Mr. Kyle Evans at Canned Geek has an interestingly dark take on Disney’s Hercules (a film which was kind of a mess, but kooky and enjoyable). He finds the film to be quite the parental tragedy:
…Yet for all that Hercules goes through – both physical and mental – I argue that the characters who suffer the most hardship in the entire film are Hercules parents, Zeus and Hera…
…The idea that these parents are separated from their child, yet can look upon him from Mount Olympus as though through a one-way mirror is just heartbreaking. For eighteen years Zeus and Hera can see their son, but they can’t interact with him. Young Hercules doesn’t even know who his real parents are…
…There is no happy ending for Zeus and Hera. They lose their son, watch him grow up for eighteen years, are teased with the prospect of being re-united and finally are rejected by their son. That would have to hurt.
Still, it could have been worse. There’s definitely some weird, unaddressed melancholia in Hercules, e.g. the surprisingly accurate depiction of the Ancient Greek concept of the afterlife.
Click below to read Mr. Evan’s full article, which also includes ruminations on parental figures in other films directed by Musker and Clements.
The Tragedy of Hercules > Catena Ex Situ
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