These remind me of this drawing by Franz Kafka from the 1900s. We've been feeling this way for a long time.
the author’s poorly disguised unchallenged ideas about how the world works, what is natural, what should go without saying
the ‘human choices vs demigod choices’ framing is so… i ideologically disagree with it im sorry 😭
im not sure if i can explain this well bc i feel like its very hard to but:
they really lean too much into the "hardened child soldier" thing for demigods (especially for annabeth) and i think thats one of their core mistakes. the characters are still kids, and they got to be kids in the books! their primary concern is survival! if you want indoctrination, thats cj and hoo. chb wasnt doing all that. in general the show's treatment of chb is so eugh also but i already have other posts detailing that (or i can make a separate one if those arent sufficient lmao)
but yeah demigods are supposed to be caught between the world of mortals and the world of gods, not be a sub-demographic firmly entrenched in the mythological world. there's a reason why chb is a summer camp. there's a reason why demigods get hurt by both mortal steel and celestial bronze. there's a reason why they sometimes get fooled by the mist, but also sometimes see right through it. there's a reason why demigods' heritage manifests as mortal disabilities (which is the core of the series and yet. where is it in the show). there's a tension in which they semi-belong but are also semi-othered in both worlds.
i also think the show falling back on this shorthand of “human choice” = the moral, emotional, empathetic thing to do is. hm. it works for, say, superman, when the entire movie is hinged upon lex trying to dehumanize clark for his alien origins. it doesnt work as well in the context of the human-god dichotomy the show is putting so much emphasis on because percy is supposed to triumph not by choosing one or the other, but finding a compromise for both of his sides. i also think it’s disingenuous and lazy to pretend that without percy and annabeth, the gods’ internal compasses somehow only consist of. glory? the gods deeply love and are entrenched in humanity, if anything theyre the most extreme versions and embodiments of their domains, and that humanity is capable of both good and bad.
also to me the tension between the gods and percy has never really been even about humanity: it’s always been about their capacity to change for the better (see: hermes and percy’s last convo in tlo), to let new, better ways replace the old. the gods are very capable of feeling things other than wanting glory or power, despite what the show suggests (with the exception ofc of. poseidon. bc for some reason hes a good dad now). and, lest the show forget—the same way demigods are caught between two worlds, the gods are caught between their dual roles of being parents and rulers. the latter is what gives luke’s revolution teeth; this is more than just about bad parenting lmao. this is where the shortcomings of s1 really come into play, bc despite the improvements made in s2, the storytelling foundations are just so bad. i have a lot more to say about this too i think but yeah really wish the show wrote the gods better.
Everyone name their first show where you looked at canon and said “this could have been a throuple in canon and it would have been natural and organic” I’ll go first: Scott McCall, Allison Argent, and Isaac Lahey from Teen Wolf.