He also bestows upon Hercules what is probably his greatest blessing, the child’s best friend Pegasus. Although he was separated from him when Hercules was turned mortal, he tries to help his son when he can by guiding him to his mentor Phil and showing him the way to be a hero.

He cares deeply for his son, and is shown to be loyal and caring toward his wife Hera. Zeus is the perfect father in the Disney film. The real story of Hercules was anything but a fairytale. “The Life of Hercules in Myth & Legend.” Ancient History Encyclopedia, Ancient History Encyclopedia, 23 July 2014. After the Twelve Labors, he continued in a pattern of success and punishment until he was ultimately killed by his second wife Deianira (( Mark, Joshua J. While our hero did fight a Hydra in Greek mythology, this was just one task in a long line of others to gain redemption. The climax of the film comes when Hercules defeats the Hydra and becomes respected as a hero. He appears to receive your typical “happily ever after.”Ĭredit: Labours of Hercules, 3rd Century AD By the end of the movie, our hero has grown fond of his life on Earth and denies an offer to become a god in return for living out the rest of his days with Megara. Along the way to this goal, Hercules defeats monsters, battles Hades, and falls in love with a young woman named Megara. The only way he can become godly again is to prove himself as a hero. The plot of Hercules hinges on his journey as he tries to become the perfect hero so that he can rejoin his godly parents on Mount Olympus.Īfter Hera and Zeus gave birth to him, Hades, the god of the Underworld, kidnapped him and turned him mortal as revenge against Zeus. He is unsure of his own strength, but through the help of his mentor Philoctetes, or Phil for short, he becomes confident and grows into the hero we know and love today. Hercules begins in the Disney film as a shy young teenager. Through Disney’s established pattern of making brutal stories family-friendly, two different legends of Hercules emerge when comparing Disney’s movie adaptation and the original mythology. One of the most prominent examples of this is Disney’s Hercules, in which a bloody Greek myth is turned into a musical and colorful fairytale. This leads many people to consider Disney adaptations as true since it is the only version they see.

However, as a result of their changes, Disney presents completely different versions of legends, myths, and even history to its viewers. Credit: Walt Disney Pictures, Hercules, 1997ĭisney changes these stories to make them palatable for their target audience: families.

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