Discrepancy of Percy Jacksons character in movie and novel

Many movies are created based on bestselling novels, but most of them are not the same as the

novels. There will be some changes in the movies, for example in the plot or setting or

characterization with or without the novel authors influence. The changing may create

different impression for the novel readers, like in Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The

lightning Thief. It is the first novel in Percy Jackson and The Olympians series written by Rick

Riordan and was published in 2005. The novel was adapted into the movie in 2008 directed by

Chris Columbus and the screenplay is written by Craig Titley. In general, the point of the story

in the movie and in the novel is same. It tells about Percy Jackson is accused as the thief of

Zeus lightning and demanded to return it by midnight in summer solstice before the gods war

breaks out. He should deal with monsters and gods to return the lightning bolt. But, there are a

lot of differences between the movie and the novel version in some elements such as in the

plot, point of view, setting and characterization. Here I will focus on the characterization of

Percy Jackson which is more mature in the movie rather in the novel.

The maturity of Percy Jackson in the movie is showed by the difference of the

characters age. In the novel, Percy is only 12 years old and in the last year of primary school.

It is shown in chapter 1 line 14 and 19, Im twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a

boarding student at Yancy Academy, and I could start at any point in my short miserable

life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a

field trip to Manhattan. Kid in his age is still innocent about relationship. He is not attracted

to Annabeth. He is friend with her. While in the movie Percy Jackson is a teenager who goes

to high school. Based IMDb data, Percy Jackson was played by Logan Lerman who was 18

years old when the movie released. As a teenager his fashion is different from kid, he has deep

voice, and he is interested in a relationship. He flirts to Annabeth, as soon as he see her.

 Secondly, the emotion of character in novel and movie are described differently. In the

novel, Percy is a bad-temper kid. His emotion is unstable, probably because of his age. He gets

angry easily, especially when people he loves got her by others. He is easy to be provoked by

few actions or words. It is shown when Nancy Bobofit disturbed Grover, Im going to kill

her, I mumbled. Grover tried to calm me down. Its okay. I like peanut butter. He dodged

another piece of Nancys lunch. Thats it. I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to

my seat. Youre already on probation, he reminded me. You know wholl get blamed if

anything happens. He reacts immediately when Nancy disturbs Grover. Also, when

Minotaurs attacks him and his mother, at first he was afraid of Minotaurs, but when his mom

is gone he is getting angry. Anger replaced my fear. Newfound strength burned in my limbs-

the same rush of energy Id gotten when Mrs. Dodds grew talons. He fights the bull guy without

weapon and knowing how to fight. He also often feels irritated when other underestimates him.

We can see from his response when Annabeth still cannot believe if he was the one who killed

Minotaurs, She rolled her eyes and mumbled under her breath, I cant believe I thought you

were the one. Whats your problem? I was getting angry now. All I know is, I kill some

bull guy. Or when he is accused by Hades, he is irritated instead of afraid of him. In contrast,

Percy is calmer in the movie. He prefers to spend his time underwater rather than going to

class. That shows Percys character in movie. Being alone and staying in quiet place indicate

he is not interested to be involved in fights that typically occurs in high school. He is calm, but

he does complain, he is seldom angry. For example, when he insists he does not steal anything

to anyone, but then he can control his emotion.

Percys attitude in novel is careless and sarcastic. He is trouble kid, he moved from one school

to another school every year. There is always a case that cause him drop out from school. As

the case mention in previous paragraph, he acts without thinking the risk. In novel, he boldly

speaks out the gods names repeatedly which had been warned not to mention. He dares to
avenge people who provoke his anger, even he acknowledge himself will be in trouble. Another

thing that completed his character is being sarcastic. He is not afraid to mock or satirize his

opponents. I looked over. The big girl from the ugly red cabin was sauntering toward us. She

had three other girls behind her, all big and ugly and mean looking like her, all wearing camo

jackets. He often describe Clarisse, daughter of Ares, is ugly and stink. While in the movie, he

is only ordinary student. He has no opponent in school or in half-blood camp. He is considerate,

the way he speaks is more polite rather than in the novel and he also heal Annabeth wound by

water in the pool.