A socialist cartoon?
I think that I'm being over-analytical, but I wondered whether the cartoon could be considered 'socialist'. For example:
i) The first song goes 'no one greater than all'. Then Arthur sings of how 'they'll each divide in equal shares our countryside'.
ii) Then at the round table, Arthur tells Ruber that they will divide land 'according to each person's need'.
iii) At the end of the movie, Arthur tells the congregation how the strength of a kingdom lies not in the king, but in the people. (although this argument by itself doesn't mean that Camelot is socialist)
iv) When we see Kayley singing in the first part of the movie, we don't see any peasants cultivating the land or tending to the livestock - it seems that only she and her mother are the ones running the farm. This seems slightly odd, considering that Sir Lionel was a knight, and therefore would ostensibly have fiefs. The only servants we see are in the house, and even then, they appear to be only domestic servants.
v) Ruber could be portrayed as the greedy, selfish capitalist - at the round table, he replies to Arthur's distribution of land: 'Then I need more than anyone..." His obsession with material wealth is shown in his own song. His accent (British) clearly makes him a foreigner - all the other characters in the film, save Devon, have American accents.
I know that it is over-analytical and WB probably never had any intention of portraying the kingdom as socialist - it is just a story on morals and justice, but I would like to hear some of your views.