Transcription
I love her. She's funny. Like, when is the last time they've had, you know, a, you know, a Disney heroine who's funny? She gets the one-liners. I love that.
In another video I made defending all the official Disney Princesses, I took the time to sing the praises of other heroines who weren't in the line and mentioned something about Hades, the beloved villain of Hercules, and how I considered him the second most appealing thing about that movie. What now? Pretty much everyone is in agreement that Hades is a big draw. So who, who do I feel outranks him? A how cute a couple of rodents looking for a theme park.
Megara is the female lead and love interest to Hercules, voiced by Susan Egan in a career-defining performance. And despite her conspicuous absence from the Disney Princess franchise, she has quite the following among us mouse adults. It's been a real slice. I'll try to rein myself in and not tangent off too much theorizing reasons why she might not have been included, since the likes of Esmeralda, Jane Porter, Kida, and Alice, of all people, were at one point part of the line and dropped.
But the franchise was established in 2000, and Hercules was only 3 years previously. So it was seen less as a potential childhood classic that Millennials would eventually be nostalgic for, and more as the only Renaissance film to have an embarrassing box office gross in the 200 million range and therefore underperform. Since even similarly polarizing films like Pocahontas and Hunchback of Notre Dame still clocked well over 300 million. And with the Greeks denying Hercules a premiere there because of its liberties with mythology, that wasn't a demographic they could feasibly hope to market merchandise of.
So to cut a long story short, she wasn't part of a popular movie, nor was she of a non-white demographic Disney could tap into to help make their princess franchise look more diverse. No chance. No way.
I've said elsewhere that I consider Hercules one of the weaker Disney Renaissance films. Although if I ranked them, it would only come in second last after The Lion King. And if I included The Rescuers Down Under, it might get in just ahead of that. At least in terms of how its highs really hit. And I don't consider Hercules a bad film at all. Indoor plumbing, it's going to be big. The art style is gorgeous and so delightfully out there, modeled off the work of cartoonist Gerald Scarfe. The Muses are iconic, and the choice to make a musical about classical mythology where the Greek chorus are represented as gospel singers, genius. Yes, indeed. The soundtrack also slaps, with "Zero to Hero," "I Won't Say I'm in Love," and "A Star is Born" being some real heavy hitters.
I don't even think Hercules is a bad character. Since Tate Donovan and Josh Keaton do some nice work, and the switch is handled far better than the weird trade-off from Jonathan Taylor Thomas to Matthew Broderick in The Lion King. I don't have as low an opinion of Hercules's arc as some people. Since even with mismatched influences from Rocky and Superman, it's a story of a supernaturally powered misfit who becomes obsessed with finding somewhere he can be accepted with other people like him, and then does heroic things somewhat selfishly in the hopes of getting a divine reward, only to learn selflessness and choose to stay on Earth with the woman he loves. And I think that works. But I can't say it's a particularly revolutionary character arc. And Hercules ends up as the vanilla one in his own movie.
But you know who has a really interesting arc? Megara. My friends call me Meg. At least they would if I had any friends. Meg belongs to a trio of heroines in Disney's lesser-received entries after their critical and commercial successes with the fearsome foursome of the Renaissance, along with Pocahontas and Esmeralda, where they were all about subversion. "I'm a damsel. I'm in distress. I can handle this."
Even by the mid-90s, the people at Disney themselves wanted to innovate and do something different from the typical formula and characters the studio was known for. "Well, you know how men are. I think no means yes, and get lost means take me. I'm yours." Disney had created three additional princesses in Ariel, Belle, and Jasmine, who were all coming-of-age girls with feisty, outspoken personalities who flirted with being action girls. And while I love all three of them, I also appreciate the efforts put into distinguishing their successors. "Look around you. This is where the path of hatred has brought us." Pocahontas was specifically designed to be mature and more of a woman than them, ironic, yes. And she schools an ignorant colonialist, prevents a war, and opts not to stay with her love interest because her people and country need her more. As Mulan, not only is an out-and-out action girl who saves both Fa Zhou and Quasimodo at different parts of the movie, but calls for social justice and has to deal with the twisted sexual desires of the story's villain.
So how about Meg? "I'm a big, tough girl. Tie my own sandals and everything." She's introduced a half-hour into the movie, seemingly as an innocent damsel in distress, courtesy of a centaur. And for the love of God, do not read about what centaurs usually did in mythology. Although grateful to be rescued and impressed at Hercules's bravado, the twist is that Meg is actually working for Hades, albeit somewhat unwillingly. According to the brief bit of backstory we get, she sold her soul to Hades to save the life of her boyfriend, who then ran off with another woman, leaving her broken and cynical. "He hurt you real bad, didn't he, Meg?" "Huh? Look, I learned my lesson, okay?" Hades offers her the chance to win her freedom if she seduces Hercules to find his Achilles' heel. But while Meg initially agrees to this, spending more time with Hercules makes her realize that he's a genuinely good person who likes her with no agenda and no hidden motives. She then falls in love with him for real, making Hades realize that she is Hercules's weakness. And so convinces him to give up his super strength on the condition she doesn't get hurt, then exposing her as one of his minions just to punish her even further. "I'm so sorry."
Despite being rejected by Hercules afterwards, Meg does her best to make amends, even sacrificing herself to save his life and dies for real. But Hercules goes to the underworld to reclaim her soul, for which he is rewarded with that godhood he had hoped for throughout the movie. And realizes that life on Olympus means not getting to be with Meg. So he gives everything up for her, and they get their happily ever after. "I finally know where I belong."
Meg is voiced by Susan Egan, who, for extra hilarity, was also playing Belle in the Broadway version of Beauty and the Beast, literally while she was auditioning. And was even denied an audition at first because they assumed the rougher characterization was far too different for her to be believable in the role. And even when she got the audition, they had to close their eyes to allow themselves to imagine her as the character. Imagine their shock when this voice comes out. "He comes on with his big, innocent, farm boy routine, but I can see through that in a pelican minute." In heavy contrast to the Disney Princess voice she had affected for Belle. "Do you understand?" "Yes, 'cause her. I told them when I play Belle, I'm acting. This is me. I'm sarcastic. I have a lower voice." When she was cast, she would play Belle during the day and then have recording sessions for Meg at night, even sometimes accidentally slipping into Meg when she was on stage. She later described Meg as the kind of role she'd always wanted to play, since her kind of personality was more typical of a male character. "Don't worry, shorty here. We can explain it to you later."
Indeed, romances in Disney films beforehand tended to be simple. With Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Pocahontas, introducing elements of the boy starting out more flawed and being compelled to change his behavior once the girl makes it clear she won't tolerate it. And once he's changed, their relationship is mostly smooth sailing, and any complications are external and tied to the plot rather than their characterization. These characters are also implied to be on their first relationship, and their reactions to falling in love are variations of excitement. Meg, however. "Hey, I've sworn off manhandling." Well, not only has she outright said to have been in love and had her heartbroken, other lines of dialogue imply she's had a few boyfriends and bad experiences. And the overall way she's presented gives the impression that she's much older than Hercules. "I'll have to ask you to release that young keep moving, Junior." With how world-weary she is, she could be close to 30, and Herc is only about 18, making this the rare Disney romance where the woman is older.
The writers also took inspiration from the screwball comedies of the Golden Age, wherein the humor is mined from the complete mismatch that happens when two polar opposite people are smooshed together and fall in love. "Way talking, that'll teach you to go around saying things about me." In this case, an 18-year-old idealist looking for a family who also happens to be a demigod with super strength, smooshed with an older cynic who's a clock-punching villain sidekick that also thinks she's seen it all. And while it's by no means a must in the genre, most of the best rom-coms have significantly better stakes when the woman is old enough to have lived a little and gotten jaded about men, since there's a big societal shame around dating when you're over 30. Indeed, Meg Ryan didn't hit it big as the queen of '90s rom-coms until she was already in her 30s.
And so, with Meg, the stakes to her love story are different to a lot of her contemporaries. She's already suffered heartbreak and had her life ruined because of it. So falling for a good guy means she's opening herself up to the potential of going through that all over again. But she's given the chance to get her freedom by screwing over someone else, in effect doing to him what was done to her. And throughout the process of the attempted seduction, she learns that Hercules genuinely is a good person, and she can't bring herself to do it. "I'm not going to help you hurt him." But after she's exposed to Hercules, she really has to earn everyone's trust and forgiveness. And this is the kind of arc that isn't normally given to a female character, especially not the love interest. The man is allowed to mess up and beg for forgiveness, but the woman is usually pretty good already.
Meg is also the only Disney girl who starts out working with the villain, playing into a trope that is often demonized. So of course, you can get. "I quite like it. So maybe I don't think you're good." When it comes to girls, call me a sucker for a pink bow. The femme fatale is a type of villainess usually associated with the film noirs of the 1940s, but she's been around for thousands of years, even appearing in the Bible with the famous story of Samson and Delilah. Also involving a hero granted with superhuman strength so he can fight for his people. And after he proves undefeatable, his enemies enlist a woman he's fallen in love with to find out the secret of his strength so they can disempower him. Samson lies multiple times, and Delilah tests each possible strength remover until she plays the old "if you loved me, you'd tell me" tactic. And Samson then reveals that his strength comes from his hair. So Delilah seduces him to fall asleep in her lap and has his hair cut off while he's unconscious, disempowering him for real. And Delilah then disappears from the story, afterwards, which becomes about Samson earning God's forgiveness after being metaphorically sa.
We'll come back to Delilah because a later incarnation of her is relevant when talking about Meg. But that is the classic femme fatale in a nutshell: manipulative, duplicitous, tricking men into loving her, and falling squarely into the category in Sigmund Freud's Madonna complex. Although some bad-faith readings on the femme fatale miss that the archetype makes men fall in love with her. And it's the manipulation and duplicity that makes her evil, not the sexuality. Although that is definitely shorthand to emphasize why this woman shouldn't be sympathized with, since a respectable woman wouldn't dare to be so loose.
As said earlier, the femme fatale was popularized in the film noir genre, most famously Phyllis Dietrichson of Double Indemnity, played by Barbara Stanwyck in one of many fantastic performances throughout her career. "Tough part is all behind us. We just have to hold on now and not go soft inside. Stick close together the way we started out." She seduces the main character and convinces him to help murder her husband so they can commit insurance fraud. Later being revealed to have murdered her husband's first wife and her previous husband as well. And she is poetically killed for her crimes by being drawn in with a seduction. Double Indemnity is also notable for putting a femme fatale in contrast to another woman, in this case, Phyllis's stepdaughter Lola, the good girl and Madonna to Phyllis's.
But the trope was never fully static. As another classic noir, The Big Sleep, came out only 2 years later and plays around with it completely. "Hello, who's this? The police? Well, this isn't a police station." Vivian Rutledge is set up to be a typical femme fatale, attempts to manipulate a hardboiled detective, helps cover up a murder, and drops plenty of innuendos. But then she turns heroic halfway through the film and actually gets promoted to main love interest.
But what about Delilah? "What a dimple dragon. You can be flashing fire and smoke." The film I take clips from is indeed a lavish Hollywood epic from 1949 that actually spent 15 years in development hell because Delilah was the most prominent woman in the story, and they needed to beef the role up for whichever star it would be cast. But they also struggled to find an emotional through-line, since she only functions to emasculate Samson and then disappears from the story once she's done that. The solution: have Delilah be the sister of Samson's Philistine fiance, Semadar, who dies in a fight between Samson and the Philistines. And make Delilah motivated to avenge the death in her seduction. But then have her fall for him and be remorseful once Samson is blinded after his disempowerment, later setting things up so that he can bring down the temple at the end and of course die in the wreckage with everyone else. So you see, all ready in the 1940s, writers were having fun playing around with what might motivate a woman to play with a man's feelings and use him for her own gain, even if she still had to die at the end to appease the Hays Code.
And thus, this subversion and deconstruction of the femme fatale led to a new trope: the good bad girl. "I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way." By the mid-90s, the world had gone through both the Women's Movement and the AIDS epidemic, as well as the collapse of the Hays Code way back in the '60s, all of which flipped conventional morals completely on their heads and changed the way seductress characters or vampire women were portrayed in media. "You don't know how hard it is being a woman looking the way I do." Disney first gave us Jessica Rabbit, who is drawn to look like a femme fatale but is proved to be a woman of valor and virtue who loves her husband very much. Princess Jasmine also has a scene where she seduces Jafar to help Aladdin. And Esmeralda is changed from the 16-year-old orphan she was in the book to an older and more sexual woman who's a G-rated exotic dancer, but still presented as unambiguously good. "Choose me or the fire."
So where did all this come from? Remember I mentioned the AIDS epidemic? The '90s was the era of frankness and forwardness when you had to become much more overt and upfront with a potential partner. And gone was the old game of playing coy and feigning resistance a certain amount of times in the hopes of not being seen as a floozy, because now there was the threat of a fatal disease on the table. So all of a sudden, the image of what was considered a respectable woman in society had completely changed. Take the portrayal of Selina Kyle in Batman Returns, who was shown as a good girl gone bad after being mistreated by powerful men. And so her Catwoman persona is a rejection of society's norms of respectability.
But back to Meg. "Did they give you a name along with all those rippling pectorals?" She had less inspiration from the Megara that Hercules married in mythology and more from the Lady Eve, specifically the character played by Barbara Stanwyck. "The rhythm to it of it sounded to me like these fast-talking 1940s dames." And it turns out that they were fashioning the character after Barbara Stanwyck. "Makes me want to leave the wife." "Dixie, don't do that. Hank, just send her around for a couple." "Less that worm's lucky he did run away." "Where do I slap his face in the pickle persued? They'll find his jaw on Staten Island." Ron Muser and John Clemens describe the dynamic between the couple as a comedy about the battle between idealism and cynicism. And since Hercules had to be G-rated, they took inspiration from the way films of the Golden Age had to write around the constraints of the Hays Code, writing these layers into Meg's character that would work on different levels for adults and children.
So Meg is meant to be a G-rated fallen woman, and those experiences are specifically tied to men and her relationships with them. "You'd think a girl would learn." She's implied to have had several failed relationships before her one true love betrayed her after she sold her soul in an attempt to save him. So she's a Disney heroine with a past who is specifically not pure. Reviews at the time noted that her alignment was very hard to pin down or neatly categorize. With women in Disney films either being a Maleficent or Sleeping Beauty, either wholly good or wholly bad, while Meg was in between. Although she is ultimately proved good, she did enter into a deal with the villain knowing the consequences, as opposed to Ariel being manipulated by Ursula. In fact, my original headcanon was that Hades had something to do with Meg's previous boyfriend falling for another woman, but in hindsight, it makes for a stronger narrative if he didn't, since that way no one made Meg the way she is besides real life itself. "Sometimes it's better to be alone." Meg is allowed to be accountable for her less moral actions while still being rewarded for doing the right thing and outright encouraged to earn her redemption. "You're the most amazing person with weak ankles I've ever met."
Outside of that part of her narrative, Meg's characterization feels extremely unique, not just compared to Disney heroines of the '90s but of the last 10 years. Her first scene has her completely unimpressed with Hercules's attempts to save her, not because she's an action girl who can fight her own battles, but in hindsight because, as a minion to Hades, this is basically a political game that can't so easily be solved by punching out the monster. Indeed, once Hades finds out that Nessus will not be his ally, he punishes Meg by adding years to her sentence. So Meg's attitude here is basically, "Bless your heart, you think you're actually helping." But of course, she can't help but be a little impressed. "It's Wonder Boy here, for real." And Meg doesn't thank Hercules for saving her like Jasmine does to Aladdin. In fact, she seems to already start looking for his weak spot. "Did they give you a name along with all those ripping pectorals?" Susan Egan's delivery during these lines indicates that she's trying to make him not uncomfortable, but finding a way to shake up the badass hero image. She later says to Hades, "She thought Hercules was playing nice guy to get something for her." So she's doing her best to show him up and make the facade she's convinced it is slip. And you can see she's momentarily shown up when she realizes she's not going to get any fight out of him. You can even interpret this as Meg trying too hard. She's trying so hard to be cynical, and in the efforts she goes to not make a fool of herself, she almost does.
And tangenting off again, I'm reminded of Blake Edwards, a director from the Golden Age of Hollywood, best remembered for being married to Julie Andrews and making some highly regarded comedy films, but also teaching me the word "splurch" in reference to a particular gag, like a pie in the face, something that immediately strips away a person's dignity and composure and can't be anything but humiliating. And the essence of screwball comedy, which Hercules is trying to draw from, is a stiff or uptight character basically being "splurched" out of their shell for the sake of love. This happens to Meg while she's part of the plan to lure Hercules into the Hydra's ambush, where she is dragged onto Pegasus's back to fly, like when she's afraid of heights, resulting in a most unpleasant journey to the gorge and actually getting to see our female lead with messy hair and ready to throw up. "Just get me down before I ruin the upholstery." But of course, what makes this work as part of a rom-com is when the other person sees the splashed character in an undignified state and doesn't judge them for it. Hercules first saw Meg like this, and seeing her like this does not affect his attraction to her at all. So the narrative forces Meg out of her comfort zone and into a situation where her love interest sees her without the walls and usual glamour, and it's no big deal. And Hercules himself is then on the receiving end of a "splurch" when they next meet, when he's become a successful celebrity and the epitome of cool masculinity. So the "splurch" puts them on an even playing field. "Yeah, I'm no hero." "Sure you are." The idea behind it is inconveniencing or humbling oneself for the sake of love, which is why Meg is in need of more "splurging" later on.
No man is the. The earlier drafts gave Meg a song called "I Can't Believe My Heart" that they soon realized was completely out of character for someone like her, who would not sing a sweeping ballad about falling in love or be that open about her feelings, even in song form. And they then replaced it with the fantastic "I Won't Say I'm in Love," where the Muses have to playfully prod her into even admitting that she might have a thing for Hercules. "Don't be proud. It's okay. You're in love." This is a Disney movie where the big deal isn't the girl declaring her feelings to the boy, but to herself. Although that does come later. "People always do crazy things when they're in love." And she's the one making the big romantic gesture by confronting her fear of heights for the sake of helping Hercules. And while it initially seems like the movie is playing it safe by having Meg earn her redemption, dying to save him, thereby fulfilling her role as a full woman and preserving society's status quo, the entire climax becomes about saving her.
"Let her go." Contrary to what pop feminism likes to state, the damsel in distress story originated as a shorthand for why a villain was so bad. Maleficent isn't the Mistress of All Evil because she gets revenge on someone who's offended her or targets the head of state, but for going after a complete innocent who had nothing to do with whatever conflict. The damsel in distress narrative is presented as someone of great importance who doesn't need to be rescued because they're useful or for any reasons beyond that they're themselves, and therefore as deserving of life as those in power. A damsel in distress story can carry the message that someone is worth saving, even if they have no apparent function in society. And it stems from the code of chivalry that basically told knights not to hurt innocent people. So therefore, a villain capturing a helpless young woman was an easy shorthand for why a knight would be justified in going after them, which was in heavy contrast to the Greek tradition of storytelling that often portrayed humans as commodities for the gods to use as they see fit. In essence, what Hades is doing to Meg. "I own you." I'd recommend checking out Liana's video on the Damsel in Distress from her series Lady Bits, because it is very eye-opening.
So Meg, the fallen woman and reformed femme fatale, is then presented by the narrative as someone whose death isn't just mourned, but of such worth that Hercules will go to the underworld and condemn himself, pretty much to death, just to save. And Hercules isn't expecting to get anything out of this, since he agrees to stay in the underworld. And his only hope is that Meg will get a chance to live.
And tangenting off once again, way too many people try to make Hercules morally wrong in this situation, claiming that Hades simply made a deal that he expected to be honored. "Know what's my mind? You'll be dead before you can get to her. That's not a problem, is it?" This was not an honest deal. So Hercules isn't under any obligation to hold up his end when Hades didn't give him the full details. And really, Hercules needs to leave the underworld to return Meg's soul to her and complete the transaction, after which he ascends to Olympus, meaning circumstances changed outside everyone's control. And I get it, Hades is a lot of fun, but we don't need to apply the typical headcanon softening of a villain just because they're entertaining. Better known as Draco in leather pants, but we don't have time to go into that.
So back on topic, "People always do crazy things when they're in love." Although Hercules is low on my list of Renaissance films, it could possibly have my favorite ending out of every single Disney film because this line from Zeus never fails to make the eyes water: "For a true hero isn't measured by the size of his strength, but by the strength of his heart." And I'm also very likely to weep at the power behind this moment. This is the moment I've always dreamed of. A happy ending for Hercules is not necessarily one for Meg by default, as she realizes that he may have saved her and she's got a second chance at life now that she's free. But it seems like yet another guy going after what he wants involves leaving her behind. And there's no bitterness or anger in her reaction, just the sad acceptance that this is how it is and always will be. And then Hercules goes and says this. "A life without Meg." And this is the kind of detail in animation that you just can't replicate in live action. Meg's slow realization that Hercules is choosing her. He's being offered literal godhood and saying that even that would be meaningless without her, the girl who has been used and discarded by everyone else in her life. Her face changes as she starts to guess what's coming and allows herself to believe it. Then, when it's confirmed that someone loves her that much, her reaction isn't necessarily a big Hollywood-style smooch, but gently resting in his arms and smiling as Hercules says, "I wish to stay on Earth with her." "I finally know where I belong." The big damn kiss does come right after, complete with a foot pop. And a fun little detail is how Meg pulls him in, showing the younger and less experienced man how to do it. And my God, "A Star is Born" is just such an epic song to end the movie with.
Even when Hercules was released in 1997 to mixed reviews and a less than impressive box office take, critics seemed united in favor of the female lead, with Michael O'Sullivan of The Baltimore Sun calling her "one of Disney's most original female characters," Amy Longsdorf of The Morning Call calling her "revolutionary," and Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times outright saying the movie would have been less successful if not for Susan Egan's work. And while popular heroines like Belle have gone through evolutions of being praised for X and then slated for not being Y, then back to praised again, the narrative around Meg seems to have stayed consistent: that she's underrated. The fact that she's pretty rare at the parks just adds to it. "Meg, nice to meet you." Despite hints that she might be inducted into the Disney Princess line in 2013, that didn't happen either. Although she eventually got a special doll for the movie's 25th anniversary, so that's something resembling flowers.
But I'm not of the school that thinks she should be an official princess. Pocahontas and Mulan, I get. And with Kida and Esmeralda, I'm like, go ahead and induct them already. Meg, on the other hand, it's not her style. Susan Egan herself says, "She is not technically a princess. She's a common girl, and that's what I love about her. She is the only Disney character that falls between heroine and villain. She works for the wrong side and has a change of heart. She has a much larger arc than most of the Disney princesses do." I love that Disney didn't crown her in the film and subsequently afterward. She's definitely a heroine, but not a princess. I think that she is more relatable because of that. And I think that if the other princesses did offer Meg a chance to join them or be crowned, she'd look at those young girls and say, "A, how cute." And that she might see them at a theme park sometime.