Hercules slays the Hydra to the delight of a cheering crowd. The beast has been pummeled to death by a landslide. This seen is familiar to many animated movie fans, but it is not true to the source material. The original myth has been altered to fit a western audience. Despite our western world being heavily influenced by the Greek and Roman society, we have changed the myths of their would to fit the morals of monogamy, heroism, and good vs evil.
One of the differences between the myth and the movie can be seen right in the beginning. Hercules is the son of Zeus and Hera, and not Zeus and one of his many mortal wives. Hera even cares about him, and so does Zeus. They have a party and everything. This is very different to the myth. In the myth, Hera it the one who sent the snakes down to kill Hercules, not Hades. She absolutely loathes him. She is so upset about her husband’s infidelity, she tries to get a baby killed. The change in the movie can be attributed to the common moral of monogamy. People in the western world see it as strange, and some even see it as wrong, to have more than one lover at the same time. This moral also comes in at the ending. Hercules only has one love interest, whose name is
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It would mostly fit the villain for a movie. A villain is needed in most western movies. It fits in our mostly christian society of the need of a fight between good and evil. It would make sense for Hades to be the villain in the story in Hercules, but, in the actual myth, he is alright with Hercules. In the movie, Hades wants hercules dead. Hercules is in the way of the great evil plan Hades has made. This fits in with the Christian belief of the ruler of the underworld being evil. The western world paint Hades as the ultimate evil of the movie, and they do not question this. The makers of the movie felt like we needed a villain, and they chose Hades. He fit in the box they put all the villains in, so they chose