In Popular Culture
In 1994 the Walt Disney Animation Studios animated movie The Lion King brought the phrase international recognition, featuring it prominently in the plot and devoting a song to it. A meerkat and a warthog, named Timon and Pumbaa respectively, teach the main character, a lion cub named Simba, that he should forget his troubled past and live in the present. The song was written by Elton John (music) and Tim Rice (lyrics), who found the term in a Swahili phrase book. It was nominated for Best Original Song at the 1995 Academy Awards, and was later ranked the 99th best song in movie history by the American Film Institute on a list of 100.
- In the 2006 South Korean comedy 200 Pounds Beauty, Kang Han-na (Kim Ah-jung) often draws a sign supposedly symbolizing hakuna matata for good luck in love.
- In the July 25, 2007 episode of Jeopardy!, "What is hakuna matata?" was the Final Jeopardy question."
- The PlayStation 3 game Afrika was renamed Hakuna Matata in its Asian release.
- In the first season of Benidorm the quiz at the Solana featured the question: "What is Swahili for no worries?"
- Debby Ryan covered the original song for "Disneymania 7" in 2011.
- On the premiere episode of The Real World: St. Thomas, Marie and Robb learn they both have a tattoo that reads "hakuna matata".
- In episode 4 of Citizen Khan, Mr Khan mentions the Hakuna Matata.
Read more about this topic: Hakuna Matata
Famous quotes containing the words popular and/or culture:
“Resorts advertised for waitresses, specifying that they “must appear in short clothes or no engagement.” Below a Gospel Guide column headed, “Where our Local Divines Will Hang Out Tomorrow,” was an account of spirited gun play at the Bon Ton. In Jeff Winney’s California Concert Hall, patrons “bucked the tiger” under the watchful eye of Kitty Crawhurst, popular “lady” gambler.”
—Administration in the State of Colo, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“If you’re anxious for to shine in the high esthetic line as a man
of culture rare,
You must get up all the germs of the transcendental terms, and plant
them everywhere.
You must lie upon the daisies and discourse in novel phrases of your
complicated state of mind,
The meaning doesn’t matter if it’s only idle chatter of a
transcendental kind.”
—Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (1836–1911)