sapphire_dragon-1

Face value this film is absolutely ridiculous. It is an environmentalist's propaganda piece with an end of world plot akin to restarting the sun. The animation is quite good, the animals and children are really cute and kids will probably love the colour and action sequences. It is also interesting to see the climate change issue from a Thai perspective.

Where this film shows its sophistication is in the main conflict of the film. We are presented with two solutions to the film's problem. One solution that requires minimal effort for short term gain with long term consequence and the other solution that would require a complete change to the way people have become accustomed to living their lives. This conflict encapsulate the inertia humanity has towards dealing with climate change, that we would choose an option though ineffective to solving the problem would at least have minimal impact on the comfort of our lives. The fact it chose to deal with climate change in terms of a problem of attitude instead of environmental was a lot more mature than I expected for this film.

I get that it is fictionalised but you are dealing with real people and some responsibility and respect should have been taken. The dehumanisation of the British and particularly the psychopathic portrayal of Thomas Gage was especially sickening. Gage avoided violence when ever he could. He was a firm believer of the law (to a fault according to officer complaints) and he would have never committed most of the illegal acts he is portrayed as executing. As for his marriage, recollections of public displays of affection between the couple and eleven children (before, during and after Boston) suggest their marriage was generally happy. While Gage was not the perfect husband he was not abusive as depicted. Margaret was known to be intelligent, independent and outspoken, not the guarded, protected, intimidated mouse shown in the series. Overall I think the writers took the fiction too far and have crossed some morally dubious lines. If I wanted to get people interested in the American Revolution I would not use this series.

I watched this show along with Xena when I was a kid and I was always a bigger fan of Xena but watching the reruns now I have come to appreciate Hercules in whole new light. For one thing the show was a lot more cleverer than I remember, though maybe it's because I grew up and now understand the adult situations better. But I love how they took contemporary society issues and placed them in ancient Greece, and they treated the characters like as if they were a character set in modern times, makes them so easily relatable. Also I love it's sheer positivity. Today in most media our heroes are so jaded and as much as that darkness and complexity is fascinating it is a little demoralizing. Sorbo's Hercules in today's media is almost a breath of fresh air as a character who despite his own tragedies and what he has seen still believes in good and goes out of his ways to not compromise his values.

On a note about mythological accuracy. Most Greek Myths have alternate versions as it is so what would constitute an accurate portrayal? Not to mention that many Greek myths mirror Mesopotamia myths which in turn were practically rewritten by the Romans just replacing Greek names with Roman ones. If you ask me the writers of Hercules were honoring the spirit of mythology by rewriting myths to suit our own society.