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For years, Disney has been sugarcoating their source material. In Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Captain Phoebus is a womanizing soldier who ultimately betrays Esmeralda before she dies at the hands of Frollo. In the traditional telling of Cinderella, the stepsisters cut off parts of their feet to fit the glass slipper, but are only found out when blood trickles out of the shoe. The real Pocahontas was 13 years old and was never in love with John Smith.
Disney changes these stories to make them palatable for their target audience: families. However, as a result of their changes, Disney presents completely different versions of legends, myths, and even history to its viewers. This leads many people to consider Disney adaptations as true since it is the only version they see. 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. 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.
Hercules: The Hero
Hercules begins in the Disney film as a shy young teenager. 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. 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.
After Hera and Zeus gave birth to him, Hades, the god of the Underworld, kidnapped him and turned him mortal as revenge against Zeus. The only way he can become godly again is to prove himself as a hero. Along the way to this goal, Hercules defeats monsters, battles Hades, and falls in love with a young woman named Megara. 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. He appears to receive your typical “happily ever after.”
In the actual mythology, Hercules was a tragic hero. He was given strength and stamina through being a son of Zeus but endured more hardships than heroics throughout his life. Hercules never fought Hades or tried to save the universe. Rather, he willingly took on challenges such as his Twelve Labors as self-punishment for horrific murders he committed in a madness. These Twelve Labors are reflected in the film, but they are instead presented as traps set up by Hades.
The climax of the film comes when Hercules defeats the Hydra and becomes respected as a hero. While our hero did fight a Hydra in Greek mythology, this was just one task in a long line of others to gain redemption. 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. “The Life of Hercules in Myth & Legend.” Ancient History Encyclopedia, Ancient History Encyclopedia, 23 July 2014. )). The real story of Hercules was anything but a fairytale.
Zeus: The Father
Zeus is the perfect father in the Disney film. His family is his top priority. He cares deeply for his son, and is shown to be loyal and caring toward his wife Hera. 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 also bestows upon Hercules what is probably his greatest blessing, the child’s best friend Pegasus. Zeus is Disney’s idea of a perfect Dad. Even when he can’t be with his family he will protect them to the ends of the Earth and love them with all of his heart.
In Greek mythology, Zeus is the exact opposite – in that, he barely remembers that he is a dad most of the time. Zeus was the father of dozens of illegitimate children, including Hercules. One of the god’s favorite past times was descending to Earth to deceive women into sleeping with him. One such woman was Hercules’ mother, who gave into Zeus’ wishes only because he was disguised as her husband(( “ZEUS – Greek God of the Sky, King of the Gods.” Theoi Greek Mythology, 2017. )). Zeus was a terrible womanizer and this resulted in him being hated by his wife Hera, and his exploits being most of what we know about him in Greek mythology.
Disney did get it right when they had Zeus lookout for Hercules, however. He was the exception to Zeus’ ignorance and was treated as his favorite son. While most of his sons were treated with indifference, Zeus loved the heroes that he bore such as Perseus and Argos (( “ZEUS LOVES 3.” ZEUS MYTHS 4 LOVES – Greek Mythology, 2017. )).
When Hercules set off on his path to Olympus, Zeus watched over him, supporting him in his trials and welcoming him with open arms when he finally ascended to the godly heavens (( “ZEUS – Greek God of the Sky, King of the Gods.” Theoi Greek Mythology, 2017. )). Zeus was overall a good father to his heroes. However, when looking at how he treated the rest of his children, he is nowhere near the paternal iconic Disney tries to make him out to be.
Hera: The Mother
The Hera we see in the Disney film is constantly bathed in a pale pink light, the ultimate symbol of motherhood. She is a kind and tender mother, as well as a loving wife. Losing Hercules as a baby is the ultimate tragedy to her and she would do anything to be reunited with him. She is also shown to be devoted to Zeus, and is the mediator for his arguments with other gods. In sum, she appears at first glance to fulfill her role in Greek mythology, as the goddess of marriage and childbirth.
It’s true that Hercules gets Hera’s motherly traits correct. In Greek mythology, she is known to be the defender of marriage and looks out for married women. What Disney gets wrong is that Hera is also a vengeful and jealous queen. The love that is shown between her and Zeus in the film could not be farther from the truth. Due to Zeus’ infidelity, most of the legends surrounding Hera consist of her taking revenge on his lovers since she cannot hurt him directly after an Olympian rebellion she tried to raise against him went wrong.
For example, she forced Zeus’ lover Leto into hiding to give birth to twins Apollo and Artemis, and imprisoned the mortal Io, even going so far as to poison an entire cities’ water supply (( “Hera.” Hera, Goddess of Marriage and Childbirth, Queen of the Gods – Greek Gods, 2018. )).
The legend of Hercules is actually born out of Hera taking out her anger towards Zeus on his son. Hercules was really the son of mortal woman Alcmene and Zeus, and Hera was the one constantly trying to kill him for revenge, not Hades. The baby was initially abandoned due to Alcemene’s fear of Hera before she even knew of Hercules’ existence. Upon hearing of his birth, Hera went into one of her jealous rages and sent serpents into the child’s cradle. When this didn’t work, Hera put into motion one of her cruelest acts of revenge.
Since she couldn’t damn Hercules directly, she instead tricked him into killing his wife and children. His Twelve Labors were a result of this revenge and were twelve tasks he had to complete to redeem his soul after familicide (( “Heracles.” Heracles, Hero of Exceptional Power and Strength – Greek Gods, 2018. )). The Hera we see in Disney’s Hercules wouldn’t dare to think of hurting a child of Zeus. The Hera that Greek mythology knows would kill him in an instant if she could.
Megara: The Damsel (Not) In Distress
Megara is probably one of Disney’s most popular independent women. From the moment we first meet her, she shrugs off the title “damsel in distress” and seems intent on saving herself. Her agency is what draws viewers toward her character.
It is clear that Megara is in charge of her own story. This is shown in her backstory, in which she sells her mortal soul to Hades in return for her lover’s own soul being saved. She later takes responsibility for her soul again when she defies Hades by saving Hercules during his final battle with a Titan. Megara is her own hero and chooses what happens in her story in Disney’s version of Hercules. Like Hercules, she receives a happy ending when she learns to love again and ends the story with the young hero.
When compared to Greek mythology, on the other hand, Megara is nothing more than a prop. Megara is by far the most inaccurate character in the film. First off, the coupling between Hercules and Megara is not the grand love story we see in the film. Megara is actually a prize given to Hercules by her father, King Creon, as thanks for restoring him to the throne.
After this, all that is known is that Megara lived on as his wife and had anywhere from three to eight children. The biggest take-away from her character in the original myth is that she was a victim of Hera’s revenge and was killed along with her children when our hero was moved into a murderous rampage (( Mark, Joshua J. “Megara (Wife of Hercules).” Ancient History Encyclopedia, Ancient History Encyclopedia, 24 July 2014, www.ancient.eu/Megara_(Wife_of_Hercules)/. )). While it is nice to see that Megara has agency in the film, in giving her this the original mythology is completely erased.
Pain And Panic: The Minor Gods
Pain and Panic are seen in the Disney film as the minions of Hades. They are essentially two bumbling fools who help Hades enact his revenge on Zeus. Unfortunately, they end up getting in the way more than actually helping, and were the ones to start this whole mess.
When Hades sent them to kill off Hercules with a potion to turn him, mortal, they failed to give him every last drop, allowing him the powers that ultimately defeated Hades. To make up for this failure they help Hades the best they can through shapeshifting into people and animals that lead Hercules into different traps. Overall, however, they are only in the film for comedic effect.
In Greek mythology Pain and Panic are in actually no way connected to Hades. Instead, they are the sons of Ares and Aphrodite. They are essentially fear personified and go by the names of Deimos and Phobos. Additionally, you wouldn’t see them ever go near the Underworld, as they existed primarily on the battlefield. Their main role in Greek mythology was to assist their father Ares by driving his chariot into battle and spreading fear to the warriors around them (( “DEIMOS & PHOBOS.” DEIMOS & PHOBOS – Greek Gods of Fear, Panic & Terror (Roman Metus, Pavor), 2017, www.theoi.com/Daimon/Deimos.html. )).
Beyond their role and godly connections, Hercules also got their physical portrayals wrong. The two are supposed to be minor gods, not demon-like creatures. They were typically seen as young men, and when portrayed more in a supernatural sense, Phobos would take on the head of a lion. Most importantly, the two were strong in Greek mythology and would incite chaos and terror, not comedy and stupid mistakes (( “DEIMOS & PHOBOS.” DEIMOS & PHOBOS – Greek Gods of Fear, Panic & Terror (Roman Metus, Pavor), 2017. )). The Disney film treats them as a nuisance, mythology sees them as the nightmares they are.
That’s The Gospel Truth
If we tried to dissect every Disney movie to see what they got wrong in the translation from legend to film, we would be here forever. Besides, while Disney does manipulate a lot of stories to fit their interests, the product is ultimately a fantastical movie that acts as a great introduction to these mythologies.
The problem lies in accepting Disney as fact. It’s Disney’s job to present a story to viewers, and it is a viewer’s responsibility to use this as a jumping-off point in educating themselves about the true mythology that has shaped our collective imaginations.