The Percy Jackson books avoided exploring a sensitive arc in the main character’s narrative, but Disney’s Percy Jackson & The Olympians cannot repeat the same mistake. Rick Riordan created a rich and gripping fantastical universe with his Percy Jackson novels, which, on paper, could perfectly traverse to the live-action movie format. Unfortunately, the movie series could not deliver the humor, action, and adventure Rick Riordan brings to the table with each book. Following the movie series’ failure, a Disney TV adaptation is now underway, and from the looks of it, it will avoid the movies’ mistakes.
Apart from making up for all the factors that led to the movie series’ downfall, Disney’s Percy Jackson & The Olympians can also rectify the books’ shortcomings. Rick Riordan’s original Percy Jackson books do an incredible job at merging Greek mythology with fantasy and coming-of-age drama. However, when it comes to dealing with a certain story arc surrounding Percy’s family, the books breeze through a sensitive story arc. The TV show can overcome this narrative issue in many different ways.
Percy’s Step-Dad Is Abusive In The Percy Jackson Books
In Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, as soon as Percy returns from a boarding school after being away for six months, his stepfather, Gabe Ugliano, asks him to empty his pockets and give him money for a poker game. This opening picture of Percy’s stepfather sums up who he is. Throughout the books, Gabe seems to care little about Percy and his mother, Sally Jackson. He smells terrible, drinks and plays poker all day, and never seems to contribute anything to the family. Worst of all, Gabe also abuses Sally and treats her less as a wife and more as a servant.
In The Lightning Thief, Percy, too, figures out that Gabe abuses his mother. After Percy accidentally ends up destroying his Camaro during a pivotal moment in the overarching story, Gabe threatens to press charges against him. When Percy’s mother tries intervening, he shuts her down by raising his hand, threatening to hit her. This moment in the book specifically highlights how Gabe treats Percy and his mother. Unfortunately, despite highlighting how “Smelly Gabe” treats his family and takes their kindness for granted, the books portray it as a minor sub-plot in Percy’s journey without giving it enough weight.
The Percy Jackson Books Never Really Address Gabe’s Abuse
The first Percy Jackson book only briefly shows how Gabe’s behavior affects Percy. Instead of addressing the seriousness of the situation, the book almost makes a joke out of it towards the end of Gabe’s arc, where he turns into a stone statue and gets sold as a “super-ugly” neorealistic statue. The book also confirms that Percy’s mother only stays with Gabe because he smells bad, which helps protect Percy from monsters as they can otherwise smell a demigod’s scent. There are story arcs in the future books where Percy briefly mentions his stepfather, but only to poke fun at how bad he smelled.
For instance, in The House of Hades, Percy compares the smell in Tartarus, the darkest place in Hades’ Underworld, with Gabe’s. Considering the books’ targeted audience, it is understandable why Gabe has been portrayed in a comical light. However, given how Gabe even celebrates with Sally’s insurance money when she is declared dead and starts abusing her again when she returns home, the books should have addressed Gabe’s behavior and its impact on Sally with a little more gravitas. The Disney’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians can now make up for this by emphasizing Sally’s struggles and conflicts as a mother and a wife.
Disney’s Percy Jackson Show Needs To Take This Storyline More Seriously
Although Sally’s side of the story does not get enough attention in the books, it holds a lot of heft in Percy’s development because she only marries Gabe to protect him. She only chooses to stay with her abusive alcoholic husband to ensure that Percy stays safe and hidden from the monsters. Disney’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians must emphasize the sacrifices she makes for her demigod son and how it, in turn, affects her in the long run. The show can still retain some comical aspects of this story arc, especially the ending where Sally finally finds peace after selling Gabe’s stone statue. However, it must address its impact on Percy and Sally with more sensitivity and emotional depth.
The trailer for Disney’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians seems to underscore Sally’s role in Percy’s arc by highlighting how she serves as a primary guiding force when he starts learning about the secrets of his past. This suggests that the show is already on the right path towards taking her narrative more seriously and highlighting all the sacrifices she made as a mother to protect her son. While the trailer does not indicate how the show will handle Gabe’s side of the story, Disney’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians seems to be committed to portraying Percy’s family dynamics with more seriousness.
