{"id":469,"date":"2023-06-27T15:30:23","date_gmt":"2023-06-27T15:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/glare\/?p=469"},"modified":"2024-06-27T14:40:08","modified_gmt":"2024-06-27T14:40:08","slug":"gender-queering-and-villainy-in-animated-films-a-linguistic-analysis-of-hades-from-hercules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/glare\/gender-queering-and-villainy-in-animated-films-a-linguistic-analysis-of-hades-from-hercules\/","title":{"rendered":"Gender queering and villainy in animated films: a linguistic analysis of Hades from Hercules"},"content":{"rendered":"

The picture so far<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

In recent years, an increasing number of commentaries have focused on the presentation of gender in animated villains \u2014 take, for instance, these articles from <\/span>The Tempest<\/span><\/i><\/a>,<\/span><\/i> Screen Rant<\/span><\/i><\/a>, <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>Feminism in India<\/span><\/i><\/a>. More specifically, these commentaries have considered ways in which the villains don\u2019t conform to traditional gender norms, while their respective protag<\/span>onists often have much more heteronormative characteristics (if you\u2019re interested in reading about this for yourself, take a look at the references and further reading section, below). Existing research (Li-Vollmer & LaPointe, 2003<\/a>; Putnam, 2012<\/a>) has highlighted a tendency for male villains to be feminised, while female villains exhibit more masculine characteristics. However, the analyses have so far mainly focused on visual aspects of how these villains are presented, rather than linguistic aspects. Examining how the language used by these characters breaks gender norms could help to give us a more complete understanding of this phenomenon: here, I look at a few ways in which <\/span>Hades<\/span><\/a> from Disney\u2019s <\/span>Hercules<\/span><\/i><\/a> (Musker and Clements, 1997)<\/span> is \u2018feminised\u2019 through his language use; in other words, how his character departs from what we might think of as standard or \u2018hegemonic\u2019 masculinity (see Milani, 2014). <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"The
The character Hades in Hercules<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A previous study by Li-Vollmer and LaPointe (2003)<\/a> points out that Hades is already represented visually as gender-queer (for an overview of the field of queer linguistics, see Maree, 2015), with his relatively delicate facial features, darkly coloured eyelids (giving him the appearance of wearing makeup), slender hands and long robes. On top of this, they pointed out that certain behaviours Hades engages in emphasise his stereotypical femininity, from his general passivity (using his minions, <\/span>Pain and Panic<\/span><\/a>, or his indentured servant, <\/span>Meg<\/span><\/a>, to do his dirty work) to smaller mannerisms such as lifting his little finger when drinking. To determine whether Hades\u2019 dialogue complements this feminised visual presentation, I look at all scenes in which Hades has a speaking role of two or more lines (see timecodes and a brief description of each excerpt below). Within these, I examine both the more obvious elements of Hades\u2019 speech and the subtler features of stereotypically feminine language he uses.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sounding girly: compliments and terms of address<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

One way in which Hades\u2019 queerness is relatively obvious is his use of terms of address. This is possibly one of the most salient markers of his non-hegemonic masculinity and is best illustrated by comparing the terms of address he uses to the terms of address used by other male characters in <\/span>Hercules<\/span><\/i>. For example, in Excerpt 1, <\/span>Zeus<\/span><\/a> uses the terms “son”, “my boy”, and “my little Hercules” in reference to <\/span>Hercules<\/span><\/a>; <\/span>Phil<\/span><\/a>, Hercules\u2019 trainer, frequently refers to Hercules as “kid” (Excerpts 6 and 8); and Hercules, in a scene where he saves two young boys (Excerpt 6), calls them “fellas”. While Hades does use some similar, perhaps more stereotypically masculine terms of address (“boys” and “guys” in Excerpt 8), the viewer may well notice his use of “sugar”, “sweetheart” and “babe”, especially as he frequently uses several endearments at once, such as “my little flower, my little bird, my little nut, Meg” in Excerpt 5 (below). The pun “nut, Meg” is particularly interesting as use of puns can be associated with camp talk (Harvey, 2000) and, by extension, queerness. This works in conjunction with the more general effect Hades\u2019 use of endearments has on his presentation as a queer character. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n