Hercules (Disney, 1997)


There are two main reasons why all classicists should watch Disney's Hercules. Firstly, because for future generations of classicists, this will, quite possibly, have been their first introduction to anything from the ancient world and secondly, because the music is ace (what can I say, I'm a sucker for a good show tune).

The style of the animation in Hercules is suppoed to evoke the style of Greek vases, though I have to confess it looks a little odd to me. 'Hercules' is actually the Roman name for this hero - the Greek is Herakles. Everyone else's names are Greek though ('Meg' being short for 'Megara').

We hear the deep, serious voice of Charlton Heston, assuring us that this is indeed a story of Long Ago and Far Away by sounding cool and mysterious, then launch into the first number, in which five of the (nine) Muses introduce us to Ancient Greece and the Greek gods.

(I have to confess, I'm always a little uncomfortable with the refrain about how they're singing 'the gospel truth'. It strikes me as a bit disrespectful towards Christianity, and it's not at all appropriate to Greek religion, which was not dogmatic and which always allowed for multiple, contradictory stories about the same hero. But that may just be me being over-sensitive).

We're introduced to Zeus and Hera as Hercules' parents, and as husband and wife. Oddly enough, Disney leaves out the detail that they're also brother and sister. In the World According to Disney, Hercules is the son of Zeus and Hera, both gods, not the result of a liason between Zeus and Alcmene. This leaves them with a bit of a problem - how can Hercules be half-mortal without a mortal parent?

A Disney movie also needs a bad guy, so enter Hades, who is much more interesting to watch than any of the others because he's much funnier. When power over the cosmos was handed out, Zeus got the sky, Poseidon got the sea and Hades got the underworld and, in this version, he is (perhaps unsurprisingly) a bit miffed. He is assisted by Pain and Panic (A variant of Those Two Guys) and the Fates (who assure him that indoor plumbing has a future).

The plot of the movie is basically the invention of the Disney writers, though they draw on elements of Hercules' mythology. However, none of the major plot elements from the film come from ancient myths, and they have more in common with Disney's usual basic plot elements; young guy undergoes rite of passage type experience in which he defeats the bad guy and gets the girl (see also Aladdin). This is presumably because the Disney corporation feels that extra-marital affairs, spousal homicide, man-consuming fire and a whole lot of dung are unsuitable for their tender audiences.

So Disney's Hercules is found by Alcmene and Amphitryon, having survived Pain and Panic's attempt to poison him, which has left him mortal (i.e. not glowing any more - all gods glow, apparently) but supernaturally strong. This would presumably be fine if he wasn't also very clumsy, but his tendency to knock buildings down has made him an outcast, so he asks Mum and Dad why he's 'different' and why he dreams about people cheering his name (other than the obvious vanity). They explain that they found him with a medallion showing 'the symbol of the gods' (a bolt of lightning - not actually 'the symbol of the gods', but it would be associated with Zeus). So off he goes to a temple of Zeus to pray for an answer.

Herc wanders off through the rain and up a hill to a temple that looks a little bit like the Athenian Parthenon, where, magically, he finds the lost statue of Zeus from Olympia, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (see Wikipedia). Maybe this is why its lost - because some fool stole it from the town of Olympia and stuck it on top of a hill...


A very old and fuzzy photo of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, from a school trip from many years ago. That's me in the middle, pretending to be Zeus. Don't ask.


As soon as Herc has finished his prayer, the statue comes to life, starts talking to him, and tells him he's actually its own son. Strangely, Hercules does not assume that he ate a dodgey mushroom, but buys the whole story. I think I'd worry about anyone who cheerfully accepted the information that they're the son of the chief god that quickly, thought of course, it does explain his super strength. I can't quite make out whether the statue stands up or not - if it stood up in its own temple it would break the roof, but maybe the new temple is taller.

Zeus reunites Hercules with Pegasus, the flying horse who was given to him as a child (this is bound to annoy Bellerophon, who more usually rides Pegasus). Zeus tells Hercules that if he becomes a true hero, he can become immortal again and join the other gods on Mount Olympus, and sends him to Philoctetes for training. Its a good thing Herc doesn't go to see the better known Philoctetes, who was a man who left with the Greeks to fight the Trojan War but was left behind on the island of Lemnos because he'd been bitten by a snake and the wound was too smelly.

This is an entirely new Philotetes, but he does behave much more like a character from Greek mythology than the rest - a typical satyr, he's a pervert who spies on naked women, who are then forced to turn into trees to avoid him.

Then there's a Training Montage! By the end of it, Hercules is about four times as big and muscly as he was at the start.

Finally, we meet Meg, one of Disney's best heroines (if we overlook her ridiculous figure). Surprsingly and somewhat disturbingly, Disney have apparently decided that rape is far too big a part of Greek mythology to leave out, though they leave it at attempted rape and they swap Hercules' second wife, Deianeira, for Meg, but this is probably the closest the film gets to actual Greek myth. Meg even explains what happened to Hercules, who doesn't understand, and tells him Philoctetes will explain it to him later. I bet a lot of parents loved that.

Meg, on the other hand, is a thoroughly modern girl and has a fantastic conviction that all men are worthless, making even more cool and snarky than Princess Jasmine. Pegasus is really, really jealous of the attention Hercules gives her, which might lead one to worry about their relationship...

Phil takes Hercules to Thebes, which was a somewhat unfortunate city according to ancient mythology. Meg has soldher soul to Hades and is working with Pain and Panic to do Hercules in, so they lure him into a fight with the Hydra (actually one of the Twelve Labours: see here). I like Hercules' solution here, it's very cool.

Then there's another montage! Leading to my favourite lines:
Hades: 'I've got 24 hours to get rid of this bozo... and you are wearing HIS MERCHANDISE?!'

Hercules: 'I'm a action figure!'

And my third favourite, the song lyric in which two Muses argue over how to pronounce 'vase'.

The montage includes images from the some of the Twelve Labours, like the boar and the lion, all put on vases, which is a nice touch. Still no dung, though. Love seeing Hercules posing for a vase painting wearing the lion skin as well (he is frequently shown wearing this in ancient art, its his main distinguishing feature).

There's some slushy stuff between Meg and Hercules, prompting Meg to sing her song, one of Disney's best romantic songs - 'It's too cliche, I won't say I'm in love' etc.

As the plot starts to work towards its conclusion, we seen Hercules give up his strength for Meg, only to find out he's been betrayed - very tragic, very Greek. (Yes I know, Greek tragedies often had happy endings, it's Blogger's artistic licence, OK?!). Although the loss of strength thing is actually kinda Biblical. Hercules is willing to let others die to save Meg, but the film, oddly enough, doesn't look into the implications of that.

The conclusion involves the Titans capturing the Olympian gods, because all Disney movies have to have a BIG conclusion. Literally. The bad guys always suddenly becomes a giant, or a giant creautre, or calls up a giant creature to do bad things. I have never understood why Disney feels this is so essential to the climx of a movie, but there you go. I guess its the kiddie version of lots of explosives. Hercules also grabs hold of a tornado. Hmm.

I love the depiction of the underworld in this movie by the way. Its suitably gloomy and spooky and huge and empty, just like it should be. Not a nice place. Hercules gets a very cool katabasis (journey down to the underworld) in this movie, much cooler than his usual task of retreiving Cerberus. Here, he goes down to get Meg back (who has been remarkably cleanly crushed to death), more like Orpheus. The effect of the river, striping away his youth and killing him, is pretty creepy too.

All ends well, though, because in the World According to Disney, if you sacrifice your life to save someone else, this is what makes you a true hero, because the test of a hero is the strength of his heart. This would sound pretty weird to an ancient Greek. They told stories about a woman who sacrificed her life for her husband, but, generally speaking, they weren't very into self-sacrifice. As far as mythological heroes were concerned, what made you a true hero was killing a very very large number of people, preferably your enemies. Killing monsters would also do, but was not essential.

This being Disney, however, it works a treat and Hercules gets to be a god and goes all glow-y. However, he decides he'd rather stay mortal and be with Meg - a truly heroic choice, considering he's seen what the underworld is like. How her crushed body is repaired is also a story left untold.

For some mysterious reason, Disney didn't do a sequel covering the rest of the story, in which Hercules is driven mad and murders Meg and all their children. Strange, that.

Hercules while temporarily a god - note glowyness

Comments

  1. love the recap!

    reminds me of why I haven't enjoyed most of the recent Disney movies... I already knew the stories they were based on! I was introduced to the fairy tales via the original classics and only read the original stories later, so I loved those. The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast were also ok by me since I liked the happy ending instead of the sad original alternatives (and they were interesting heroins!).
    But Aladdin was iffy... ditto Tarzan... and Hercules really got me to stop seeing Disney movies! Once upon a time I knew almost all the Greek legends (at least those I could get my hands on) and even varying versions of a few of them. So Disney's version was like blasphemy!!!

    Oh, and the avoid mentions of incest, rape etc thing? Reminds of something they left out of Finding Nemo... clownfish mate for life, the female is easy to ID since she's bigger than the male. Thing is, if the female dies (as in the film) then the male goes through some hormonal changes and becomes a female! Who then accepts a suitable male as her new mate. Imagine Disney trying to explain to kids why Nemo's dad was suddenly his mom? Now that would have made me smile! (otherwise the film was rather accurate from a biologist's point of view)

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  2. I actually rather liked Hercules, although the only way to really enjoy it is to ignore the source material and pretend you've never heard of this Hercules guy. Other than that, I liked the way they turned him into a modern sports hero, with his shoe contract and merchandising.

    I spotted the artwork influenced by vases right away. I rather liked that, though, as you say, it makes some of the characters look a little weird. Disney was experimenting with that sort of thing during this period. The art for Atlantis was inspired by Socialist Realism and Art Deco.

    The "gospel truth" line is a little out of place, but since they turned the muses into a gospel group version of the Greek chorus (stolen from Little Shop of Horrors?), it sort of fits.

    Herc is also going to have to take a number if he wants a ride on Pegasus. IIRC, there was another hero who was also connected with him besides Bellerophon. I want to say Perseus, but I'm not sure. I think it was a pretty late connection, too. Hellenistic, maybe? This was probably a slight nod to Disney's earlier dabbling in the Classical era in Fantasia. Can't remember if there were any specific citations, though.

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  3. Finding Nemo would have been sooo cool if they'd actually done that!

    It doesn't usually bother me that Disney changes things - and I agree that I like the happy ending on The Little Mermaid, though I also read the original first (and, unusually, there actually is an 'original' of that one, since its an authored story, not a myth or 'folktale', so I guess messing with it is even more naughty). I drew the line with Pochohontas though. I used to live near Gravesend, where she's buried, and I decided the Disnyfication of a real person was a step too far!

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  4. Of course, it would help if I learned to spell Pocohontas... ;)

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  5. Pegasus also ran errands for Zeus. He probably got around a bit, I guess a winged horse is a pretty useful thing to have around!

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  6. oooh, I'd forgotten about what they did to Pocahontas!
    Hmmm... I remember hearing the Chinese were upset with Mulan too...

    I don't remember Pegasus in any tale other than with Bellerophon vs Medusa... I used to dream about Pegasus, I liked the idea even more than Unicorns!

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  7. I thought it was Perseus and Medusa. Didn't he cut of her head and out sprang Pegasus and Chrysaor?

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  8. I am so happy I haven't watched it. It would drive me insane.

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  9. I really like the Disney 'Hercules' - obviously it takes huge liberties, but Hercules/Herakles stories have been doing that since antiquity anyway. (We know of a couple of lost Athenian comedies called 'The False Herakles'.) And I think the Pain and Panic double-act is actually classical! - check out Aeschylus, 'Prometheus Bound'.

    If you're a montage aficionado, and if you haven't already, you should check out 'Team America: World Police', with its excellent song, 'Montage!'.

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  10. I *love* the Montage song from Team America! I can't take any training montages seriously any more...

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  11. And where exactly is the Pocahontas 5-Story waterfall on the James River? In Disneyworld.

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  12. This Movie rules!!!! Well, if you actually know greek mythology and you're about 16 then it's not great but still its a movie worth seeing! I sincerly hope they'll make a sequel focusing on Hercules and phil and meg etc with a really good story so that this movie could live on..or even a series would do, kinda like the 1998 hercules animated series!

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  13. I was so excited when they put this on Netflix Instant! I was watching it and I though 'hmmm...I bet Juliette has a thing or two to say about this.' I am not disappointed. :)

    Hercules wasn't my first introduction to Greek myth. I had a sort of graphic novel for kids thing with a lot of the stories in them. They were fairly accurate, which is impressive for something geared to an audience that young.

    I remember knowing when I first saw the movie (on VHS--aw!) that some things were definitely wrong. Hera was not Hercules' mother. Hercules was not a full god. Olympus was not the sort of place where all the gods could show up at a party and behave totally appropriately. I didn't catch the Hercules/Herakles thing until I was in high school. I suppose it could be argued that 'Hercules' is less awkward to pronounce, but the rest of the characters all Greek names, so it was a little odd.

    I love the Gospel choir/Greek chorus muses. They're one of my favorite parts of the movie! 'The Gospel Truth' never struck me as offensive, just as a fun mashup of modern culture and Greek mythology, in the same way the action figure and the shoes were funny.

    Oh and fyi, the whole rape thing went totally over my head when I was a kid.

    "I Won't Say I'm in Love" is one of my favorite Disney songs.

    "all gods glow, apparently" - "To coin a popular Sunnydale phrase, duh."

    The lion skin Hercules was wearing was that of Scar from The Lion King.

    Great article, Juliette!

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    1. Thanks! :) I love 'i can't say I'm in love' too, it's a great song. I love 1990s Disney musicals, was so glad when enchanted captured some of the spirit of them a couple of years ago!

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  14. hercules putlocker is entertaining pop corn flick from start till finish on los movies. Turn your brain off and enjoy it. It has cool action, bigger than life Dwayne Johnson as Hercules and good supporting stuff. I was laughing each time regarding running gag about Ian McShane death - funny stuff. This flick is miles better than bad movie that came out also this year "The Legend of Hercules", skip this one and watch "Hercules" instead - it's not the best summer movie of this year, but it's worth spending 90 min. on evening with some friends and beer.
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