Going the Distance

Going The Distance
One of my favorite movies when I was a child was Hercules. He embodied what I wanted to be: strong, courageous, and a hero that saved others. Back in the day when video cassette was still a thing, it was Hercules or Cinderella, so I’d rewatch Hercules over and over again. “I can go the distance” is something that has stuck with me since. This phrase, to me, meant being determined and tough, no matter the circumstances. It’s a phrase that translates well to my own idea of being a man and overcoming obstacles that life throws at us. After learning about gender stereotypes and the idea of toxic masculinity, I was surprised to see how much media and animation has had an effect me and my own ideas of what it means to be a man. Using Hercules and my own experiences as a “man”, I attempt to define what it takes to be a man in today’s culture and address the outcome of this view.


As a child, I looked at and held onto the stereotypical traits that Hercules exemplified. His physical strength and bravery, and his willingness to go the distance were values that I looked up to during my time as a wrestler and cross country runner. The movie starts off with baby Hercules being drugged into being a mortal by Hades, however unbeknownst to Hades, the drug wasn’t utilized fully and Hercules still has his overpowered physical strength. Hercules is exiled by this strength in the mortal realm and his uniqueness outcasts him from society other than his mortal parents. After he basically destroys a market due to his superhuman strength, he realizes that he is indeed different. This sparks his journey of self-discovery where he learns that he is actually son of Zeus and in order to become a god again he must become a “true” hero. This is when, “Go the Distance”, is brought in. He avows to overcome any obstacle in order to become this “true” hero and go back home to his real parents and become a god. This first part of the movie sets up the journey in which he finds out what being a “true” hero really takes. He’s different from everyone else and we the viewers know he is actually a demigod who was taken actually taken away from his home. After he realizes this, we root for him to get his rightful place back. This leads into the second part of the movie, in which I derived most of what I think it takes to be a man from.


After he swears to do whatever it takes to get back to his real father, Zeus, he goes to the satyr Philoctetes to learn what it takes to be a “true hero”. This is the training arc of the movie where he is taught to hone his physical strength and become even stronger. He also becomes a hero to the people and defeats many evil beasts. Throughout this training arc his physical appearance changes to something akin to a professional bodybuilder. This is the part that I latched onto as a child. I saw this change and wanted to replicate it. This change from scrawny to brawny is what I believe is the first step into being a man in today’s culture: physical strength. A lot of you may not know this but I typically spend six to seven days a week at the gym and train for average three to four hours each time I’m there. Physical strength is important to me. While we are leaning away from these stereotypes, it’s been grounded into me that physical strength is easily the most identifiable feature of being a man. Being scrawny or fat was a fast way to alienate yourself from other boys growing up. Because of this reinforcement by my peers growing up, the training arc has stuck with me till this day. The idea that you must be physically strong and fit to be a man is something I believe to be prevalent in today’s culture. This can lead to more violent/aggressive tendency and also contributes to this idea of being a manly man. All in all, this was where I found most of my ideas of what being a man are and what I believe culture sees it as. The defining characteristics being that men must be physically and mentally strong, courageous and determined, and ultimately unburdened by things that cause vulnerability such as emotions.


The final part of the movie is where Disney perhaps tried to take Hercules and use him as somewhat a unconventional hero. The younger version of me did not interpret this, however today I can see this as an attempt to alleviate some of the male stereotypes. After defeating all the bad guys, he sacrifices his life to save the one he loves, Megara. This act is what is deemed by Zeus to be hero worthy and he gets his godhood revoked. However, it’s his final act that goes against the typical male stereotypes that were portrayed through the other parts of the movie. He finally gets his goal of becoming a god and going back home but he gives it up for love. An emotion that leaves us vulnerable and usually gets us hurt. This sacrifice of immortality and power shows that he was different. The typical male protagonist at the time would have gotten the power, fame, and the women. But in this instance, he had a choice between power and his love, and he chose love. This final part of the movie didn’t fully register to me at the time but seemed like an attempt to show that masculinity is not all about physical and mental fortitude.


All in all, from the Disney movie Hercules, I grew up wanting to become a manly man. Someone who was strong, reliable, courageous, and invulnerable. However, as I get older I start to see that there is much more to being a “man” than these things. Such as being able to accept one’s own weaknesses, failures, sacrificing and allowing oneself to be emotional. I’ll admit that I’m still a believer in many of the things I believed in as a child. I still believe in strength and emotional invulnerability as strong indicators of what it takes to be a man. Be that as it may, as I learn more from my own experiences searching for a job and facing hardship, sometimes the phrase “going the distance” means something far more complex.

 

Citations:

Primo, Cassandra. “Balancing Gender And Power: How Disney’s Hercules Fails To Go The Distance”. Social Sciences, vol 7, no. 11, 2018, p. 240. MDPI AG, doi:10.3390/socsci7110240.
https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/what-we-mean-when-we-say-toxic-masculinity

8 Replies to “Going the Distance”

  1. I think we need more well-rounded male characters that exemplify these positive traits or the diverse array of things a man can be. Even if they are typically masculine it would be nice if they had some more three-dimensional traits to go with it.

  2. This is a very interesting subject, thanks for sharing your story with us. We talk a lot about how Disneys princesses have shaped girls images of what it means to be pretty and perfect but we don’t talk about the implications of the same misrepresentation in boys animated role models. Your article reminded me a lot about how I watched a boy accidentally break his action figure toy in kindergarten and then he started crying. Our teacher came over to him and told him ‘it’s just a toy Tommy’. Then the other boys teased him the rest of the day for crying over a ‘doll’.
    That kid never really showed emotion again for as long as I knew him. Just as it is wrong to create role models that exemplify this stereotype of masculinity like Hercules- for young boys to project this as what it means to ‘be a man’. It’s also wrong to do it with princesses and barbies. These subliminal messages are engrained in kids minds if that’s all they see and when it’s reinforced by society.

  3. Hi Travis – This was a great post.

    It is interesting to read about the stereotypical traits from a guy’s perceptive because in my experience we mainly focus on stereotypes on woman, as shown in class. Woman should be skinny, small waist, super nice, very feminine, princess – like, etc. A lot of times men are expressed as super masculine, strong, don’t care about emotions, but being a man it is important to understand other people’s feelings. I am so glad you were able to see the importance of the emotional side of things rather just physical.

    Sanj

  4. Hi Travis great post. Thanks for sharing part of your experience along with your post. It was great hearing first hand how media influences young men and their idea of masculinity. It’s unfortunate how some toxic themes in films can influence the thinking of future generations. That’s why I think there should be a certain at least awareness or responsibility to story telling and how the story is being told.

  5. Travis,

    Thank you for sharing your experience with us. It always baffles me to hear how much films and media influence other people’s perceptions of life. Or even to recognize how my own experiences have been shaped animation. I really would like to commend you for taking the time to reflect on how the story of Hercules shaped your personal goals. Like the other comments, the only way we can break this cycle of writing “single-story” narratives is by writing more dynamic, complex, and vulnerable characters. However, I do not think that will solve the solution by itself. I think the harder part comes about when we consider how stories manifest themselves in our own beliefs and ways of thinking. This has always been the hardest part for me, so congratulations on taking a step towards creating (and pushing for) a more conscious society!

  6. What an interesting read! As a woman, I feel like my viewing experience was definitely different than the once you experienced, so it is so interesting to see your perspective of the film, and what you thought of the protagonist, Hercules. I find it really cool that you were inspired by him for settings goals and handling things in your life!

  7. Thanks for so openly sharing your thoughts and beliefs. I think just as women are often misrepresented men are too. There should be more diversity and depth to the traits of men that are being portrayed. We’ve learned in my Ethics class that the suicide rate is highest for white males in the US because of the society’s standards and expectations.

  8. Travis, thank you for sharing your story with us. Not going to lie – I teared up a bit reading this. I loved the realization for you that Hercules chose love over strength in the end of the film. It really touched me to read that because I guess that message was never truly realized in my head either, despite watching Hercules a couple of times. We need more stories where men overcome stereotypes of what “being a man” is. It’s important because, as you shared, most boys grow up without realizing toxic masculinity or stereotypes.

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