In Disney’s Hercules (1997), right after Meg finishes the first refrain of “I Won’t Say I’m in Love,” she walks into a part of the garden filled with statues, each of which is a reminder of how grossly men have treated her throughout her life (and spec. in the film so far) (1/14)

The verses Meg has sung so far, which are key for the statues’ significance: “If there's a prize for rotten judgement, I guess I've already won that. No man is worth the aggravation. That's ancient history, been there, done that… I thought my heart had learned its lesson” (2/14)

Dealing with men has, to put it mildly, been tough for Meg. These statues show why: men keep assaulting her. The one farthest back is a stylized version of a statue of Pan & Aphrodite, w/ Eros helping fend off the attacker (1st century BCE in the National Museum of Athens) (3/14)

This echoes the scene where we first meet Meg. While Herc is fighting Nessus the centaur, Phil slips onto Meg’s lap against her will (n.b., this isn’t the first time — remember, when we first meet Phil, he’s spying on and then chasing nymphs he tries to have sex with) (4/14)

The next statue in the garden also echoes this scene. It depicts a centaur abducting a woman, a common image in classical and neoclassical art. We see it, for example, in the 5th century BCE west pediment of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia (5/14)

We also see it frequently in depictions of the centaur Nessus abducting Deianira, the second wife of Hercules, who often appears in such scenes chasing and killing Nessus. Here they all are in a 5th century BCE Athenian cup at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts @mfaboston (6/14)

And it’s popular among neoclassical artists, such as this 17th century bronze by Giovanni Susini and engraving by Antonio Tempesta, and this 19th century marble statue by Laurent Marqueste in Paris’ Tuileries Gardens and plaque by Bertel Thorvaldsen in New York’s Met (7/14)

When Phil first tries to put the moves on Meg, she has just been knocked out of the hands of the centaur Nessus, who was also assaulting her while she fights back just like the woman depicted in the statue (8/14)

This brings us to the final statue in this scene. As far as I can tell, it's based only loosely on conventional artistic depictions of classical abductions, and I don’t think there’s any actual piece of art behind it (but if I'm wrong and you know this statue, chime in!) (9/14)

Instead, I think it's meant to recall the other mortal man we know treated Meg poorly: the boyfriend for whose life she sold her soul to Hades. We never see him, but Hades gives us a smoky glimpse shortly before this garden scene in order to remind Meg of her debt. (10/14)

His silhouette and body shape are roughly similar, and the mullet and chin are similarly pointed. And the silhouette shows her leaning back as he advances, hinting that he's perhaps more aggressive than he should be (11/14)

Significantly, when Meg waves away Hades’ silhouette, she says, “Look, I learned my lesson, OK?” — almost exactly what she says when we see this statue: “I thought my heard had learned its lesson.” Is this supposed to be a grotesque, more feral version of this boyfriend? (12/14)

Taken together, the statues in this brief shot remind us of Meg's backstory and show why she has had to develop a tough, cynical persona. Until she meets Hercules, all the men she is shown interacting with are abusive, even to the point of animalistic aggression (13/14)

It also helps explain why Meg warms to Herc so quickly. Hercules ("Wonder Boy") is the first man we see who doesn't try to assault her. In fact, when she tries to seduce him earlier in this scene, he's bashful, coy, and naive — the opposite of the other men depicted here (14/14)