The Disney-fication of History

Well, when I say history, I say it loosely- but Disney is known for it's animated features of famous figureheads of legends! Hercules, Robin Hood, King Arthur, Mulan, Pocahontas- the list goes on. Of course, in these retellings they take a certain 'artistic licensing' which leaves audiences believing they know the legend, without really having the details down correctly.

Hercules-

Oh yes, Hercules! Son of Zeus and- Hera? The Disney feature would have you believe that Hercules was born into a loving married mother and father relationship to help towards completing the family unit. The only reason he's on Earth and mortal is because Hades, the keeper of the underworld and therefore evil evil man, gave him a poison to make him mortal- leaving him on Earth. Well, that all sounds very diabolical. The more traditional tellings of Hercules are of his being conceived by Zeus and a mortal woman, Alcmene, whilst Zeus was disguised as another man (Zeus is known for his various 'disguises' whilst impregnating poor unsuspecting mortal women). Yes, I can see how they're similar...

Robin Hood!

Another favourite- in which, how charming, they're all different animals. We'll ignore the fact that Marian is a cousin to King Richard and Prince John, after all it might be rather difficult to explain the way in which a fox could be related to a lion. I suppose we can also foget about the fact that half of them seem to have American accents- I'll let this one go considering the very similar problem in Prince of Thieves. You know, come to think of it, I fail to see the logic in putting every member of the town in jail could ever work to PJ's favour- who would he tax?

The Sword in the Stone.

Ah, the tale of Excalibur- 'tis a thrilling tale full of talking owls and witches that turn into dragons at the drop of a hat. I must've missed the reading about Arthur being turned into a various animals... similarly, I'm doubtful that Mulan, whom practically every town in China wants to claim as their own, was aided by anthropomorphic critters...



Pocahontas was a real person, as was John Smith- Jamestown was a very real place, being the 'first successful English settlement on the mainland of North America.' Apart from the (once again anthropomorphic) animals once more, its Disney, its for kids- i know i should let it go- the biggest complaint I have in Pocahontas is the immediate language barrier being broken and all in the space of one song- I wish I could do that! And you know, if they'd left the story at the first film, I wouldn't have my next problem... the sequel- its all off! She married John Rolfe, yes- and she thought John Smith was dead, but not because he was off doing hero stuff, but rather the English told them all he was dead. Also, the film makes no mention of the return journey to America, in which unfortunately, Pocahontas passed away.


As I write this, I am very aware of the quality of my writing declining with every passing sentence, and so I take this opportunity to opt out of writing any more on the matter (at least for tonight). Please bear in mind, that even though I've had a bit of a go at these films, that (with the exception of the sequel) I love all of the movies I have mentioned in this piece. Feel free to leave any comments you have on the subject- any (and all!) corrections you may have for anything here said.


Written badly by Naomi Wong