Hercules: A True Hero

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Hercules is the son of Greek gods Zeus and Hera and is rended mortal by a potion created by Hades, Zeus' brother, who finds Hercules as a thread on his goal to becoming a ruler of all empire. But as Hercules did not drink the last drop of the potion, he still had his superhuman strength. As the Muses, the narrators, begin to tell the story, they describe Zeus as a musculature giant who brought peace to the world fighting the Titans. When Hercules was born, Zeus is depicted as a loving and caring father who would do anything for his child. The baby Hercules is portrayed as a perfect new-born, with blonde hair locks and radiating with yellow glow around him. Since Hades announced a menace against Hercules, the parents had to give their baby…show more content…
During the training, which was described with an abundance of intertextual referrence to Hollywood, we can see that Hercules' physical appearance has changed. He is muscular, handsome, feeling more confident about himself, and showing more skills as a warrior and a hero. (Davis, 2013, 72) But, he cannot be a true hero unless he actually shows and act of true and selfless heroism. Falling in love with a damsel in distress, Meg (Megara) was considerd for Phil as a distraction to that goal, but for Hercules it was a motivation, as to win her heart by showing how masculine he is. After actually performing the act of heroism, he is praised by the people and seen through different eyes by Meg, who was impressed by this new courageous man, who seemed nothing like the boring, insecure, unrealiable boy who tried to save her from the centaur. The new Hercules is now famous, rich, but he maintaines innocent and kind. But his true manhood is shown when the love of his life is in real danger, when he performed the act of true selflessness and offered his live in return for Meg's. He refuses his immortality so he can be with his true love, which was expressed by the kiss between him and Meg. It is evident that Hercules has now reached the highest level of his masculinity. He is independent, brave, noble and heroic. Zeus tells him: “A true hero isn't…show more content…
Scopophlia is a way of understanding of looking itself as a source of pleasure and also the pleasure of being looked at. Mulvey explained that since the object that is being looked at can only be a woman and the subject of looking is a man, there can only exist male gaze, where woman's body is exposed to fetishism and voyeurism. (1999, 840) But is gaze considered to be strictly male? The description of Disney movie characters, such as Hercules, is the proof that the gaze can also be female. Women characters in the movies are now admiring male bodies and openly express their approval of the musclar and attarctive man, therefore, making him a “victim“ of a female gaze. Freud argued that scopophilia is one of the 'component instincts of sexuality which exists as drives quite independently of the erotogenic zones'. (ibid. 1990,
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