It's entirely understandable how and why Harry Potter blew up and became the most popular fantasy franchise to date. From grocery stores and airports to actual book stores, I remember The Sorcerer's Stone being on every shelf back when I was a kid, and that level of marketing alone draws tremendous appeal. Add in well-made and expertly cast movies into the mix, and the book fanbase understandably tripled (quadrupled?). But it isn't until you get a little older (and maybe also major in English) that you realize that much of Harry Potter relies on a simplified plot and that Rick Riordan's crafted world in the Percy Jackson series is significantly more profound.
While the original Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010) movie was decent, it didn't pick up nearly as much traction to guarantee the coverage the books deserved. But now, with Disney+'s bustling and impressive series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians (2023) is already doing a fantastic job of touching on the novel's depth while captivating a new audience.
Percy Jackson Relies On Classic Greek Mythology
There's a reason classic literature is deemed a classic. The tropes and narratives never go out of style, no matter how many years pass, and the decades of analyses and studies continue to make discoveries. The foundation of Greek mythology is so vast, so deeply rooted in a plethora of research, that writers deriving anything from its roots always give themselves a great amount of room to explore big ideas. This is largely why most content that comes from mythology succeeds in delivering promising and universal themes that feel believable to most people.
The Disney+ series, which is set to air its second season this December, especially touches on all of this so brilliantly during its debut that it manages to explore matters that Harry Potter doesn't touch on until three or four books (movies) later. More than anything, what always stands out between these two is that one is significantly more character-driven than the other. We get solid characterizations in the very beginning, yes, but toward the last two books in Harry Potter, battles take over, making everything more frustrating than enlightening.
A story's ending can, in fact, ruin its beginning, and how various stories pan out in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows relies too heavily on cliches that shock the audience as opposed to delivering satisfying character journeys. The end of Percy Jackson, however, is entirely character-driven, thoroughly inspired and reimagined by myths, even as it also focuses on a significant battle. The outcome of every character's journey feels earned because the root of it all, once again, ties back to the expansive lore of mythology.
Various Tropes In Harry Potter Sadly Don’t Hold Up
When we're younger, we're told to believe in the fact that someone being mean to us equates to them liking us, but that's a dated and misogynistic attempt at veiling cruelty with shyness or something else. It's an attempt not to teach people empathy at all costs. A person's tragic past or how they were once treated aren't an excuse to exercise cruelty, especially toward kids. And while there's a lot that can be said about human complexities and how we all react differently to the woes in our lives, many of the tropes that come to play in Harry Potter are sadly of the time.
In addition, magic systems often follow similar patterns that center around this idea of the chosen one, but because of this, we don't get much room to properly explore human complexities. And when we do, again, they're often in the cases of extremes, like with Professor Snape. More than anything, it's fascinating how so many viewers clung to the Marauders after the stories because the seeds planted for their story always felt more gripping and nuanced in hindsight.
The Romance In Percy Jackson Feels More Earned
There's a reason why Harry Potter fan fiction has blossomed and spread into the world of romance literature, with bestselling books like SenLinYu's Alchemised. In large part, this is because the canon relationships were a product of telling and seldom showing. Some fans do indeed love the canon, but more have been drawn to reimagining what could've been with more thought-provoking relationships that'd also help flesh out the characters.
However, with Percy Jackson, the relationship between the titular character and Annabeth Chase feels significantly more earned. In the first season alone, even the relationship between Virginia Kull and Toby Stephens's Sally and Poseidon is thoroughly gripping. It feels like a classic love story, driven by the mythology, sure, but the depth in which we're seeing these bonds blossom results in us feeling far more than what meets the eye. And with any fandom, shipping outside of canon is always going to happen, but the popularity of Percy and Annabeth is already so precious and promising. The groundwork is laid before us.
Again, so much of this is in large part because of how expansive Greek mythology is and how far it can span. Harry Potter certainly has its merits as a fantasy that centers around good versus evil, but the character work fumbles toward the end when the focus shifts from the characters to this big, epic battle for Hogwarts. In many ways, the adventures and lore within both stories center around friendship, loyalty, and kids growing into adults by finding their place in the world, but one sees it to completion, and that's Percy Jackson.
