Comparing Disney's Hercules And The Greek Myth

More clearly than the Bible, Greek/Roman mythology helps outline the life cycle that almost always applies to the traditional archetypal hero. With basic knowledge of the Bible we can determine right from wrong and its influence in real life when reading mythology. As the reader we experience this when seeing the actions the hero takes, as explained by Frye when he states, "... the central myth of the hero whose mysterious birth, triumph and marriage, death and betrayal and eventual rebirth..." (Frye, 67), explaining the archetypical story outline of the tragic hero. As an example of the archetype, the story of Hercules starts with the mysterious birth of a being that is half god and half man, with his father famously being Zeus. Following Hercules' diverse birth we also know he triumphed over the leader of the underworld named Hades, while also

Hercules have you met him? This movie was produced by Ron Clements and John Musker. The movie is about Hercules who is the son of Zeus who becomes a hero. After training with Phil he goes off with Pegasus his flying companion to become a hero. During Hercules journey he goes through 3 parts of a hero's journey.

One of the biggest differences between “Hercules” and Heraclês is the fact that in the movie, “Hercules”, Zeus has only one son, which is Hercules. This difference falls underneath the family values portion. Zeus, the ruler of Olympus, has multiple children in the myths. While in the movie he has the one, Hercules. Zeus focuses only on Hera, he is deeply infatuated with her. On the other hand Zeus in the myths is a “player”, lots of women got his love. The Disney version applies more to modern day life than the myths do. In today’s society a man is supposed to have one wife and have kids with her only. However in the myths, Zeus, had multiple wives and a great deal children. Disney is working to connect with the audience by having it look like a typical family.

Greek mythology has been passed on and retold over generations. Literature and movies have been created to entertain as well as provide specific themes based off of myths. There are many heroes that mythology talks about and each one has lived an epic life, but there is one famous hero that has been immortalized throughout history. Hercules is the son of Zeus and a mortal named Alcmene. Zeus impregnated her while her husband was away and this is where his story began. Zeus' wife, Hera, found out about the affair and was outrageous about his careless actions. She tried to prevent Hercules' birth; however, when that didn't work she sent snakes to kill the baby. Hercules was too mighty for the snakes and strangled them before they could even hurt him. As stated in this source, "Hera remained angry. How could she get even? Hera knew that she would lose in a fight, and that she wasn't powerful enough to prevent Zeus from having his way. Hera decided to pay Zeus back for his infidelity by making the rest of Hercules' life as miserable as she could" (Crane WEB). Hercules grew up to be a great young warrior and was all around. With this god-like strength, also came an uncontrollable temper that made him react at times without thinking, but later made him realize the wrongdoings of his violence. He later then married a woman named Megara and had two beautiful children. But one day, Hera instilled a fit of rage into Hercules and made him slaughter his family with his very own hands. He was shocked by his actions and asked Apollo for assistance since he was drowning in guilt. Apollo later then gave him specific tasks to help Hercules redeem himself for the bloodshed he caused. The hero was sent to Eurystheus, and under his strict hand, he was to accomplish twelve labors over the next twelve years.

When Hercules went to Eurystheus, the king eagerly started to think of twelve labors for Hercules. What Hercules didn’t know was that Hera was influencing the king to think of tasks that seemed to be impossible. However, no matter what task Hercules had to complete, he always came back with the task completed. After twelve years and twelve labors, he was finally released. Hercules’ went on to live a life full of adventures, and he even remarried to a woman named Deineira. Deineira became very jealous when Hercules took King Eurystheus’ daughter Lole prisoner for vengeance. She feared Hercules was being unfaithful to her, and wanted to make sure she was the only woman he loved. She took the blood of a centaur (that she was tricked into thinking would make Hercules love her forever) and smeared it on his robe, but it turned out to be poison. Hercules began to die when he put the robe on, but it ended up only killing the mortal part of him. Hera decided to end her

The Disney Hercules is born of the Olympian gods, Zeus and Hera, after which he is kidnapped by Hades, the ruler of the underworld, who wishes to overthrow Zeus and usurp this throne. However, he needs Hercules out of the way first. Although Hades' plan to kill Hercules in infancy fails, Hercules is turned into a mortal on earth, where he is left feeling like an outcast. After Hercules leaves his (unbeknownst to him) adoptive parents to find his destiny, he discovers his true origins and strives to return to Olympus by becoming a true hero. But to do this, he must first learn what it means to be a "true hero" while overcoming the obstacles that Hades throws his way. Although this plot is entertaining to younger audiences, it deviates from the original myth, according to which Heracles was the son of Zeus and a mortal woman (a demi-god). In addition, neither was Heracles kidnapped by Hades, nor did Hades want to overthrow Zeus; he submitted to Zeus and sought pleasure in ruling the Underworld. Accordingly, Disney chose to represent Hades as the antagonist in this movie due to his role as leading the Underworld. Although the Underworld was not correlated to Hell in any way, the stereotypical idea of the Underworld being a symbol of evil was still present. Therefore, Disney's choice of casting Hades as the evil character in this movie is justified as a Hercules has to defeat some kind of evil before emerging as a

Greek hero Heracles. Hercules's mother was Alcmena or Alcmene, the wife of King Amphitryon of Troezen. His father was none other than Zeus, the king of the gods, who disguised himself as Amphitryon and visited Alcmena on a night that lasted as long as three ordinary nights. Hera, Zeus' jealous wife, was determined

Then, he is suddenly forced into an unknown environment; a huge difference between his regular circumstances and his new one is established (Vogler). Hercules, who is the hero of the film Hercules, is presented as the baby of loving parents and Greek gods Zeus and Hera, who reside on Mount Olympus. Zeus creates a winged horse named Pegasus, since he wants Hercules to have a friend. Everything in their life is perfect. However, baby Hercules is unexpectedly stolen in the middle of the night by Pain and Panic, the devious minions of the wicked Hades (Hercules). They almost take Hercules’ powers after they give him a mystical potion. A loving couple, Amphytryon and Alcmene, discover Hercules all alone and decides to adopt him. Hercules grows to be a young man, but the citizens of his town despise him and call him a freak because of his strange power. Hercules’ ordinary world is composed of all these events.

Also, there is another reason why Hercules has changed. Hercules has changed because in the beginning Hercules said "I have no

Take a minute to look at the world around you. Notice how different people are. Notice how lucky some people are. Notice how unlucky some people are. Notice the amount of people who are so famous or popular. Then notice those who are nobodies. Disney’s Hercules is a film about a young hero, Hercules, who was born a God, but was forcefully taken of everything but his strength. He was taken of this by Hades, the God of the underworld, who is out to destroy the other Gods of the world and destroy Olympus forever. Throughout the movie Hades is faced with the fact that Hercules may return to stop him from pursuing his evil plan. Hades goal is then to defeat Hercules and finish his scheme . In the film Hercules, the writers use the evil genius to reveal, that humanity will use many resources in order to make themselves seem better than others because they fear that since they may be less fortunate than them, they may be overlooked by the society around them.

Hercules, or known in Latin as Heracles, was the greatest of the Greek heroes, a paragon of masculinity. In art, Hercules was portrayed as a powerful, muscular man wearing lion's skin and armed with a huge club. He was also described as being a macho man buffoon, who was very impulsive. Hercules’ home and birthing place is in Thebes, Greece. Thebes is a city in central Greece. It plays as an important setting in many Greek myths, such as the stories of Cadmus, Oedipus, Dionysus and many other important roles in Greek Mythology. The demigod, Hercules has an interesting origin, he is most famous for his 12 labors, and leaves a legacy in words and expressions.

Family values is a very large difference between Hercules and “Heraclês”. In the very beginning of the movie, it is shown that Hera was Zeus’ only wife and the father of Hercules. However, in the myth, Zeus has many wives, and his child Heraclês

Heracles Myth and Hercules Movie: To What Extent ? The myth and movie of Hercales talk about his story. The three similarities that stood out to me were, he was the son of Zeus, fought the Hydra, and Greece’s greatest hero.

fell victim to Hera's hatred towards him. What Hera did was send a fit of

The twelve labours of Hercules is a myth because it is a story passed down all the way to today’s generation, making it be a traditional tale. Hercules is originally a Roman god; however, it is similar to the Greek’s version of Heracles. This myth is originally from the Latin language--which is typically used by the Romans. The twelve labours of Hercules was originally written by Peisanders and was then lost in 600 B.C. Hercules was born a demigod with supernatural powers that established the patterns of life as we know it. According to Synnøve Des Bouvrie and Bascom’s definition, the 12 labours of Hercules is a myth because it is traditional, remote, and true.