![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() During their fight, an “enormous crab” came to help the Hydra, and pinched Heracles’ foot, which led him to call Iolaos (yes, that is the person he gave his wife Megara to! They must have been pretty good pals, huh?). In the original myth, the Hydra had “nine heads, eight of them mortal, and the one in the middle immortal,” and two shiny new ones grew back when a mortal head was severed, or “smashed” because Heracles actually fought this beast with a club, not a sword. While this “heroic” fight did not take place in a quasi-arena in front of a crowd of people (it actually took place in a swap), nor was it commissioned by Hades, it is not entirely inaccurate (but it is still very inaccurate). For the most part, Disney swept over them as they were not the focus of the film (the focus of the film is about Hercules becoming immortal, the only way he can do that is by becoming a “true hero.” But we will talk more about that later!), but Disney does depict one of his labors fairly well (I know!). Now, it’s almost impossible to talk about the big H without mentioning (at least some of) his labors. While it’s not exact, Disney almost winks at the educated viewer: in reality, that old lover was in fact Heracles, and she got to Hades in a slightly different way–but no six-year-old needs to know that. But, believe it or not, Disney subtly comments on this: in their version, Meg is a slave to Hades because she gave up her freedom in order to save her lover but when she did this and went to the underworld, her lover apparently ran off with some other girl. In the original story, Megara is in fact Heracles’ wife, but things don’t turn out so well for her in a fit of rage–inflicted by Hera–Heracles killed their two sons and eventually gave Megara to Iolaos so that he could marry Diandria instead (in a later version, he also killed Megara alongside their children) (41, 227). While I could comment on how her body is grossly un-proportioned, I will refrain myself and will not (oops). While Disney’s “Hercules” may be a little more than a little inaccurate in a few areas (say, the name of the film, perhaps?), I guess it is necessary to cut them some slack–after all, it is a movie for children. Heracles (his Greek name) was said to have “surpassed everyone in size and strength” and “it was obvious from his appearance that he was the son on Zeus ” (Tzarkoma, Smith, Palaima, and Brunet, 32). Well, Disney got one thing right: they made “Herc” one massive dude. ![]()
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