OT: is Mufasa the most overrated fictional character ever?

Let me see if I've got this? 

You're mad at Mufasa for being a playful, forgiving but not quite perfect father?  And you think that Scar, who actually killed his brother because he wanted power, should have been given a second chance to wield said power?

Interesting.

Your post is fake news. Scar allowed the hyenas to take over the Pridelands and they destroyed the environment through their greed. 

Mufasa was a great leader. He did all he could to teach his son how to be a king, and to lead his kingdom. In the end, his teachings finally took hold and his son restored his kingdom to prosperity after defeating and overthrowing the tyrant, Scar.  This is all we can hope for our children as parents, not that they be perfect and never err. 

Another "who cares" thread.

Eff you. Mufasa is amazing. Your reasoning sounds like drunk 19 year old explaining to a cougar why his mustache is soft.

I still have never seen the movie.

And now I don't have to! Thanks, OP!

Wile E. Coyote. He has all the tools, but always loses.

If we're taking about fictional characters that are celebrated but are actually bad, then Zach Morris is at the top of the list.

Zach Morris is trash.

Just Google it for confirmation.

Robb Stark.

No, the answer is a tie between every character on This Is Us, every character on Scandal, every character on Grey’s Anatomy, every character on Friends, and every character on every other show my wife watches.

I am really enjoying this thread though. I watch Lion King almost once a day at work and then again at home with my son. By the way, in his naive 2 year old way, he thinks Mufasa is scary and Scar is a good guy. I thought it couldn’t be analyzed any more by me, but this is an interesting angle. I wish papers and theses could be written about these types of issues, and not transport pump mechanisms in vertebrate cell walls or the like.

wtf? Never heard of any of those characters

Nice try, Scar

No way! Joe Cain was! How that guy was ever a Heisman favorite and was on the cover of SI was beyond me. Tim Wayman deserved and delivered on the hype when we beat ESU that year!

I've gotta go with my man Cyrax

also sparty lost at home to Indiana LOL

Indiana Jones

he is irrelevant to the outcome of raiders

Mufasa was a stand-in for all our fathers. Thus he is flawed but we are emotionally invested in him. Kindly fuck off*

(*said without rancor. And now I'm thinking about Star Wars...and a whole different set of father issues. )

C'mon, man. Mufasa had some flaws, but let's not get carried away.

Please understand that I perform this fisking as a friend. I hold you in the highest respect.

He teaches his son and heir to the crown to be disrespectful towards their servants when he conducts a "pouncing lesson" on Zazu, against Zazu's wishes.

It is inappropriate for us to evaluate the full depth of the relationship between the royal family and Zazu based on a small sliver of their interactions. Zazu is clearly a loyal servant, and we see by his actions that he cares deeply about the royal family. Disrespect is the wrong conclusion to draw from one small playful interaction between lifelong companions. Zazu's surface annoyance is not only tolerated but expected, as both parties have long expected and accepted this as part of their normal behavior. Much similar to a pair of brothers who care about each other taunting one another in pick-up basketball.

He doesn't discipline Simba AT ALL when he defies his father's wishes and takes his friend to the elephant graveyard. 

Discipline is a vital part of the upbringing of a child, but there are times where a parent must clothe their firmness with a velvet touch. In the case cited here, the consequence is built into the infraction--adding disciplinary consequences to this would be superfluous, and would divert Simba from understanding the true gravity of his mistake, which had genuinely life-threatening consequences.

He loses track of his son and allows him to wander into a ravine where the wildebeests are known to stampede frequently, then looks to his younger brother to get him out of the snafu he has created with his being such an irresponsible parent.

There's some logic here, but the truth is that Mufasa's major error is his inability to detect Scar's conspiracy and superintend Scar's relationship with Simba. It is, however, notable that Scar waited so long to undertake the conspiracy--Mufasa had become accustomed to Scar's behavior and mannerisms over many years, so Scar's clear insubordination never alerted Mufasa to the coming treason. 

As for losing track, well, balancing control with growth in the rearing of royal children has been a challenge for monarchs for thousands of years. 

Here's the worst part: Scar gets his shot at being the king, and by sheer coincidence a famine ravages the Pride Lands. Scar has no control over the climate nor the weather patterns of sub-Saharan Africa, and yet he is fully blamed for the problems that arise because of it. 

Scar pursued of policy of arbitrarily punitive taxation with a simultaneous, deliberate cessation of law and order, and an ill-thought attempt to institute a new class system. The direct consequence was the complete dissolution of the savanna economy; since that economy included activities such as population expansion and control, agricultural pollination, some aspects of the water cycle, and the nationally vital "circle of life" social system, the environmental consequences are the direct result of his policies.  

Regarding a later comment, regicide is an occasional threat in monarchies, but the instigator of such actions tend to find that they are next on the target list. And deposing such monarchies frequently results in unrest that is just as bad, or worse.

Again, know that I hold you in the highest respect.