Essay about Heracles: From the Myth to a Disney Movie

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 is thought to be one of the world’s greatest hero. There are children’s movies about him, but they all have a happy ending. Hercules, originally born “Heracles” lived a short cruel, yet heroic life. “The 12 Herculean tasks he performed over a period of 12 years have been immortalized in everything from classical poetry to Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion.” (French 1). Hercules, in Greek mythology, was a hero known for his strength and courage and for his legendary adventures. Hercules is the Roman name for the Greek hero Heracles. He was the son of the god Zeus and a human mother Alcmene, wife of the Theban general Amphitryon. Hera, Zeus' jealous wife, was determined to kill Hercules, and after Hercules was born, she

There has been many discussions on the differences between Hercules and Heraclês. Disney likes to change stories to make them more child friendly. This creates differences between the original stories and the Disney take on the tales. In the case of the movie of Hercules and the story of Heraclês the main differences, that I will be focusing on is family value, true love, and comic relief.

Hades is the Greek God and ruler of the Underworld. He is often associated with wealth and agriculture. He is also the son of Cronus and Rhea and the third most powerful Greek god. Unlike his two brothers, his realm cannot be seen by anyone living. The Greeks believe that his name, Hades, means “The Unseen One.” He is the only god that does not live on Mount Olympus; he has his own glittering palace made of pure gold and gems in the Underworld. The Greeks believe that when mortals

Authors, poets, and film directors have all used ancient stories to create new pieces of literature and film works for modern times. The animated Disney film Hercules (1997) and the myth of Hercules share the background of audience-driven narratives; however, Disney's aspiration to fill the theaters and earn money results in an unblemished narrative, while the original myth portrays an imperfect model to a flawed humanity.

There are many cultures around the world that value different character qualities. Some of these are expressed through the stories that are passed down from generation to generation. A very popular story many cultures have their own spin on is Hercules. This story originated from Ancient Greece, but many people in American society are more familiar with the Disney version than the original. The basic storylines of these versions are the same, but some of the intricate details that help define the cultures these stories come from, vary. These changes help highlight the differences between American society today and Ancient Greek society in the time this story was written. The most significant changes in these two stories is the childhood of

Hercules was a character portrayed in classic Roman Mythology. He was known to be the son of Zeus, and went on many great adventures throughout the lands; saving lives, defeating villains, and slaying treacherous monsters. Throughout his many trials, he gained fame, fortune, and a place amongst the Gods of Olympia. By looking at the mythological stories of Hercules, we can see that many of Joseph Campbell’s “Stages of the Hero’s Journey” can be applied to the stories about him.

One of the greatest Greek mythological stories portrayed in a movie would be Hercules. Hercules is a well-known hero; he displays a supernatural individual who has to overcome the villain and his bad monsters. In “Creating the Myth” by Linda Seger, she argues that the hero myth as many obstacles (the death experience, the road back, the reborn) that he or she need to overcome to be transformed into a hero. However, these obstacles play a very important role in the hero’s stage of initiation. The movie “Hercules” by Walt Disney and the creator Alan Menken, we encounter the characters of the movie which are Hercules of course, Philoctetes the trainer, Pegasus the horse, loyal companion, Megera the love of Hercules and Hades the

This paper is to show that Heracles is the prime example of a hero’s journey through his actions and the struggles that he faced during his life until he was about to die but instead of death, his father, Zeus, saved him and he conquered the mortal realm, to become a god.

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.

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.

Hades was one of the first heroes of Greek myths but after that, everything went downhill for him. Hades is a malevolent god because he kidnapped Zeus’ daughter and had a Kerberos to keep the souls in the Underworld.

Lion - Nemean Lion, birds - Stymphalian Birds, boar - Erymanthian Boar, Medusa, Cerberus - Capturing Cerberus (the guardian of the underworld), and last but not least the Amazons girdle which is referring to the labor where he has to steal it from them and they thought he was trying to kill their queen. A similarity that is obviously the same is that he was a great hero… in fact the greatest hero in Greek history. In the myth Hera sends two snakes to kidnap Hercules from his cradle and kill him and in the movie Pain and Panic are sent from Hades to kidnap Hercules, but instead of killing him they were ordered to give him a potion that would make him mortal. Pain and Panic occur in the movie a lot… again, family friendly if the movie were to be entirely accurate it wouldn’t have the humor or love in it. Pain and panic (to me) are the creatures on the evil side that lighten up the intensity and scariness of Hades so the kids don’t get scared, but the thing is… is that there was no jokester or dumb character in the myth not even a motive for being “kid friendly” because someone would do anything to get what they want in this myth

     The inhabitants of different cities had their fears put to rest when Heracles came to town. Many of the twelve tasks that Heracles endured involved killing things that had the people living in fear. The people of the cities as well as continued generations following considered Heracles to the greatest of heroes. The Disney version, Hercules, the Latin name for Heracles, was a completely different version. Its portrayal of the story was inaccurate in a lot of ways. It painted the picture as Hercules’ enemy being Hades. It depicted Hercules through the eyes of what society considers a hero now.

Zeus fell in love with a Greek woman named Alcmene, and impregnated her. When the wife of Zeus, Hera, found out she tried to prevent the birth of the child. Hera could not stop the birth, and the child was named Hercules, which means “glorious gift to Hera” in Greek. Hercules was a demi-god because of one human parent and one god parent. Hera tried to kill the baby by placing snakes in his crib, butt the child strangled the snakes before they could kill him. Hera wanted to get revenge on Zeus by making Hercules life miserable.