Hercules poster, Disney Plus
Author: Grace LaBruno
Introduction
1989 marked the end of the company’s series of films that ranged from box office failures to only mild successes. The era in which Disney produced some of its most iconic movies, such as Beauty and the Beast and the Little Mermaid, is known as the Disney Renaissance. This period of animated film not only gave the Disney Company large amounts of financial success after a period of consecutive box office flops but also brought the company back into cultural relevance. Disney returned to creating animated films based on fairy tales and mythology while integrating impactful musical numbers throughout the story. Disney’s Hercules was the eighth movie released during the Disney Renaissance in June 1997. The animated musical is loosely based on the Greek myth of Heracles, Hercules being his Roman counterpart, and is set vaguely in Ancient Greece. The film appropriates Ancient Greek architecture as the background for a story about heroism and achieving one’s goals.
Classical Orders
In one of the film's first scenes, the audience is introduced to Mount Olympus, the pantheon of Greek gods, and baby Hercules. Hera and Zeus are seen standing on a raised platform surrounded by pure white columns, holding their newborn son. One of the main ways this movie architecturally communicates it is set in Ancient Greece is by using pure white doric and ionic columns in almost every setting, like those featured on Mount Olympus. For the approximate thousand years that are loosely defined as Ancient Greece, three main column types were popular during this period. The Doric order, defined by their simplicity due to their fluted bases and rounded capitals, is the crowning section of a column used for architectural support without adornments. They first appeared around 700 BCE, the start of the Archaic Period.
The Ionic order features scroll-like adornments and a base to support the column. Ionic columns were popularized throughout Greece towards the start of the Classical period in the mid-400s, which saw a continuation of artistic and philosophical development that began during the Archaic Period. These columns are used within the Olympus introduction scene to support an entablature, which are moldings and bands that lay horizontally on the capitals of a column. Similarly, the film shows doric columns supporting an entablature. This structure serves as the entrance for a marketplace.
Ionic Columns in Disney's Hercules. Time stamp: 3:15
Doric Columns in Disney's Hercules. Time stamp: 14:38
The last column type developed in Ancient Greece are Corinthian orders. These columns feature elaborate decorative carvings on the capital. Corinthian orders were created approximately 430 BCE, shortly after Ionic columns were frequently used in architecture. Corinthian columns are not shown as part of the architecture within Hercules.
Traditional Corinthian columns in the Temple of Zeus in Athens, Alamy
The Agora
Mid-way through the film’s first act, Hercules is depicted entering a marketplace, known as an agora to the Greeks, to run errands for his family. The agora within the film is shown to be the Ancient Greek version of a mall. Clothing and home decor shops, as well as a modern fountain at the center, are held within the pure white barriers of doric columns with an entablature supporting a triangular pediment, the section of a wall that encloses the end of a downward sloping roof. Red roof panels on the film’s agora are the only color seen besides white on the building
Entablature, Triangular Pediment, Red Roof Pannels in Disney's Hercules. Time stamp: 14:42
Doric columns in the Agora in Disney's Hercules. Time stamp: 14:39
The agora shown within the film appears to be modeled after Saint Peter’s Square, an ancient Roman center that hosted religious and cultural activities. Saint Peter’s Square is encircled by doric columns, just like the agora in Hercules.
Agora in Disney's Hercules. Time stamp: 14:29
Aerial View of St. Peter's Square, Art109textbook
Unlike how agoras are portrayed within the film, they are not only simply shopping centers. Agoras were used for social gatherings, religious ceremonies, commerce, and conducting governmental affairs. Furthermore, agoras were not merely one building with multiple shops in between each column; they were typically large areas within a city-state that featured a complex of buildings. One of the most well-known Agoras, the Athenian Agora, featured civic offices, religious temples, law courts, libraries, and a fountain house. While we don’t know if the animators were purposely copying the architectural style of the Stoa of Attalos, which was part of the Athenian Agora, there are certainly similarities between Hercules’ Agora and the Stoa of Attalos. Both buildings utilize doric columns, feature relatively simple entablatures, and have roofs with red panels.
Stoa of Attalos, Athens Attica
Columns in the Stoa of Attalos, Greeka
The Temple of Zeus
Hercules visits the Temple of Zeus to begin his journey of becoming a hero. The Temple of Zeus’s animated counterpart is undoubtedly modeled after the digital reconstruction of the Temple of Zeus located in Olympia. The temple is presently in ruins; according to historians and archaeologists, The Temple of Zeus was most likely destroyed during a sac of the city or a natural disaster. The appearance of the remains of the temple and ancient descriptions of its appearance before it was destroyed allows for digital reconstructions of the structure. Both temples featured doric columns, entablatures decorated with stylized rectangles and squares, and pediments with tympanums (the slightly recessed center of a pediment, usually decorated) that hold sculptures.
Temple of Zeus in Disney's Hercules. Time stamp: 20:53
Digital Reconstruction of Temple of Zeus, Semantic Scholar
The original sculptures featured in the temple’s tympanum depict two gods taking an oath before a chariot race. Hierarchy of scale is used to show Zeus is the most important individual in the sculpture because he is the largest figure. Zeus is also standing between two warriors at the center of the piece. While the tympanum shown in Hercules does not offer a lot of detail, the animated tympanum appears to also have multiple human figures, with the largest figure in the center. One could assume it is Zeus in the center of the relief sculpture because the location is the god’s temple.
Temple of Zeus Pediment, Semantic Scholar
The interior of the Temple of Zeus and its animated counterpart both depict mosaic-decorated floors and a large statue of Zeus sitting on a throne.
Mosaic floor in the Temple of Zeus, Disney's Hercules. Time stamp: 21:03
Statue of Zeus in the Temple of Zeus, Disney's Hercules. Time stamp: 54:50
Digital Reconstruction Statue of Zeus in the Temple of Zeus, 7 Wonders of the Ancient World
Ancient Greek temples featured statues of the gods because the Greeks believed gods could inhabit their dedicated statues. The main difference between the two depictions of the exterior of the temple and the Statue of Zeus is that the animated building and its sculptures do not seem to feature any coloring. The Statue of Zeus is not pure white; instead, it is thought to be at least partially gold. Within Ancient Greece, sculptures, temples, and other buildings were painted and decorated with colorful pigments. The idea that all Greek sculpture or architecture is white is a misconception rooted in ignorance and narratives concerning the whiteness, both architecturally and racially, of Ancient Greece and Rome has been ingrained into Western society for some time.
A Matter of Accuracy or Controversy?
While Hercules has many architectural accuracies within the film, one prominent question still lingers. Is it appropriate for a major corporation to appropriate the architectural aesthetics of a culture for a film? Well, it's complicated. There seem to be limited accounts of Greek individuals taking offense to the film. Additionally, Greek people and their culture aren't oppressed by current systems of power; therefore, inaccurate representations of their culture most likely won't lead to harm or further misunderstandings of marginalized groups. Concerning the whiteness of architecture and sculpture within Hercules, red and gold hues are added to buildings. This coloration seems to be used to avoid an uninteresting background because almost all city-scapes, buildings, and statues are shown to be pure white. Hercules does implicitly promote myths of classical architecture and sculpture reflecting the whiteness of society and, by extension, confirms the falsehood that the West has always been a white civilization.
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