Percy Jackson: From Page to Screen

By Riley Crowe

Percy Jackson has been taking the fantasy world by storm for 19 years, with the first book “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” published in 2005 and four other books completing the series. There have been two following series in total with five books in each, and each book gaining the series more popularity.

How did the series become so popular? Written by Rick Riordan, the Percy Jackson series is from the perspective of a 12 year-old boy with ADHD, Percy Jackson. It mixed relatable characters dealing with hardships many kids have, with Greek Mythology, a topic that has been interesting to people for many years. The way Riordan writes is similar to how an actual kid would think and intertwines mythology in a way that keeps it fun. He keeps in mind all age groups that could be reading, keeping it interesting and clean for the younger, yet capturing and deep enough for the older range. Riordan also takes into consideration his wide audience's different personalities, making his cast of characters extremely diverse in both looks and personality. The reason that Riordan created a series instead of a movie was to take more time on each scene. With movies, you only have two or three hours to communicate your story and your main points. With a series, you can have many different 40-ish minute episodes, which allows you to focus on main scenes at a time and put more thought into symbolism, details, and character development. With a wide topic like Greek Mythology, symbolism and detail are key. 

The first attempts at putting the Percy Jackson series onto film were with the 2 movies, “Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lighting Thief” and “Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters”. However, they were met with negative reviews and were heavily criticized. Due to the lack of following the scenes, writing of the book, and changing of the story,  fans pointed out the only real similarity was the simple plot. In an attempt to modernize the series, a scene in the movie has Percy defeat Medusa by using an iPod to not directly look at her. Many fans criticized this heavily, saying there was no need for the attempted modernization and they should have stuck with how it was done in the book. Smaller details that made character interactions sentimental were also left out. For example, Percy and his mother share a love for blue candy and the color blue about a memory in Percy’s childhood. This was no weather to be found in the movies and actors even ridiculed it, asking why people were so attached to blue. However, the series on Disney has taken this feedback to heart, blue candy is now in the show and the attempts at modernization are done otherwise, like by adding popular songs like Olivia Rodigos's “Logical”, and a cover of Vance Joy's “Riptide”. The subtle additions have made the fans love this version even more. Fans of the books felt the movie made some of its dialogue unnecessary and goofy by not following a rule of filmmakers, “show, don't tell ''. The writers of the movie script made the mistake of taking the writing of the books but not the emotion and symbolism. One of the scenes has Percy get his sword, “Riptide” and it takes the form of a pen until uncapped and it becomes a sword. Instead of having the actor show you the confusion through facial expressions or body language, Percy in the movie says “This is a pen”. The audience sees that it is a pen. So, the scene has been mocked ever since the movie came out. It is another thing fans have felt the writers of the show have fixed, the scenes show the emotions of the characters through facial expressions and other things that show you how they are feeling.

Percy Jackson fans are excited to see the series they've been reading put into film and action after the disappointing first try. Why do book lovers like to see their books put onto the screen? Most enjoy seeing their books put on the screen because it is a series they have spent time reading. It can tie it back to the feeling that keeps them returning to a series, objects, or places, known as nostalgia. Looking back to something someone has spent a lot of time with can bring a person back to how you felt when you first experienced it. In this case, something people have read. Many put themselves into the story, looking for an escape from the real world or seeing themselves as a character. This ties someone to a story closer and lets them enjoy it for many years to come.

From the mind of Rick Riordan, has made a very popular and wide fanbase, most of which have given their feedback on the series going on the screen. Both have wanted this new series to be better than the movies. Each episode is on a staggered release, a new episode every Tuesday at 8 pm Central Time on Disney+. With a 96% Rotten Tomatoes Score (the more the better, PJO the Movies with 49%), and many across all social media platforms praising the show, the audience likes the series much better than the first screen adaptation.