Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief - Essay Example

?Introduction In the movie Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, Percy Jackson, the main character in the movie, is revealed to be the son of Poseidon and is accused of stealing a lightning bolt from Zeus. Percy, who is innocent of this crime, must prove his innocence, or else Zeus will declare war, and the entire earth may perish. Through it all, Percy goes on many adventures with his two friends, the daughter of Athena and a Satyr, who is his protector. Percy wants to not only prove that he did not steal the lightning bolt, but also wants to save his mother, who was kidnapped and held in the underworld. This movie is loosely based upon many Greek myths and stories, and the movie succeeds on this level. It also partially succeeds because some of the stories accurately align with the actual myths. Other stories, however, diverge sharply from the actual myths in their details and overall portrayal. This paper will examine the movie with a critical eye, comparing it and contrasting the pertinent details of the movie with the actual mythological stories, before showing why the movie is important to today’s audience. Discussion There were many things about this movie which are based upon actual myths and stories, and the details of these myths and stories, and many things which seem off-center in relation to the myths. First of all, the stories which appear to be based upon actual mythology are the identities of the three major Gods in Greek mythology - Zeus, who ruled the sky; Poseidon, who ruled the sea; and Hades, who ruled the underworld (McLeish, 1983). That said, the focus of the movie was that Percy Jackson, at the beginning of the film an ordinary boy, had stolen a lightning bolt from Zeus, which angered him so much that he threatened war. This is a slightly different take on the actual story, which was that Zeus was given a gift by the Cyclopes, who helped the Olympians win a war against the Titans, and this gift was not a lightning bolt, but, rather, a thunderbolt (McLeish, 1983). There is no indication that Zeus was in possession of a lightning bolt, although that would seem to make sense, because Zeus is the god of the sky. However, it possibly would have been more appropriate to have Percy steal a thunderbolt, or be accused of stealing a thunderbolt, as Zeus would have more interest in this theft, and it would have presumably made the theft such that a war between the gods would be possible. Moreover, there is no explanation as to why Percy was presumed to have stolen the lightning bolt. The simple accusation was made because Poseidon was known to have fathered Percy. The implication is that, since Percy was apparently the only demi-god born to one of the “Big Three,” (as one of Percy’s protectors termed the triad of Zeus, Poseidon and Hades), who was living, Percy must have been the one who had done it. In other words, Percy was presumed to have stolen the lightning bolt because he would be the only one capable of it, because he was the only demi-god in existence to be born to one of the three major gods. The flip side of this, of course, is that none of the other demi-gods would be powerful enough to steal the lightning bolt. However, it turns out the son of Hermes, who was the messenger god, actually stole the lightning bolt. Therefore, because this boy was able to steal the lightning bolt, then, obviously, a child of a lesser god had the power to take the lightning bolt. This fact negates the earlier implication that children of a lesser god would not have the power to do this, and, one would think that Zeus would know this. Therefore, Zeus should not have immediately assumed that only Percy would be able to have taken the lightning bolt. And, as it turns out, there is some basis in mythology that a child of a lesser god would, in fact, be able to steal something like a lightning bolt, which makes the central premise (that only Percy could have taken it) seem like it is not based upon actual mythology. The situation of taking the lightning bolt is analogous to Prometheus, who stole fire, and was doomed to have a vulture eat his liver each and every day, for eternity. Prometheus himself was born of a nymph and a Titan, therefore he was not the offspring of a major god (McLeish, 1983). Yet he was able to steal something as important as fire from the gods, so there was precedent for children of a lesser god to steal important items from the gods. This means that Percy should not have been automatically suspected of stealing the lightning bolt . Percy himself was supposed to be a kin to Perseus, or at least that is the implication. This is because of Percy’s name, and his status as being the child of a major god. Therefore, Percy’s story should be compared and contrasted with Perseus’ story, to see how the two stories differ and how they are the same. First of all, there is a major difference between Percy and Perseus, and that is that Percy was born of Zeus, not Poseidon (Russell, 1989). However, the story of Percy killing Medusa in the movie does closely align with what actually was alleged to have happened. The story of Perseus was that he was born to Zeus and Danae, who was a beautiful mortal. However, Danae’s father was a cruel king who learned from an oracle that Perseus would one day kill him, so Danae’s father put Danae and Perseus into a trunk, and tossed them into the sea. They landed on an island of another wicked king, who wanted Danae all to himself, so he plotted to get rid of Perseus by asking Perseus to bring him the head of Medusa. This was supposed to honor Perseus, so Perseus eagerly accepted the assignment (Russell, 1989). However, as the movie clearly showed, killing Medusa is very difficult, because you cannot look at her directly, because you would turn to stone. Yet, you cannot kill her if you cannot see her. This was the dilemma which was faced by Percy in the movie, and this was also the dilemma faced by Perseus in the story. As it turns out, both Percy and Perseus created the same solution - they would look at Medusa through a reflection, and this was how both Percy and Perseus were able to see Medusa to kill her. In Perseus’ case, he was given a shield by Athena, and this shield shined so bright that it reflected everything (Russell, 1989). In Percy’s case, he was aided by the daughter of Athena, who was his companion throughout the film, as she gave him a mirror for him to look into to kill Medusa. Also, in both cases, the head of Medusa actually aided both Perseus and Percy. For Percy, the head of Medusa turned the hydra to stone when the hydra was threatening to kill all of them. For Perseus, the Medusa head turned the wicked king to stone, so Perseus was able to free the people who lived in that particular kingdom (Russell, 1989). As for the hydra itself, the representation in the movie is different from the actual story. According to McLeish (1983), the hydra was a monster with nine heads, which was accurately portrayed in the movie. Moreover, if one of the heads was cut off, then two heads grow back in its place. This was also shown in the movie, as Percy cuts off some of the hydra’s heads, which makes the hydra grow even more heads. However, there is a major part of the hydra myth which was misrepresented in the movie. According to McLeish (1983), the hydra’s breath was so poisonous that one whiff of this breath would kill a man instantly. Heracles actually killed hydra, and had to completely hold his breath to do this. That said, there is no indication that the monster breathed fire. This is where the hydra myth differs from the movie. In the movie, the monster does breathe fire at Percy and his companions, and, more importantly, none of these companions actually die from breathing the hydra breath. Another major difference between the movie and the actual mythology was the portrayal of the underworld. According to Graves (1981), Hades is guarded by a three headed dog named Cerberus. However, in the movie, there was no guard dog at the entrance of the underworld, nor was there a guard dog on the other side of the river Styx, which is presumably what the trio crossed to get to Hades’ palace. There were, however, two creatures who somewhat resembled dogs at Hades’ palace, but neither of these had three heads. Moreover, according to Hermes son, who sent the trio to the underworld to confront Hades, it would be easy to get into Hades, and impossible to get back out without finding three pearls. This is inaccurate, because the actual underworld is guarded by this three-headed dog, so, in actuality, the three would not be able to get into the underworld so easily. So, this was a difference. There was a similarity to the actual story as well, and this was that, according to Graves (1981), the miser who manned the boat carrying souls over the River Styx was paid by gold coins. The trio paid their guide in Dracmas, which are gold coins, so this actually was an accurate portrayal of how this guide would have been paid. There is one major difference between the movies portrayal of the underworld, however, and the actual mythological portrayal of Hades, however. This is that the underworld was synonymous with the Christian portrayal of Hell. When the trio enter the underworld, there are skulls embedded in the wall. The three travel over a lake of fire, and there are tortured souls in the palace. Even Persephone states that she is in Hell. In short, the portrayal of the underworld is clearly not the underworld, per se, but Hell, as a Christian might imagine it. This is clearly inaccurate with regard to the actual story. McLeish (1983) explains that the underworld is not so much like Hell, although there was never any light, but more like a type of way station, where souls go to be judged. The souls may be judged as evil, in which case they are sent to Tartaros. If the souls are judged by be good, they are sent to Elysium. If the souls are neither good nor bad, they are returned to the Fields of Asphodel (McLeish, 1983). Thus, it seems that the Greeks had a Hell, and this was Tartaros. In other words, the underworld itself was not Hell. The underworld was where one finds out if they are going to Hell. However, the movie equates the underworld with Hell, and this is a fundamental flaw in the portrayal. Why this movie is important This movie was important to analyze because it brings myths to life, and it might make moviegoers more interested in these stories. Moviegoers might be naturally curious if the movie comports with the actual mythologies, or if the movie actually is not closely based upon these mythologies. This would lead the moviegoers to do independent research on the myths upon which the movie is based, which would enrich the knowledge of the moviegoer regarding Greek mythology. Since Greek mythology is still an important part of knowledge, in that there are still vestiges of Greek mythology throughout our daily lives – from the still-standing ruins of the Parthenon, to the multitude of Greek words in our language, to the references to the gods in our literature and popular culture, the gods are still very much in our current consciousness – this knowledge is valuable to obtain. If the movie makes the moviegoers interested in learning more about the myths, then the movie serves a valuable purpose. Of course, at the same time, it also provides fuel for the inaccurate portrayal of the underworld as Hell, which is also somewhat common (hence the saying “hotter than Hades”), so, in this way, the movie also does a disservice by furthering this inaccuracy. On balance, however, the movie does serve as a valuable tool to further discussion of these myths and to lead moviegoers to find out more about them independently. Conclusion Percy Jackson was an entertaining film which was not necessarily meant to be educational, as it clearly took major liberties with the essence of many Greek myths. Percy should not have been presumed to have taken the lightning bolt, as children of lesser gods would be capable of this, and there were clearly many of these children; the portrayal of the underworld was incorrect, in that it equated the entire underworld with Hell; and the trio survived the Hydra breath. At the same time, however, some of the portrayals were accurate, mainly the death of Medusa at the hands of Percy, as both Perseus and Percy came up with similar solutions for killing her. Of course, the movie was not meant to be a faithful retelling of myths, and took many licenses with the actual myths, but, as a stepping-stone to finding out more about Greek myths, this movie succeeds in fulfilling an important purpose. Bibliography McLeish, K. (1983) Children of the Gods: The Complete Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece. Essex: Longman Group Ltd. Graves, R. (1981) Greek Myths: Illustrated Edition. London: Penguin Books. Russell, W. (1989) Classic Myths to Read Aloud. New York: Three Rivers Press. Read More