HERCULES
PLOT
This Disney creation depicts Hercules, son of Zeus. Hades, Zeus' brother, and Hercules’ uncle feels threatened by the new baby's arrival and devises a plan to kill Hercules. In the movie, Hercules escapes Hades’ assassination attempt, but does not survive unharmed - Hercules loses his god powers. Without his powers, Hercules is unable to go home to Olympus. Hercules is adopted by a human family who takes care of Hercules and raises him. While Hercules is not a god anymore, he still possesses superhuman-like strength. Fast forward to his young adulthood and we see Hercules bullied and feared by his community. Hercules seeks to find where he belongs. This search begins Hercules’ journey to get his god powers restored and be reunited with his biological family. Along the way, Hercules meets allies and those who would stand against him in his search for where he belongs.
THE MYTH AND THE MOVIE
HERA AND HERCULES
While Disney’s Hercules was a huge success it was not exactly accurate to the original Hercules myth. One of the biggest differences was that Hera in the myth is not Hercules' mother. Hera is in fact outraged that her husband had a child with another woman. Hera in the myth is the one to try and kill Hercules when he was a baby, not Hades. But for the sake of the film, the movie was made with Hera as Hercules' mom and Hades the villain. Hades is a much better bad guy. He is dark, evil and has personal ties to Hercules, unlike Hera who is the goddess of marriage and love. Having Hera as the mother also makes for a better movie with values of love and family. Hercules is determined to get back to his family and become a god again. Values of love can also be seen with Hercules’ adopted parents. While Hercules wants to get back to his biological parents, he acknowledges all the love his adopted parents have given him. Making Hades the bad guy and Hera the loving mother makes for a more coherent hero story and probably the reason for the deviation from the original myth.