But maybe they have like some friendship going on that they're not allowed to have because the two tribes or whatever, right?
04:13So then that's why he goes to the water to hang out and play with his friend or whatever
04:17But then he gets swept along and then there's that whole mess
04:19Like I'm just saying there needs to be some story reason. Yeah as to why they go there not just oh it looks cool
04:24and the story has to have something to do with good or bad choices because the purpose of art is to get you to rehearse and
04:31See the consequences of bad choices or good choices so you can either be discouraged or encouraged from making good or bad choices
04:39Yeah, ah drives me crazy. So yeah, this was just like and and I
04:45Hmm, the parents were just retarded at the beginning because the parents are like hey, it's the first rain
04:51We've had in what was it 60 moons? Well, yeah five years really 60 months. So five years that usually happens
04:58Okay, I accept that but then in in order for there to be any life in this area the rain has to be insane
05:04Yeah, right. It has to be just a complete dredge. So
05:08these the older parents have lived for however many years that they've lived and
05:13Apparently, they don't know that the waterhole gets insanely dangerous when the rains come
05:18No idea right because and all the animals just go down to drink the water, right?
05:22Yeah, and they let their son go into the water or they let him go ahead and then we don't know because we walked out
05:29But we don't know what happens to the parents, but the kid, you know half drowns and and all of that and it's just
05:36Why just don't let your kid run ahead keep him close to you and you'll be fine
05:40So but it wasn't about how inattentive bad self
05:44Selfish parents because they're like the greatest and noblest of parents for no particular reason. There's that cool
05:49They're just that cool and they make all these they make a terrible decision that either gets well
05:55It gets really the whole family killed because I imagine that a lion cub in the wild dies. Yeah, right can't hunt
06:02And he just gets eaten, right? Yeah, so so he they wiped out the entire
06:09Genetic lineage the entire family was wiped out because the parents were idiots. Well, I don't know if the parents died
06:16yes, but
06:19We the last thing we saw was the parents stuck in water looking like they were drowning and maybe they didn't die
06:25But if they didn't die, it was a complete miracle. Yeah, so are they good parents or bad parents?
06:31Do do weird accidental things happen even to good parents. Well, then what's the point of the story?
06:37the point is supposed to be if
06:39You know keep an eye on your kids and don't let them do dangerous stuff
06:42that could be like the basic moral of that part of the story, but they're great parents and
06:46they let the kid do stupid stuff and
06:49It seems like just about their whole lineage is wiped out. And what's the moral of the story?
06:54There's no moral of the story because they have great parents and just bad things happen
06:57Yeah, so it's all just random not based upon anyone's choices
07:00The purpose of art shouldn't be to tell you bad stuff happens for no reason
07:05Yeah, everybody knows that that the purpose of art should be don't make bad decisions because these are the consequences
07:12Consequences instead make good decisions because these are better consequences
07:17anyway, so
07:19Then he goes to the new tribe which has and everything just felt like an absolute bone-weary and cliche
07:26I felt like I'd seen it all a zillion times before I don't mean you're younger obviously
07:30No, I have to but it's like the the mother takes in the stray
07:36Right the father the father
07:39Doesn't want the stray now who's wrong?
07:43The father is wrong. The father is you see
07:48Lazy, right. The father is portrayed as lazy
07:50Oh all he does is nap and so on and it's like well one of the reasons why the lot males nap is because
07:57They are guarding the perimeters against foreign lions. Yeah, they've got they patrol the outskirts of
08:03The pride lands of their own particular tribal lands in order to scare away foreign predators, right?
08:10So that's a lot of work. It's kind of dangerous. They don't just lie around doing nothing while the women do all the hunting
08:14That's this like weird big cat feminist cliche. I think I think there is something I was trying to remember it
08:23I've heard before something about lions hunting that made me surprised. Uh-huh. I think the females do the majority of it
08:29Yes, that's true. But yeah, no that that is true for sure. So I thought you were saying that wasn't no it's no
08:34That is that is true. It's true. But the males guard the entire
08:38It's sort of it's sort of like in in a country. Oh
08:42Let's say a tribal area in Africa or something
08:45So the women will do the hunting and gathering for small game and for us and fruits or whatever it is, right?
08:50But the men are patrolling making sure other men don't come in and stab and kill everyone in this in the at the night
08:55Yeah, right. So so both of them are essential for the survival of the tribe
08:59It's just one is more obvious than the other which is the women doing the the hunting, right?
09:03Yeah, so that sort of bothers me now
09:07It certainly is true that as you know male lions if they come across a female who already has cups
09:13Yeah, so I get all of that and you can say that that's bad if you want
09:18But then you can't say that lions are the kings of the jungle and are noble wonderful creatures
09:22Yeah, because you know that habit not very noble. Well, no you can make sense
09:27But it's how they became noble is to destroy the weak the weak the weak, right?
09:33So this how they become how do you get to be an apex predator not by indulging in the weakest?
09:38It's like if I relentlessly destroying or of dumping or ostracizing the weakest, right? Yeah, so
09:44but but the female
09:46Sentimentality which is so right and so wonderful and he had the the new cup the the stray ends up saving
09:53The life of the mother and then the father so the father's totally in the wrong and
09:57Also, the kid has superpowers like you can smell antelope half a mile away or something like some stupid stuff
10:03Just some psychic nonsense, right?
10:05So yeah, so so the idea that they've become the kings of the jungle and that the the the fathers are idiots
10:11Yeah, or because the first father loses his kid and the second father
10:15it doesn't want to stray but if the women are all wise and wonderful and loving and caring and great and
10:21The males are just you know pig-headed or ignorant or foolish or I mean that's just you know
10:26Kind of a or violent, of course in the case of the white lion tribe. Yeah, and
10:32Sorry, so something else you want to know. No, so the other thing too. Oh my gosh
10:36So every time you know kids like lions right now, why did they like lines because they're big strong powerful and they look cool
10:42They do they look like big dogs. Yeah, they look absolutely cool
10:47Although obviously way way too much in it, right?
10:51so
10:56So
10:57when
10:58The lions are going down to the watering hole all of the other animals. I'm so sure they're not bothered by it at all
11:06No, I was questioning. Oh, there's ducks. So I was questioning
11:11Does that happen in the animated version because I know you like the animated I wasn't sure if that was something
11:17Animated version was great in my way. They also were they also like that? No, so in the animated version
11:23In the animated version the cruelty is delegated to the lower animals like the hyenas, right?
11:29And the animated version all of the animals kneeled before the king, but they're not chill around the lions
11:34They're not that I remember. No, probably not, right?
11:37So I remember they were they'll go or the scenes I've seen the lions at the very top and they're separated like you couldn't jump
11:44Right run down they'd know right? Yeah, this is pride rocky holds up his son and all of that, right?
11:49I mean animals to be a big thing nowadays
11:51Like I remember we watched that one the wild robot or whatever
11:54Yeah, like animals are just like what's a what's a pecking order or not?
11:59But like what's what's apex predator now? Can you imagine that the animals would be celebrating the birth of a new lion?
12:05Oh my god, I mean like when the giraffe saved him from drowning
12:08Oh, yes in this movie that the baby lion is drowning and the giraffe helps and saves him and that guy's gonna kill you
12:14Yeah, so it's the same thing in the first one, right?
12:17so in the first one, I just figured that Mufasa was a tyrant and
12:21They just had to bow down before him because otherwise he'd eat them. That was sort of my yeah explanation right appease the the brute dictator, right?
12:28but
12:29It's to me. I was thinking about this in the movie because there wasn't much to think about in the movie
12:35So I was thinking about it in the audience that in the past
12:38So the stories that I was raised with were like the Grimm's Brothers fairy tales. Oh my god
12:43Yeah, now those things they're a little psycho. They're messed up, but I love watching the videos about them and stuff cuz it's like, bruh
12:50But but but they do teach you something about danger in the world
12:53Yeah, so, you know you think of Hansel and Gretel and you think okay, so they just go wandering in the woods, right?
12:59Don't do that. Yeah, don't go wandering in the woods, right?
13:01And if there are strangers nowadays, it would be like and they found paradise. Yeah
13:06Yeah, and they were taken into a windowless van to joy itself, right? So I found it
13:12Strange to me like in the Hansel and Gretel
13:16It is even if things are tough at home, right because they have this mean stepmom
13:21I think so
13:21Even if things are tough at home, you're better off at home than out in the woods
13:24And also if some stranger offers you candy, don't take it. Don't take it, right? Don't take it
13:30So so that's that's a good rule. Like that's a good rule to live by and that's helpful, right?
13:36So it gives you something of value right a wolf in the
13:40Little Red Riding Hood around the the wolf
13:43That people who can appear to be friendly like your grandmother might actually eat you
13:47So you have to look beyond the appearance to look at the dangerous personality within that's it. That's a good. That's a good lesson, right?
13:54Yeah, I grew up on like we did those door. We did those stories, but I grew up on like more toned-down versions
14:01Yes. Yes
14:02Yeah, I definitely think we need to bring back like kids need to stop being so sheltered
14:06There's all this stuff where it's like all the cute the nice the sweet and it's like that is not how the world works
14:11Well, and I think it's good
14:13Obviously, you don't want like a traumatized two-year-old
14:15But like I think there's a certain point maybe five or six where it's like, okay
14:19you got to stop showing them all of that and not like start showing them like World War two documentaries, but I mean like
14:26Movies that are a little or media that is a little more realistic and actually has morals and values and stuff like that
14:32I don't know. That's my opinion. But well, there were a couple of times in your childhood
14:36Where you got to see some nature? Oh, yeah, I'm thinking of two in particular. I'm thinking of the toad
14:43Yes, we had chickens. We had two Bantam chickens and they were pretty young and
14:48I found a toad and it was a cool-looking toad. Like it wasn't like the the regular ones. I do not tell me I loved actually
14:54I absolutely love toads, but I found a cool-looking one on the corner of our like house
15:00I was like, that's really cool
15:02And I'm about to pick it up and I think usually when I bent down the Bantam chickens associated that with food
15:08so they went up and they took it chick it took the toad and I was
15:12Actually, they took the toad. They ripped it. Well, that's what I mean
15:14They totally t-rexed it
15:16They took it and I was chasing them and they were chasing each other for like five minutes and like just ripping it apart
15:22And I was I still genuinely have like a raised heartbeat. Oh, yeah
15:27Horrible reached me out. Yeah, cuz there's something that you love
15:31Get like absolutely mutilated and stuff like actually like mess me up bro for like solid two weeks
15:38I would not go outside associate with those chickens. Yeah, but it was highly offensive highly upsetting
15:43Obviously like I don't personally if it were up to me
15:46I would not have gone through that but I mean it's I like what are you gonna do?
15:50Like it's nature's nature nature's nature and they are dinosaurs and then I mean they got the revenge when the hawk took the Bantam chicken
15:59Would you like to tell that story? I don't really remember it because I think I was out when it happened
16:03Well, we never saw in our neighbor's yard. They went through they went to the woods for some reason
16:07I don't like why did you do that?
16:08But they go in the woods end up in our neighbor's yard because we have like a very small stretch of woods between us
16:13yeah, like genuinely like ten steps and you're through it and
16:17We got back and they're like, yeah, so we saw a hawk
16:22Yeah, I wasn't too upset about that
16:25Well, you didn't see it. First of all, and I didn't I hated those chickens because again
16:30The toad or it was shortly after that and that was genuinely like I was six or something
16:35Like that was like I would say at that age like literally traumatic like watching this toad just get ripped apart, bro
16:42So I wasn't too upset about that. I was more disappointed
16:44But it was like, okay
16:46And then the other one are you thinking of the same thing with the chickens of the dogs?
16:49So I'm thinking of one other one than that, but go ahead the other one
16:53We had this were not the banter chickens. These were different chickens. Yeah, we had our neighbors dogs get into our yard
16:59I was out. We have like these little window sills that kind of look into the basement
17:05They're like really small to win the bottom
17:07I think everyone knows what this but we had those and I was out there toads used to hide in those all the time
17:14Yeah, and I would try and take them out because if they jumped into like that like hole or whatever
17:18Well, I don't even know but they couldn't get out. So I would take the toes out and stuff and
17:22I was out there and there's this giant dog that just runs like at me. Yeah, and it's they have these giant huskies
17:30Yeah, my brain was like wolf. Yeah, obviously it wasn't and it was like even right after I thought it
17:37I was like rationalizing that it's not a wolf. We do not have a wolf here and
17:41Then I had this feeling that you carrying a bunch of ketchup packets in your pocket Naomi go right I'm running inside I'm screaming
17:48I've had bad really bad experiences with dogs up to that age. Like I can think of three or four things that happened
17:53Oh, yeah, I was also fine. I think it was five this year. We had the banter chickens the next summer
17:57Yeah, and anyways, I'm inside our chickens are still outside
18:03I'm freaking out. My mom's like there's dogs giant dogs in our yard
18:07My mom's like that's a wolf and I'm like, no, it's not like we she just blurted it, right?
18:13Mom's always wanted to help not not escalate panic
18:15Yeah, of course, and then we pause and freak out because we realized the chickens are still out there
18:20Yeah, fortunately all the chickens made it one of them got bit pretty bad. We found we found chicken feathers
18:27I'm just like, oh honey, you might want to go inside while we look for the chicken
18:30Yeah, and I did and we ended up finding her in like the bushes. Yeah, and she was limping but she made it
18:36She was bit pretty bad. Yeah missing like a whole chunk of feathers on her back, but she was okay. Yeah, she's fine
18:42But that was the other one was the other one you had so the other one was when we were on vacation
18:47The cat get in the lizard. Yes, I wouldn't say that was too bad
18:51Like if I had I'm gonna make an example. I was a little older
18:54I did cry cuz I really wanted to catch the lizard and I still like lizards, but yes, but you like lizards and cats
18:59Yeah, I think I was nine
18:59It's something like that maybe a bit immature
19:02I was if I had had like the chickens when I was five or six if they had just taken like a little baby toad
19:08And eaten it in one bite
19:09Yeah
19:09I'd be devastated by would not have been like
19:12Watching it get ripped like I just remember have like all these images in my head like burned in there
19:17so it was gross, but it was not the same as
19:22Watching the lizard or watching the cat grab the lizard right from like 10 feet away, right?
19:27Not the same and I think the cat just basically
19:32Like it was like pulling off all the skin and stuff like that
19:37Wasn't like torture it was just gone. Yeah that went off a bit far. Yeah, but
19:43No, no, it's not attention because you got to see that there's nature and it's it nature is we can say cruel
19:49But it doesn't really matter because nature is nature
19:51Yeah
19:51Animals need each other
19:52So all of this thing where you never see the Lions eat anyone and they're all just super nice and friendly and chill and everyone's
19:58Just hanging out. It's like it's training children that there are not predators
20:01There are no dangers in the world other than maybe occasional natural dangers or these weird white wolves or something like that
20:07So I don't like this
20:09Loving all the kids sense of security and not having kids be trained because the Lions are learning how to fight
20:15As cubs, right? And so you should be learning that there's there are cruel things in the world
20:19there are evil people who make bad decisions now, you can go too far with this as in the case of
20:25Pinocchio Pinocchio when I watched that as a kid, that was pretty appalling as far as dangers went, right?
20:31But or even Alice what Alice's can be a little creepy. I loved Alice in Wonderland as a kid
20:35I didn't know much about it. You guys didn't know but I
20:38Movie was yeah. No, I saw I knew like the concept of the story and I seen some scenes from I thought it was really
20:43Cool now, I'm in it. No, you're in it. That's right
20:46So, yeah this this movie the reason I gave up on it was I actually decided to just get really sleepy and bored even with
20:51All of the stimulus music. I was done. I was like, I got a discordant message
20:55I'm like, oh the songs were just terrible too. I thought there was one that was decent
20:59Yeah, I couldn't was it the one where they were talking about paradise or it was the one with the
21:05the bad guys
21:06I think I
21:07Do like a little bit of the self-references like talking about the song that everyone sang for six years straight and we can't sing
21:12This one because of the lawyers like I think that's kind of clever
21:15Even hear that. Yeah, I was listening. I wasn't on my phone at that point. I think but it was the yeah
21:20I just I just got really bored because it was just a whole sequence of things. They were cut out cardboard cliched characters and
21:27Nobody had any it was all just a bunch of accidents and and like even if even if see here's the thing, too
21:33If the woman had said that the female had said to the husband under the big tree
21:37You just laze around and he's like he's like no no
21:39I'm I'm out there guarding the perimeter right and then he'd come back and said look we've got lions coming
21:44We have to escape or something. Then she'd be like, okay. Well, it makes sense what you're doing. I'm sorry
21:48I doubted you but it's nothing like that, right? There's never anything like oh, so yeah
21:53I just this would definitely be a do not watch do not watch worst $20 of our life
21:58Yes that that hurt and it was like it was extracted from my kidney through my spleen through your spleen Wow
22:04Yeah, how do you hold your level of pain unpleasant? Anyway, let's go get a snack and feel better. Heck. Yeah
22:09Thanks everyone free domain comm slash tonight