Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
DISNEY-FICATION
The Disney Analyst
Hercules:
An Anti-Grecian Satire
Anyone who has even scratched the surface
of Greek mythology in history classes, through Homer
texts, or otherwise knows that these tales of monsters,
battles, and heroes had a different idea of what it
meant to be a good person, to treat ones family and
foes, and to be a hero. By modern standards of socially
acceptable behavior, viewer discretion is unquestionably advised. In Disneys Hercules, our dramatic
narrator poses the question at the beginning, But
what is the measure of a true hero? Homer has a
thing or two to say about that. A hero ticks off powerful
Gods, a hero sleeps with a multitude of women, and
a hero slays hundreds of his mothers suitors. So what
business does Disney have with the Greek Gods?
Well, they have the business they always have
had: turn the culture on its head and make it appropriate for all ages! Dont get me wrong, this was a clever
and successful move. But far from just bleeping out the
bad stuff, Disney simply gives the Greek Gods the moral
standards of the late 20th century. Breaking the fourth
wall right from the get go, the charming plus-sized
muse yells about the narrator, Will you listen to him!
Hes making sound like some Greek tragedy! Figuratively following up with, Well, Im sure we can fix that
with a SONG! And they do.
Doing exactly what the real Hercules and
other mythological Greek figures do literally gets this
animated Hercules nowhere. He performs great deeds,
battles monsters, receives fame,
far from just
glory, and prestige, and he ends up
bleeping out
empty handed. However, when he
sacrifices himself to save the love of the bad stuff,
his life, Megara, he becomes a divine
Disney simGod, learning the sweet 20th cenply gives the
tury theme of the movie said by his
Greek Gods
father, For a true hero his heart. I
the moral
have the feeling Homer or any Greek
writer ever intended this form of love standards of
to be the theme of their stories. Just the late 20th
remember Homer: People always do
century.
crazy things when theyre in love.
Perhaps one of Disney Corporations greatest criticisms involves interpretation from an original
source into a Disney film. No step-sisters are harmed in
the making of Disneys Cinderella, Oliver and Company
takes a 80s animal twist on Dickens classic, Oliver Twist,
and The Lion King is often referred to as Hamlet with
Lions. What many movie watchers dont know is that
even Disneys The Fox and the Hound was bred from
book by Daniel Mannix that has the same title. But
what does it mean to Disney-fy an original source? Is it
a simple matter of making a story suitable for all ages,
composing a catchy soundtrack, and adding a happy
ending? Lets look at Fox and the Hound.
In the Disney classic, the only death in the
movie is at the beginning and unseen by audiences,
the greatest tragedy is when Widow Tweed releases
Todd into the wild, and the greatest tension is between
a friendship of two unlikely creatures and the natural
order of things. Other than some terrifying images of
a simply wicked bear, the violence and terror in this
movie is kept at a pretty expected minimum.
This is a stark contrast to the original Mannix novel. Far
from being a romanticized fairy tale, this book reads as
Cinderella: