Hercules Film Analysis

Hercules Paper

For my final paper, I chose to do the animation movie Hercules from the year 1997. It is one of the first interactions I had with ancient Greek history, the first thing that introduced me the many mythological aspects and culture of the ancient Greece, so I wanted to delve deeper into it with a knowing eye, or at least a better knowing eye. I discovered that amongst the many jokes that are based on the modern world when it was released, it is one of the most accurate and informational movies to show people who know nothing on the subject to give a somewhat good idea about what it was like.

Firstly, the movie is opened by the muses, even though there are 9 in ancient Greek history, the 5 muses they used are the story tellers

There are so many to choose from, like the part where the Fates who are introduced in the movie as the past, the future and the present, and who were accurately represented as the old hags the myth puts them to be, arguing amongst themselves and the future saying: “indoor plumbing, it’s going to be big”, indicating that back then there was no indoor plumbing but shared places (and sponges), and uniting it with something that we know is so informative and entertaining at the same time. Also there are small nods as Megara saying “in a Palopanasian minute”, a man holding a vase which has a red hand on one side and green walking person on the other side, and using that as a traffic light for people who walk in the street by turning it in his hand, Hercules being a common name just like “every boy was Jason and every girl was Brittany once”, or my personal favorite, “Somebody call XI-I-I!” There are also small nods to the parts that they altered while telling the story, such as the mentor, “Phil” to say: “you got a meeting with King Augeas, he’s got a problem with his stables, I advise you not to wear your new sandals”, which I think is a clever way to include the actual story of Hercules whose 5th labor was actually to clean the stables for King Augeas, the other missions are mentioned in a quick montage of heroism but this was a nice joke to add by

So many thigs to choose from such as action figures, fangirls, mostly the language and the phrases used. I believe most of them are actually to create a contrast with the surrounding ancient elements and environment, and to keep it entertaining, but there are also some serious differences in the story that I think were made firstly because it is a kid’s movie, and secondly because of the ancient social elements which are not acceptable in today’s circumstances. Like, Megara saying that she is a damsel, and she is in distress, but she can handle it is something completely different from the women we learned about it ancient Greece. She is really able, she is articulate, and smart, she is portrayed as equal even better than Hercules in some aspects. Or, the changes they made in the basic story of Hercules, making Zeus and Hera a happy couple, with one adorable baby, quite unlike the hundreds of babies that Zeus has and the angry Hera we know, making Amphitrion and Alkmene finding him and adopting him instead of Zeus fathering him by sleeping with Alkmene, or Hades being the one sending the snakes instead of hera to kill baby Hercules. There are many changes in the actual story of Hercules, probably for making it more children friendly. Also, there are scenes worth mentioning such as, Hercules facing the evil river guardian and not being sure to call him sir and actually checking whether he was male, or