Hercules vs Heracles

  Ah Disney you have finally done it. You have chosen a story from the lands of ancient Greece and... actually did a decent job making a movie out of it. Hercules was an entertaining movie and it really helped show the conflict that Herc was going through. But despite the fact that it was a decent movie with good songs, how true is it to the myth of Heracles.
  First and foremost, it is worth noting that the actual name of the afore mentioned  hero is Heracles. Heracles is the Greek name for Hercules and if Disney wanted to keep it close to the source material, they would have named him Heracles. Hercules (the name we are all familiar with) is the name give to him when the Romans took over and STOLE the Greek mythology. Sorry guys I get a little passionate about topics like this. Anyways, in the myth Heracles is a demigod (If you are familiar with the Percy Jackson series then you know what a demigod is) and is born on Earth. He finds out his true heritage as he gets older and has to do seven labors to prove that he is worthy of entering Olympus. Among these tasks are: slaying the Nemean Lion, Killing the Hydra, Bringing Cerberus to King Eurysthius, and other difficult tasks. In the end Heracles earned the right to enter Olympus and there he stayed, and lived his immortal life.
  So how accurate is the movie? Well lets start at the beginning. First Hercules is born in Olympus and it is implied that he is actually a god. Then Hades abducts the baby and nearly turns him mortal but is foiled when Hercules adopted parents spoil the party. Hercules then grows up and discovers his true heritage like in the myth but instead of being told to do seven labors, he is told to seek out a satyr and show what it means to be a hero. Hey at least in Ancient Greece they were a little more direct, but then again, I guess you need to teach the kids something. Anyways he finds the satyr and Hades meanwhile is making it his personal vendetta to get Hercules killed. After Hercules kills a hydra, slays a Nemean Lion and has a ton of fangirls, he is still not considered a hero. So far Disney has only messed up here in the beginning and also they messed up by giving Hercules a love interest. But that doesn't even come close to Hades deciding to suddenly free the titans, HIS SWORN ENEMY IN THE MYTHS. This just gives Hercules another problem as he has to choose whether to save his girlfriend Meg or the Olympians. In the end he does both and defeats Hades in Tartarus. Then in a twist ending that would anger most people who actually took time to look up the myth, Herc chooses to stay on Earth with the love of his life rather than choose immortality. I will overlook this because it is a pretty sweet ending and it does teach a good lesson of what it means to be a hero.

  The thing that really makes me a little annoyed is that Hades, an Olympian god, is allying himself with the Titans, his sworn enemy. Also if Hades really is freeing all the Titans in that seen, why are there only five and why isn't Cronos with them? These are just nitpicks at this point but from getting the Greek name confused with the Roman name, to having him be born as a god, to even having him reject immortality (again will be overlooked because it was a sweet ending), Disney kind of messed up the myth for me. This doesn't mean it is a bad movie. By no means, I would actually recommend it if you are curious about the legend of Hercules. Just make sure you read the actual story after if you're into historical accuracy like I am.

  Well this was a fun week. Sorry if I seemed to have gotten passionate in some parts, this is a story from my heritage after all, so for me this week it was a double win. I got to analyze a Disney movie, and a movie based on a myth from Ancient Greece. Until next readers.

The Hunchback of the Paris Inquisition

Released in 1996

  Hello Internet and all welcome back to History of Disney, where today we get medieval. Normally movies try to avoid touchy subjects such as religion, but this is 90's Disney we are talking about. In 1996 Disney came out with a movie based off a book written by Victor Hugo, and it is called the Hunchback of Notre Dame. In this movie we see that a Mr. Claude Frollo has a bit of a vendetta against the gypsies and anyone he deems lower than him. The result, a near Spanish Inquisition style death for Esmerelda. But how close is this method of thinking to the renaissance era thinking that dominated France in the High Middle Ages.

  First off it is worth noting that Frollo is the "Minister of Justice" for Paris and he apparently takes this task very seriously as he kills an innocent gypsy for entering Paris illegally, and tries to kill the protagonist. The fact that Frollo's sense of justice is very harsh and hypocritical, we all know he is the bad guy. However I  don't see him as just the bad guy, I also see him as some Christians out there today. In the song "Hellfire," Frollo makes a claim that he is so much purer than pretty much everyone else in Paris, but as w see later, that isn't the case. From our perspective it's ironic. A man of who believed that he was righteous, ends up fall to a metaphorical version of hell. Does this not sound like some Christians we see in certain areas of our lives. We think we are all so holy that we criticize everyone's minute faults and yet we are oblivious to our own problems.

  Now how is this movie linked to the Spanish Inquisition? Simple, it was a matter of repent or die. No third option, no alternatives, you are quite literally forcing repentance onto to them and using fear as a mechanism. This was common throughout Europe as Christianity went through the Crusades and attacking anyone who wasn't a Christian back home. These supposed infidels were then dragged away  by the clergy and forced to "confess" whatever sin they committed and put their faith back in the church. Do you see how flawed this system is? All it takes is one false accusation, by  someone who doesn't like you, and you could be burnt at the stake for a crime you didn't commit. Well this is what happened in the Middle Ages and when you have men like Frollo as the Minister of Justice, anyone who Frollo sees as a threat or deems unworthy for his perfect world, could dragged off and burned alive.

And the inside took 5 years alone.

  If you watched the movie and saw the people begin to rise up and attack Frollo, you may have been confused as to why. Well aside from the fact that these peasants have just lost their homes, they were also about to lose their church. In Medieval Society, the church was such a center for every day life, one could imagine how the people would react when they saw their social link being attacked. Also, it's Notre Dame that's being attacked. If I was in that position I'd defend that building, because the church took over 100 years to build. Notre Dame was started in 1163 and was completed in 1345. So yeah, I 'd defend that building with my last breath.

  So, what have we learned? Well we have learned that Frollo is a hypocritical jerk who makes his own spin on the Spanish Inquisition by hunting Gypsies. We also learned that these people had more than enough reason to go out and overthrow the corrupt minister. Thank you for your valuable time, and I'll see you next week.

Agrabah and Genie of the Lamp

This movie came out in 1992 and came on VHS in '93.
Feel old yet?

  Hello Internet, follow me as I take you to a "far away place, where the caravan camels roam. Where the dunes are immense and the heat is intense." It's Arabia guys, I'm taking you to Arabia today. The reason I'm taking you to Arabia is because this week we are analyzing the possible time frame in which Aladdin takes place. So get your magic carpets and join as I show you a "whole new world" and a whole new POV on Aladdin.

Agrabah is Somewhere in this General area

 So this shouldn't come as a shock to us as we all know that Aladdin takes place in Arabia during the Middle Ages. How can we discern this, well aside from the fact that the first song of the movie is called ARABIAN Nights, I think it's safe to assume that Agrabah is a kingdom on the Arabian peninsula. As for the reasoning behind the Middle Ages, well as I said in my blog on Mulan, Disney has a fascination for the Middle Ages. Also the original story was written during the Abbasid Dynasty in a collection of stories called One Thousand and One Arabian Nights and Disney loves trying to stick to their source material as we have also seen.  Despite a few hiccups here and there with the continuities of the Arab world in the Middle Ages, they were quite right on some things.

"Tonight the part of Aladdin will
be played by a sinister ugly man."
-Genie

 
  Let's start with Jafar, the Sultan's advisor who longs to rule the kingdom (hey another advisor seeking power). AS we see in the movie, Jafar practically controls the Sultan and uses him to accomplish his nefarious deeds. Now is this accurate with the real thing, were advisors really using Sultans as a means to carry out their deeds. Well surpassingly yes. As the threat of assassination from future heirs or rival kings proved too great for the mighty Sultans, they would lock themselves into the lavish living place known as their palace. Now as we see throughout the movie the Sultan never really leaves his palace for anything and trusts his advisor Jafar, who clearly can go anywhere he want and do what he want and the Sultan would never know. So is the Sultan stupid? No he is just way too trusting and really ignorant to the world around him.
 
  Another question I can see being raised by you readers is, if the Arabian peninsula at this time is ruled by the Abbasid dynasty, why does the Sultan of Agrabah have autonomous rule? Is he actually the Sultan of the Abbasid dynasty and Agrabah is just Disney's way of saying Abbasid? Ok firstly, slow down and you will realize that Agrabah is a city, not an empire. Secondly, it is worth noting that because of rivalries among Princes and other kingdoms the Abbasid Dynasty was actually a fractured empire. By 820 a group known as the Samanids were beginning to excursive their independence and although the Abbasid were able to recover modestly, they still suffered greatly and eventually, many different groups of Princes and governors took control of vast territories and fractured the empire internally. It is also worth noting one minor little detail in the song Prince Ali, "He faced the galloping hordes, a hundred bad guys with swords." Now let's pause and think, who would be referred to as the galloping hordes? If you said wait for it... "The Mongols" then you would be correct. At the time of the fall of Baghdad in 1258 the Mongol Empire was wreaking havoc on the world, but the y never took over Arabia. My theory is that Agrabah is a survivor of the Mongol hordes after the battle Ain Jalut (1260) in modern day Israel, which prevented the Mongols from taking over Egypt and North Africa.

"They're finally getting married."
-Genie (Aladdin and the King of Thieves)

  So in the end I can officially determine that Aladdin and Jasmine get married around the 1270s, after  the heroic  victory and placing them 200 years before tangled and Frozen, and 100 years after the events in Mulan. Thank you all for Journeying with me to Agrabah, and join me next week as I choose to tackle The Hunchback of Notre Dame and see how it mirrors the Spanish Inquisition. Until next week friends.