90's throwback: Why Disney's Hercules is the fun, snarky rom-com gem with a queen who wasn't even a princess

What is a princess, really? Delicate, dainty, pretty and endlessly patient?

That’s what we were sold growing up. At six, you don’t question much. You just believe princesses are born perfect, with crowns that never slip, ballgowns big enough to sweep a castle floor, and glass slippers that somehow never give them blisters.

After all, the idea of the fairytale princess has been set in stone for over three centuries — thank (or blame) Charles Perrault. His 1600s fairy tales were practically moral instruction manuals for children: Good girls wait, stay quiet, stay pretty. The men — as a certain Puss in Boots would remind you — go off to seek their fortune. And the women who dared stray from the 'good girl' path, met the fate of Little Red Riding Hood.

Then came Disney. For the past century, its animations cemented this sugarcoated ideal — Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty — until finally, Aladdin’s fiery Jasmine shook things up, and Hercules’s Meg was a cat of another colour.

But you don’t hear too much of Meg and the deeply underrated Hercules, which is such a shame. It was witty, biting and ridiculously fun, as it upends the story of the Greek deities with a fresh, joyful twist.

Owing to a series of mishaps, orchestrated by the evil Hades (one of the best Disney villains, following closely on the heels of Scar), Hercules is sternly told by his father Zeus, that he needs to earn his powers by becoming a ‘real hero’. And so, he sets out this quest, and meets the rather crabby, sarcastic Megara (Meg) a damsel, who is actually Hades’s slave. Of course, love blooms, despite the thorn of betrayal and in a rather anxiety-inducing finish (for a 10-year-old, that is), Hades’s evil reign of terror ends, and Meg is free.

Everything about Hercules is pure joy — from the goofy Pegasus to the wisecracking Satyr — but it’s Meg who is different. She stands apart, even in sulks. And her fun bitterness for life is reflected in I Won’t Say I’m in Love is still a sing-along anthem: “If there’s a prize for rotten judgment, I’ve already won that…”. The love story is actually endearing, and the first time, a Disney film felt like a romcom — witty, biting, and full of heart, with just the right dose of mythology. Moreover, it was the first time, a Disney woman felt...human, real and in the flesh, and was fighting for her own survival, rather than a glorified societal expectation.

And that's where the real queen begins. She didn't even need to wear a crown.