Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief Movie Review

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

Loosely based off of the book. Loosely being the operative word.

Plot

The first movie in a series based off of the novels by Rick Riordan. Percy Jackson (Logan Leerman) on his birthday finds out that he is a demi-god. Half human and half immortal, he is to go to Camp Half Blood to train where he meets Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario) and finds out his best friend, Grover (Brandon T. Jackson) is a satyr. He must rescue his mother by trying to get into the Underworld, whilst also trying to find his Uncle Zeus’ stolen Lighting Bolt.

Review

It is safe to say that the fans of the book series were heavily disappointed with this adaptation. It’s almost as if Riordan had no say in what was changed at all! However if you’re willing to look past the fact that the plot line is completely different, and the beloved twelve year old heroes that live within their paperback world have been swapped with some trainees that are four years their senior, the movie might be worth watching.

If you were to watch this film with no prior knowledge to the acclaimed book series, you would have thoroughly enjoyed the fresh talent, and the special effects convenient to the plot line. Leerman does a good job playing the confused sixteen year old, but perhaps it wasn’t acting, and he really was confused as to the guidelines of his characters personality. In the books it’s easy to fall in love with the humour that Riordan is known for. The witty banter that is exchanged between characters is slightly lacking in the film version. The audience laughs more for the rushed explanations and the nickname of ‘Purse’ that, without subtitles, really doesn’t emulate the hero persona Percy was going for.

Let’s talk about the gods in this movie; slightly controversial without the capital ‘g’ another thing that’s slightly lost in translation in the making of the film. Why is Zeus – the most powerful god of all - sitting around doing nothing and relying on a bunch of teenagers to do his dirty work? These Greeks need to get a grip. The character of Persephone, Hades’ wife, with her sexual nature and sass was definitely a scriptural addition for the parent’s appreciation. Does it work? Perhaps, but let’s try and keep this as a PG shall we?

The film does have its good points though; we shouldn’t focus on the negative, too much – although there is plenty of negative to focus on. Annabeth may be a brunette in this film, but her strong willed female presence to an otherwise ‘boy’s action movie’ is reassuring. She may take the clichéd mother role, but can be ‘loosely’ compared to other females in famous trios.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians has been a great platform for the actors to acquire better roles. Leerman has gone on to star in, the now iconic adaptation of, ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’. Alexandra Daddario has stared in a lot of television shows and Brandon T. Jackson has worked on countless movies after his role as Grover.

Verdict

Overall the film showed a good range of themes common in family fantasy movies, but there was nothing that we haven’t seen before.

Commentary on Education until Eighteen

Education until Eighteen was a speech that our class was required to write on the topic of Education. I chose to write mine on the fact that it is now compulsory to stay in education until you are eighteen years old. The aim of the task was to practice writing with persuasive techniques.

I chose to have my audience be mainly the generation that have to stay until they are eighteen this year and to any one that it will then apply to. My audience needed to be this demographic, because it was where I would acquire the most response. If the audience was any older then the subject matter wouldn’t apply. Because this was my chosen audience I used the synthetic pronoun ‘you’ – this also gives it a more personal feel, to give the effect that I am talking directly to them.

My starting sentences begin with ‘Eighteen years’ this is to put emphasis on the length of time that we are to stay in education. It also reiterates the point getting it stuck in the minds of the readers, because it is also directly what I’m talking about it introduces the audience to the topic and what to expect for the rest of the speech.

I address the audience with ‘some of you’ this is identifying with a certain group of people; again it is a way of personalising the speech with a way of indirect address. It also doesn’t apply to all people, but even for those it doesn’t apply to it makes them interested to hear about a different perspective, which is something that I repeat later on in the speech. (Talking to the different kinds of learners that will be affected either in a positive or negative way by the change of the age that you can leave education.)

In an attempt to grasp the audience’s attention I have tried to use humour – this can be done through the pauses and the emphasis on certain points. My use of ellipsis; “French is now compulsory to get into university…oh wait; no it isn’t.” has been used to accentuate the change in mind of the government.

“Our future is in the lives of these grown-ups that have decided, by seemingly some divine right, that they know better than we do about how we learn.” This shows use of hyperbole to gain the support of the audience. This is effective because by exaggerating the circumstances it invokes a more passionate response from the audience.

Whereas throughout the speech I have tried to appeal to many different groups of students, in the final paragraph I give my personal view, by building up the support of the audience throughout the length of my speech, the ending where I share my opinion is more likely to be received with support. Essentially I have appealed to the audiences, by doing so, making the audience think that my opinion is important. Not necessarily the right one, but one that deserves to be heard.

Education until Eighteen

Today, young people are expected to stay in education until they are eighteen. Eighteen years of developing your knowledge on the subjects taught. Eighteen years of working hard to get better grades. Eighteen years of your life dedicated to building up a CV that will eventually determine how you live the rest of your life.

Some of you will decide that eighteen years has been enough and you will leave the security of the education system for the unknown and an unaccustomed workplace. The rest will choose the path to higher education, with the price of not only another three years of your life, but a fee of £9,000 a year.

But what are you actually learning in your school years? You are practising the mundane activities that your government has told you is the ‘required education,' but does this stay the same every year? Of course not. Our government will change its mind on what is the necessity to learn and the age that is appropriate to stop learning under these conditions. And they will do so without as much as our consent. Our future is in the lives of these grown-ups that have decided, by seemingly some divine right, that they know better than we do about how we learn. Although perhaps the majority of them didn’t have to go through university to find their jobs.

It seems as though every year the exam system changes. No modular exams, the younger years have to start picking out their GCSE options sooner. French is now compulsory to get into university…oh wait; no it isn’t.

We put our certain futures in the hands of adults that couldn’t be less confident in their decisions. Is it not enough to leave education after seventeen years? Is it a tragedy to start finding work after sixteen years? Well here’s a certain answer. If there is work that you can do, that you enjoy more importantly, then you should be able to take that opportunity.

It is true that not all teenagers are fit for the education system – some just can’t work well in that kind of environment, what about them? What about you? You’re told that you have to stay in education whereas school might be the bane of your life. So why is everyone forced into staying when to leave is all some can think about.  Do you honestly think that all of today’s Leaders worked well in a classroom? You don’t necessarily need to be in school to be learning, or to be teaching.

I think that if you want to stay in school for that amount of time, then that’s a personal choice and one that everyone should have the right to make, it isn’t something that should be taken lightly and certainly shouldn’t be a decision made by someone who hasn’t been in the position themselves.  

Obama's Victory Speech 2012

In Obama's victory speech there is excessive use of pronouns, especially 'we' and 'our' this makes the audience feel more involves in the speech. It also tricks the audience into thinking that they have the same ideas - it goves them a sense of knowing their president personally; therefore because they seemingly 'know' this man; voting for him was the right decision. If theu didn't bote for Obama then he almost makes them feel guilty, this secures their loyalty for the rest of the term.

  He also connects to his audience by using synthetic personalisation, again this gives the register an intimate tone; "You lifted me up" - every one in the audience will feel as if Obama is speaking specifically to them, even though realistically Obama doesn't know every individual in the audience.

  The speech includes devices such as anaphore; "It moves forward" repeats at the beginning referencing to America's future. It emphasises the point and envokes further thinking from the audience, increasing their concentration on what hes's saying. 

  On of the recurring themes of the speech is not only the future of America but the battle that is continous. He references to battling 'fiercely' against Romney, and America having the 'strongest military', this gives a sense of power and strength, however it also makes the public understand that the struggles aren;t over - which was Obama's intention, because it gives the audience the impression that he can overcome these struggles.

Rewriting Texts to fit a different Register

Text A Rewritten:

Today Steven and I went for a walk, we were accompanied by a friend who I call ‘Nat’. After the walk we retired to my house and spent the rest of the day together. When it was time for him to leave, I joined him on the walk to the bus stop. We kissed, but I was indifferent, this troubled me because Steven is a lovely person, but one cannot force love.  I knew he’d understand if I simply explained myself, therefore I did and just as I thought, he didn’t blame me at all. In fact we decided the best thing to do was to spend more time together. We chose to meet again on Saturday; he was to join me on a trip to the pictures.  

On another note, I got my results back from the French exam I sat earlier on in the year. I was proud of them as I had gotten 31 marks out of 32 – almost the perfect score.

My mood was dampened, however, when I found out that Claire wasn’t feeling her best during English class. I dearly wish that I could help cheer her up, but I think we both know that my attempts would be futile, considering the only person that would be able to remedy the situation is Tony.

Register Analysis:

To turn Text A into a formal text I replaced any of the phonetic spelling and removed any homophonic spelling, for example correcting ‘2’ into ‘to’. I have used more complex sentence structure, varying them from complex to compound, instead of just using simple sentences. In the original Text A there is hardly any punctuation other than the full stop and capital letter – and even then they are misused or barely used. Therefore when rewriting I have added more punctuation including commas and semi colons. I have also split the different topic into paragraphs, as the original text jumps between events and feelings. These things turn the text into standard English.  I have used more advanced words to replace simple language; ‘with a friend’ has been changed to ‘accompanied by a friend’, these make the author sound more sophisticated. ‘Pictures’ is used instead of ‘the cinema’ as cinema is a very modern word, but previously the slang for what is now called the cinema was ‘moving pictures’ therefore using pictures gives the connotations of an older time. Using the word ‘one’ also gives an old-fashioned aura to the writing, because the teenagers of today don’t refer to themselves as ‘one’, but previously it was the expected grammar, so again makes the text more effective.

I think the text is still effective as an account of an event, byt not necessarily aimed at teenagers of today.

Text C Rewritten:

DARLENE: Hello?

TROY: Good greetings, my dear. It’ is I; Troy.

DARLENE: I’m sorry, was it Troy you pronounced yourself as?

TROY: Yes, it is I; Troy.

DARLENE: Good golly, the baby is mewling incessantly.

TROY: She has ever such a loud cry, I can hear her.

DARLENE: Krystal is always crying as it seems.

TROY: How is the little darling?

DARLENE: T’was a terrible night; her nights have been extremely disturbed, ever since I had to return to the work place I have been ever so tired, darling.

TROY: I dearly wish I could assist you, darling.

DARLENE: Oh, Troy, dear, when will you be returning home.

TROY: I shall be returning home by the morrow.