This is a blog for IDS 101-16 (fall 2014) at Willamette University
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
Disney's Hercules Adaptations
When it comes to Disney's Hercules, what did the script writers not change? There are so many changes made that instead of asking what was changed, it's almost more efficient to ask what did they not change, as the list would go rather long for the prior. Of the changes made, there are none that I wish the writers had refrained from making. Perhaps, it is because I am biased toward a film from my childhood and think it perfect in every possible way. I appreciate how the writers were able to adapt the myth of Heracles into a child-friendly, fairytale-ish story in the way they took away the parts only appropriate for an adult audience (i.e. Zeus' infidelity, Hercules murdering his family, etc). Though such changes almost disregard the original myth entirely, I appreciate how they are able to morph the story into a totally new version. I appreciate how the writers took a story based on flaws and short-comings and made it into an unrealistic story where everything is hunky-dory. Reality is full of flaws and short-comings, and "fairytales"--for lack of a better word--such as Disney's Hercules, offer an escape from such things.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
You posted a minute before me? A minute?
ReplyDeleteKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And hunky-dory is hunky-...bory...boring...borying...
People like characters with flaws. Just ask Stan Lee. And the Hercules in the myth had no shortcomes of his own, it was always a woman's fault. In this version they actually gave the main characters real flaws like clumsiness and naivety. So this is actually the flawed Hercules.
As a German, I am used to fairy tales that don't just portray happy, loving families, but lots of dysfunctional ones, whether it's Snow White, Cinderella, or Hansel and Gretel. So I find the fact that Hera turns from a wife that hates the fruit of her adulterous husband's loins into a loving mother a bit weird. I agree, though, that it works well within the movie, and someone who doesn't know the original won't worry about it.
ReplyDelete