![]() Disney took the creative license to totally butcher the character of Hades, functionally turning him into a Christian devil depiction. Sure, he was a bit stern and offered very little pity, but he was definitely not petty or demanding as he is presented in the Hercules film. Hades is generally a pretty chill guy in mythology. Hades the God of the dead is also not anything like the Christian devil. Thus, all you have is what you did on earth. Whether you were a good person or a bad person, everyone hangs out in the kind of gray and boring underworld together. Greek mythology focuses heavily on the idea of creating a glorious story on earth to gain immortality through your fame, since in the end everyone is going to the same underworld. ![]() ![]() Folks are just hanging out talking about their lives on earth. It’s much more akin to a college dorm, but forever. In Greek mythology the underworld was not an evil place where everyone suffers. If only Disney had done a single bit of research, they would have know this. Zeus is nothing like God, Hercules is nothing like Jesus, and Greek morality is nothing like Christian morality. Hades is nothing like the Christian devil, and the Greek underworld is nothing like Christian hell. Hades and the Greek underworld are a totally different story from Christian hell. Hades, Greek Mythology, and Disney’s devil The Devil resents God in this narrative, he wants to rule the world and heavens, not Hell. Ideally people don’t want to be in Hell, not even the Devil. Hell in Christian mythos is a place where people come to be judged, a dark tortuous existence meant to punish evil people for being evil. He is also the judge, in that immortality was the punishment for his client who is now trapped in jail indefinitely, doomed to boredom for all of eternity.Īnother key aspect of Devil depictions is his place of residence: Hell. The devil is sneaky, in that he plays upon his clients fear of death and tricks his victim into desiring immortality without understanding the consequences. In the Twilight Zone Episode Escape Clause, Thomas Gomez plays the devil, trading immortality for the soul of his victim. The devil’s dual role as both an unjust sneak and also the arbiter of punishment. A mortal person makes a deal with the devil to get something in the short term that they want and they will eventually pay the price, often their soul.Īlthough media representations of the devil change with culture, one thing always remains the same. ![]() One of the most famous tropes regarding the devil is the Faustian contract. This article will not cover all of these factors, instead I will focus on just two aspects of the devil: Devil depictions are unified by a few factors in the media. When I was in graduate school I studied media representation of the devil with the Chair of my department. Note, this is not a comprehensive analysis of things Disney got wrong, but I do want to point out some of the broad themes that Disney totally missed the mark on. More broadly, this film is a Christian story driven by Christian values, not an ancient Greek story. Hades is clearly supposed to be the Christian devil, and that is just not who Hades is in Greek Mythology. Lets put aside the terrible animation quality, which was noticeably bad. I knew that it was an odd movie, but upon reexamination I can say: This is a very weird movie.
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