Sweeney Reading Response: Timon and Pumba in The Lion King

Within the text of Gael Sweeney's “’What Do You Want Me to Do? Dress in Drag and Do the Hula?’ Timon and Pumbaa’s Alternative Lifestyle Dilemma in The Lion King,” the main argument proposed is that Timon and Pumbaa are Disney’s first representation of non-heteronormative partners. She bases this conclusion with their exaggerated, “flamboyant” behavior, their statuses as outcasts, and specifically Timon’s affinity for the Broadway spotlight.

Unlike other arguments that some scholars make about Disney, I actually agreed with much of what Sweeney has to say about the role of heteronormativity in Disney. According to Sweeney, much of Timon and Pumbaa’s characteristics and mannerisms reflect the persona of their respective voice actors, Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella. Because the two were Broadway actors, Sweeney suggests that Timon and Pumbaa’s exaggerated actions are given a deeper meaning by those who voice them. Due to that fact that Nathan Lane was openly gay, I found it logical for Sweeney to draw the conclusion that Disney animators purposefully created Timon with homosexual characteristics as demonstrated by their decision of who to voice Timon. But who knows, everyone love a 'lil hula dancing every once in awhile. 

In addition, I thought that Sweeney's point about Timon and Pumbaa's home at the oasis paradise representing  an "alternative lifestyle" to that of order and hierarchy within the boundaries of Pride Rock. One could certainly extrapolate from this idea of Timon and Pumbaa's Hakuna Matata-like "alternative lifestyle" that Disney is surreptitiously portraying Timon and Pumbaa has a homosexual couple that contrast the heterosexual pairings that exist outside of the Oasis. Living in an excluded environment with a no-worries attitude that starkly contrasts the themes of responsibility and tradition that persist within Pride Rock, Timon and Pumbaa effectually serve as surrogate parents to Simba from a young age. Although Sweeney believes that Disney leaves contradictory messages about the tug-of-war between the philosophies of Hakuna Matata and responsibility to family and tradition, I think that Disney ultimately makes the statement that both hold value and that Simba is ultimately able to defeat Scar because he has been intensely exposed to both ideologies. Ultimately, whether or not Timon and Pumbaa represent a homosexual couple, their sexual identities, or lack thereof, have a negligible affect on the messages that their actions and philosophies send to the viewer.