![]() ![]() In between all of this, we get the film’s fittingly inspirational number ‘Go the Distance’, which is performed with a top-notch majestic, theatrical bellow from Roger Bart, and its reprise is very nice too. These songs include ‘Zero to Hero’ which shows off the great chemistry of the singers, ‘I Won’t Say (I’m In Love)’ which sees Susan Egan (as Megara) take the lead, beautifully weeping her heart out as she chooses not to give in to the love she has for Hercules, and ‘A Star Is Born’, which is full of incredible, vintage, passionate soul singing, including really powerful harmonies, and an overall sense of optimistic that is undeniably enjoyable. Not that I feel it was even necessary to start belting out standard-sounding Disney ballads, but oh well, it’s a nice soundtrack. While I am a fan of the gospel songs, they don’t get undeniably hot until later on in the film, in part when the soul stylistic is fused with more of a modern pop vibe. These singers frequent the soundtrack, appearing as ‘the muses’ in the film, singing a number of tunes entitled ‘The Gospel Truth’ (DO YOU GET IT?). ‘Hercules’ is the prime example of a Disney film’s soundtrack having a constant overall theme, in this case it’s gospel/soul, as singers Lilias White, Vaneese Thomas, LaChanze, Roz Ryan and Cheryl Freeman (damn that’s a lot of names) grace us with their wickedly beautiful throwback voices, sometimes modernised and jokey, sometimes sounding like they’re straight outta Tamla. Another thing that the film boasts is a pretty unique soundtrack, sure, one that takes on the tropes that had already been set by the company’s venture into musical theatre-esque music with the likes of ‘The Little Mermaid’ and ‘Beauty and the Beast’, and Alan Menken’s score isn’t anything TOO out of the ordinary, but there’s a little more going on this time around. The film is many things, and that includes a pretty decent dictionary definition of Disney’s renaissance era, a period in animated films that I’ve tackled a good few times on this blog. ![]() 1997’s ‘Hercules’ is no exception, giving us a wacky, yet funny and very inspiring look at…well…Hercules, mythology’s favourite son. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2002.Disney sure do love rebranding heroes of old, mythical or otherwise. “Advertising and the Construction of White Masculinity From Eminem to Clinique for Men.” Gender, Race, and Class in Media. You will receive endless praise from your town for doing so, and, most importantly, you will always, always get the weak, helpless, dependent girl. ![]() So what is being conveyed to young, impressionable children drinking in every image and every song of films like Hercules? Clearly that the only way to gain possession of true heroism/masculinity is to throw knives, bulk up, and flash those muscles whenever you get the chance. The entire plot of Hercules is surrounded around the idea of using masculinity (violence and power) to protect the helpless, flawed female. And Hercules is not just using weapons, he is using weapons and violence in order to protect a helpless stunt damsel. As Hercules is working to become a hero, he is seen throwing knives and slaying fake monsters, continuing such behavior when he reaches optimum masculinity. Perhaps even more obvious is the blatant violence depicted in both Zero to Hero and One Last Hope. But what (according to Hercules) constitutes heroism, or masculinity? Aside from his obvious physical changes, Hercules receives not only the respect and admiration of his townspeople, but more noticeably, absolute lust from his female fans, as the Muses sing ‘When he smiled the girls went wild’ (Zero to Hero). I think that looking further than surface deep offers evidence that in this particular film, the word hero can be substituted for masculinity. But it is not until Hercules gains exponential muscles mass and exchanges his clumsiness for violence that he truly achieves a heroic status. In One Last Hope, Hercules is seen as a skinny, clumsy teenager who wants to be a hero. One of the ways this is accomplished, in the image system, is to equate masculinity with violence, power, and control (and femininity with passivity)” (Katz 3-4).ĭisney’s Hercules does just what Katz describes. This requires constantly reasserting what is masculine and what is feminine. According to Jackson Katz, this conditioning begins by “Stressing gender difference…defining masculinity in opposition to femininity. Simultaneously, they begin the years of gender conditioning that young boys and girls will eventually receive. But these movies offer more than just an hour and fifteen minutes of occupation for youngsters. More often than not, I was placed in front of one of Disney’s tales of charming male heroes and damsel-like princesses. Starting at a very young age, many of us were plopped down in front of the television to watch a world of fantasy and make-believe play out before our eyes. ![]()
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