Thursday, November 3, 2016
Disney's "Hercules" tweaked the actual myth of Hercules to fit the screen for children. It may have tweaked it a bit too far. It did include a lot of Hercules' 12 labors but not all. I think it should have at least skimmed over every labor because that would make it much more interesting of a movie for me and I'm assuming others who enjoy mythology. Some parts of the movie were left out with good reason. They made Hades the bad guy in this movie instead of Hera. Children wouldn't be able to understand why someone's own mother would hate her child. Also the adultery of Zeus is way too much for kids to handle. It's not accurate to the myth but I do think it's a good alternative for a kids movie. I don't think this movie was aiming for accuracy, like most Ancient Greek and Roman movies, but rather give a moral. The moral of this story is you can start from bottom and reach the top if you believe and work hard enough for it.
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I agree with the interpretation that the movie was going for more of a moral lesson rather than historical accuracy which would be far too much for children to handle. Also great point that they replaced Hera with Hades in the Disney version.
ReplyDeleteSome features of the original myth are definitely not appropriate for children. I think, though, that children could handle a story about a child that's hated by his/her evil stepmother. That's what many of the Grimms' fairy tales are about, after all. Apart from that, I respectfully disagree with your assessment that "most Ancient Greek and Roman movies" (or rather, modern movies set in ancient Greece and Rome) aim for historical accuracy. They always claim that that's what they do, but in reality, their own story line always comes first for them, regardless of whether that involves turning history on its head.
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