Blog 9: Film Explication

Percy Jackson & the Olympians:The Lightning Thief

For this blog, we need to watch a film about the theme of supernatural for class. We also need to identify the elements of a hero’s quest based on the Monomyth (The Hero’s Journey). I choose one of my favorite films, a movie called “Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief” which aired in theater on February 12, 2010. The director of this film is Chris Columbus. This film is based on the first novel in the Percy Jackson & The Olympians series by Rick Riordan. He is currently still continuing working on the same series (The Lightning Thief). The reason why I chose this film is because it is very famous. I like the storyline and found that it fits closely with the Campbell’s theory since it contains many elements of the Hero’s Journey. The Lightning Thief is an adventurous novel and it has many references to ancient Greek mythology. The twelve years old hero is accused by other people of stealing the lightning bolt of the god Zeus. He is then discovered that he is the son of the god Poseidon. He then faces many trials in his quest to prove that he did not steal the lightning bolt while trying to rescue his mother from Hades. He also tries to prevent the war between Zeus and Poseidon since it will endanger the whole world (The Lightning Thief).

From the Monomyth, which was invented by mythologist Joseph Campbell, we find out that the hero’s journey has been classified into three main sections. They are Departure, Initiation and Return. In these three sections, there are different elements that make up the whole hero’s quest.

According to Campbell’s Monomyth, the call to adventure starts with the hero living an ordinary life and suddenly receiving a call to face an unknown world (Monomyth). The hero, Percy Jackson, lived a normal life until one day when he was attacked by his substitute English teacher who turned into a monster. Later he is attacked by another monster and is sent to a camp for people called demigods. This camp Half-Blood is for children of a human and a god. They will train them to be warriors. He finds out that he is the son of Poseidon, who is a very powerful God. He is accused of stealing a Lightning Bolt from another God and he has to go find it to prove his innocence. The second stage, which is the refusal of the Call, is the stage that the hero rejects his destiny. In the beginning, Percy is very weak compared to all the other demigods. He is not confident and brave enough to think that he can finish this task. He has no idea how to get the Lightning Bolt back to save his mother and the World. Fortunately, his friend and bodyguard Grover and the camp’s counselor Chiron encouraged and convinced him. He finally becomes committed to the quest and begins his training. From the Monomyth, we learn that supernatural aid is the appeal of a guide or mentor. Usually they will give the hero some talismans or artifacts that will help the hero during the quest. In this film, Chrion the camp’s counselor gives Percy a sword which was disguised as a pen. His friend in the camp, Luke, also gives him a shield and a pair of flying sneaker. These three talismans really helped him a lot during the journey. Crossing of the first threshold talks about the hero crosses into the field of adventure, from known to unknown. When he first enters the camp, he learns of many things about the world that he never knew before. He also starts his quest in Manhattan and has to travel by land all the way to California while being chased by monsters. According to the Monomyth, belly of the whale is the final isolation of the hero’s world to the strange world. Percy leaves his normal life to go into the camp and start his training to get stronger.

In the second section called Initiation, the hero begins the quest. He faces many tasks before he can prove his innocence and rescue his mother. This stage is called the road of trials from Campbell’s Monomyth. During Percy’s journey, he meets a lot of people such as Medusa, hydra, and Lotus Eaters. He has to do certain task like escaping from traps, collecting magical pearls, and traveling to the underworld. Along his journey, he and his friends face many challenges. In one part of his journey, he enters a casino in Las Vegas and is given a lot of money. The place makes everyone stay there for the rest of their life and forget about everything else in the world. This part is similar with the monomyth theory, which states that women as temptress. The subjects that attract them are not only women, but also fun and money. The next step of the hero’s journey is atonement with the father. The meaning of this stage is that the hero is confronted with things that hold the ultimate power in his life. In this story, it is associated with god Poseidon. At the beginning, Percy did not understand his father’s difficulties when he had to abandon Percy and mother. Later, he starts to be considerate and be able to listen to his father’s advice during the quest to be successful. He also accepts that he is the son of Poseidon since he find out that he can control water and it makes him strong enough to fight. In the end of the journey, the hero will be able to complete his quest and achieve the goal. In the story, Percy is able to rescue his mother from Hell. He also finds the Lightning Bolt and is also able to stop the war between the Gods by finding out that they were all tricked by another being. This stage is known as the ultimate boon.

During the last section of the monomyth, which talks about the hero’s Return, is the crossing of the return threshold. This discusses the hero’s return to the ordinary life with knowledge and experiences earned along the quest. Percy learns a lot about the secret world around him and the true powers that he has. When Percy returns to his normal life, He returns to tell everybody what actually happened and who the true enemy is. He becomes stronger and braver. He also has more wisdom, which makes him to be more mature and knows how to use this knowledge to train himself to be a better human being. The last stage of the monomyth is called the master of two worlds. This means that the hero will be competent in the two worlds and be able to maintain the balance between them. Percy has found a balance with the two worlds around him and decides to stay at the camp for more training so that he can be a stronger warrior in the future.

After watching this film, I am able to find some major symbols and archetypes that make the story more interesting. The first symbol is sword. The hero was given a sword from his teacher. Sword can represent courage, strength and power. Beside this, the symbol of dragon in this film stands for evil being and destruction. Another symbol that I want to talk about is fire, which is the predominant symbol for Hell. In this film, Hell is all surrounded by fire, which indicates danger and death. Another important symbol in this movie is Olympus. It is a place in Greek and it is often associated with the home of Gods. In this film, I also identify some important archetypes such as hero, villain, cheater, father, mother, and wise man. The hero is the protagonist who shows his kindness by trying to rescue his mother from Hell and solve the war between two Gods. He also plays a major role in the entire film by becoming stronger and gaining abilities to fight against the villains. On the order hand, the villains in this movie were people like the substitute English teacher which turns into monster and attacks Percy, Medusa, and Hades. Another important figure in this film is the cheater, which is Luke. He is also a demigod and the son of Hermes. He is the real lightning thief. In the camp, he pretends to be nice with Percy and gives him the shield. Yet, his real purpose is to accuse Percy of being the lightning thief. He wants Zeus and Poseidon to fight with each other so that he can be the King of all Gods.

In the Myths to Live By, written by Joseph Campbell, it explores the power of myth and how it influences our lives. We find out that different religions perceive different items in a different way. For example, Greek mythology will always have some common figures such as Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, Hades, and Medusa. All of these characters will influence us to perceive in a specific way. Yet for other cultures, they may not understand these characters and their many influences in our usual life.


Work Cited:

Campbell, Joseph. Myths to Live By. Myths to Live By. Web. April 29, 2010.

Dictionary of Symbolism. University of Michigan Fantasy and Science Fiction Website. 2001. Web. April 29, 2010.

Monomyth. Wikipedia. Web. April 24, 2010.

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. Wikipedia. Web. April 24, 2010.

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. Dir. Chris Columbus. Writer. Rick Riordan Perf. Logan Lerman, Brandon T. Jackson, Alexandra Daddario, and Jake Abel. 20th Century Fox, 2010. Film.