PERSEPHONE
Jackson, Wilfred. Goddess of Spring, Walt Disney Studios, Burbank, CA, 1934.
Simon Chow
The story of Persephone’s descent into the Underworld by Hades’ abduction is a well known tale of Greek mythology. Consequently, there have been numerous retellings and discussions of this event, especially within modern media. The 1934 Disney film Goddess of Spring by Wilfred Jackson presents its own version of the myth in just under ten minutes. While Goddess of Spring is inspired by Greek mythology, there are still critical differences between the Disney film and the actual Greek myth itself, which ultimately serves as an example of how modern films often simplify ancient mythological stories at the cost of providing an accurate retelling of the mythological events.
Since the Disney film is only around nine minutes long and is in the form of a cartoon, Disney’s Goddess of Spring vilified Hades and portrayed his character in a one-dimensional manner compared to the actual Greek myth. In the beginning of the film, Persephone’s innocent smile and interactions with the flora and fauna around her depicts her as a lively and kind-hearted lady. In stark contrast, Hades shows up as an evil figure with devil-like horns and a crooked smile. His evil nature is reinforced by both his hellish minions and his dark, inhospitable home underground that resembles the stereotypical hell from many other cultures and religions as well. The juxtaposition of these two characters illustrates a rather black and white light to the original Greek myth.
While Disney’s portrayal of the conflict between Persephone and Hades is straightforward, the actual Greek myth is noticeably more ambiguous. First, the original story involves more characters, namely Zeus, that provides invaluable context to the conflict. In fact, Zeus, father of Persephone, “gave her to his own brother Hades to be called his lovely wife” (Morford et al. 336). This action makes Hades’ abduction of Persephone more understandable, especially in the Greek culture, where marriages are often determined through the daughter’s father. A second distinction between these two versions is that in original Greek mythology, the Underworld (and Hades) is much more neutral in terms of good versus evil. The Underworld is a place where all the dead end up, and includes Elysium, which is “for mortals . . . who have won a blessed afterlife” (Morford et al. 712). A final difference is how the two stories end. While the Disney film acknowledges that Persephone must return to visit Hades again, this does not occur in the film. Instead, the film concludes with Persephone rising to the living world, causing life to bloom again, resulting in an uplifting ending. The original myth, however, recounts Persephone going back to the Underworld and explains that she will have to descend every year due to eating Hades’ binding pomegranate seeds (La Fond, “The Hand that Rocks the Cradle: Demeter”). Here, we see Disney again providing a simplistic conclusion fitting for the film’s shorter duration whereas the actual myth features a balance between a satisfying ending and a catastrophic ending for the protagonist Persephone. These key differences between the Disney and authentic Greek mythology versions of Hades and Persephone reveal how the conflict between the two deities is simplified and made more black and white in modern media interpretations.
Overall, this analysis between the original and modern tellings of Persephone’s descent into the Underworld demonstrates the importance of key context and relevant supporting characters in fully understanding a narrative. This applies to other stories as well and even outside of Greek mythology. Non-primary sources may sometimes obscure or omit vital information that consequently provide their audience with a misleading perspective. Hence, it is imperative for readers and consumers of information to ensure they have all the context required to understand events on a holistic basis. Ultimately, this will allow people to have more empathy for others and perform actions that are more just and equitable for all parties involved.
Julia Tanner
The 1934 short film “The Goddess of Spring” from Walt Disney’s Silly Symphony collection retells the myth of Persephone and Hades. The story is told through a 10 minute song accompanied by animation, with the intention of entertaining a young audience. Literature of this myth in ancient Greek antiquity includes the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. In addition to literature, there are also various sculptures, such as the Rape of Persephone, and paintings depicting scenes from the myth. Comparing Disney’s adaptation to the imagery described in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter shows that while The Goddess of Spring evokes a similar storyline to the original, signature Greek attributes associated with Persephone and Hades are missing from the film. The differences between media could be due to the religious context in which the two different media were created.
In the film, Persephone is depicted as the Goddess of Spring, and is happily living with animated animals and flowers. Her happiness, and therefore the spring season, is interrupted when a devil creature, who is assumed to be Hades, erupts from the ground to kidnap her. After her kidnapping, the mortal world turns snowy as spring can no longer be maintained without the Goddess. Hades fails to please Persephone in the Underworld and lets her return to the surface. The film ends with Persephone returning to the surface and spring returns with blooming flowers (Wilfred, 1934). A key feature of this film is that Hades is depicted as a Christian depiction of the devil or Satan. He is depicted with horns, red and black clothing, and is shown with imagery of fire. The underground is also heavily ridden with flames and other devil-like creatures, similar to descriptions of Hell in Christianity. This is contrary to a Greek description of Hades and his realm. In ancient Greek mythology, Hades is depicted as a middle aged bearded man riding a golden chariot with his three headed dog, Cerberus. Furthermore, according to ancient Greek art, the Underworld is murky and contains various rivers (La Fond, “I’ll See You in Hell: the Underworld and Afterlife.”). The golden chariot, guardian dog Cerberus, and rivers are missing from the film. The film is only recognizable as the myth of Persephone and Hades through the character’s self declaration of being Hades and the correlation between the change in seasons and the woman’s kidnapping.
To further understand the artistic choice of not using Greek attributes, the historic relationship between ancient Greek religion and Christianity along with the religious context of the United States during the 1930s needs to be analyzed. During Constantine’s rule of Rome, Romans began to transition from a Greco-Roman polytheism religion to Christianity. His promotion of Christianity ultimately led to Christianity being declared Rome’s official religion in 323 AD (Stefon). While the former religion worshiping multiple gods and sharing ancient Greek mythology was not directly persecuted, it was no longer seen as proper in the eyes of the Christian Roman State. Many heroes and myths in classical literature were involved in sinful acts that Christianity did not condon. Additionally, worshiping more than one god and a different god than the Christian God further alienated Greco-Roman polytheism from the Roman State (Stefon).
Similar to Rome in the 4th century, Christianity was highly practiced in the United States during the 1930s. The historical belief that polytheism and ancient Greek mythology was associated with Chrsitian sin could provide an explanation for replacing Greek imagery with more socially acceptable Christian imagery. The use of a Christian devils and Hell could be a way to communicate an entertaining story and historical myth to children without promoting non-Christian religions. Furthermore, since Christianity was more popular than ancient Greek mythology, the use of Christian imagery could help the audience recognize more familiar concepts, such as the Underworld and its ruler. Despite the differences in imagery, “The Goddess of Spring” clearly tells the story of how Persephone was kidnapped by Hades, how her absence caused winter, and Hades’ allowance of her return brought back spring.
Works Cited
Jackson, Wilfred. Goddess of Spring, Walt Disney Studios, Burbank, CA, 1934.
La Fond, Marie. “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle: Demeter.” Canvas, 2022. https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1514816/pages/lesson-5-video-lectures?module_item_id=14661595
La Fond, Marie. “I’ll See You in Hell: the Underworld and Afterlife.” Canvas, 2022. https://canvas.uw.edu/courses/1514816/pages/lesson-6-video-lectures?module_item_id=14661602
Stefon, Mark. “The Alliance between Church and Empire.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/topic/Christianity/The-alliance-between-church-and-empire.
O., Morford Mark P, et al. Classical Mythology, 11th ed., Oxford University Press, New York City, NY, 2018.