How to Train Your Dragon is a great film. I wished that I could recreate it the first time I saw it. I remember having this feeling of clarity at the end.
When Hiccup is revealed to have lost part of his leg in the final battle, it hit me that
Hiccup became “like me.” (meaning disabled) Hiccup struggles with defining who he is because of the conservative nature of Viking society.
How to Train Your Dragon subverts the trope that teenagers like Hiccup who are in touch with their emotions need to change to gain confidence.
Compare Hiccup’s story to Disney’s Hercules, and you’ll see two types of masculinity.
Hercules goes from Zero to Hero in a training montage. He gains fame and confidence from knowing how to use his strength.
Hiccup doesn’t gain notoriety from killing dragons like everyone else. Instead, he changes their minds and is valued for that strength.
Hero’s Journey
The first film sets up Hiccup’s father as a traditionally masculine role model.
He is the village chief and is in charge of protecting people and projecting strength.
Hiccup is regarded as the polar opposite of his father.
Everyone knows he’s not a killer, and because of that, he’s not a true Viking. Hiccup desperately wants to prove himself. But when he is given the opportunity to kill, his compassion and curiosity stop him.
He becomes a star in dragon training because he is curious and doesn’t want others to hurt the dragons. “As a portrait of a subordinate male,
Hiccup strives to change the Viking society’s thinking about dragons and build harmony between the two. Hiccup breaks the boundaries of masculinity that has been considered ideal on his island” (Universitas Andalas, Padang, Indonesia).
To get closer to dragons, Hiccup renounces his masculinity by putting down his weapon.
Defining Traits
This approach to masculinity is what makes Hiccup different. His different personality is what I connected with the most. Hiccup’s disability was a secondary reason for me to connect with the character.
His story doesn’t emphasize his disability beyond the reveal in the first film.
That moment is meant to be emotional, not because he now has a disability but because there’s finally peace between dragons and Vikings because of Hiccup and Toothless.
At the beginning of the film, Hiccup is seen as less than other men for being unable to kill dragons.
Stigma is attached to his emotions, creating inner turmoil.
This parallels how men with disabilities are not portrayed as masculine in media representations.
Hiccup is a subordinate man who learns to overcome the stereotypes rather than change.
His personality and disability are separate entities, making it a good model. Any man can have this internal struggle.
Source
Assa, M. A., Yuilar, V., & Sarmiati. (2021). Being a Man: Representation of Liberating Masculinity in Animation Film (Van Dijk’s Critical Discourse Analysis of How to Train Your Dragon). Universitas Andalas, Padang, Indonesia1, 1-10. https://eprints.eudl.eu/id/eprint/11811/