Idk What To Say Here

I thought that I was flyin' But I was crawlin' on my knees

And I just realized the X-men were his entire world.

It's been. A very long time since I read the PJO books so I don't exactly remember how Uncle Rick presents Medusa in the book. But the way the show introduces her myth? Fascinating. For me as a Greek mythology enthusiast, that is.

The show makes Medusa a victim of Athena. Of course, the show is mainly for kids, so they can't exactly say that, hey, kids, Medusa was Athena's priestess and she was raped by Poseidon, YEP, or protagonist's father, IN Athena's temple, nah, that's neither kid-friendly nor does it endears us to Poseidon. Not that Poseidon is very dear to us viewers/readers at this point, our narrator/protagonist can't stand his own dad.

But still what fascinates me is that even though they twisted the myth to ft the narrative they still managed to evoke Athena's curse as being actually a gift, and Medusa not feeling wretched over her condition but blessed.

Which is not a modern reading of the myth, actually. Saying that Athena couldn't punish Poseidon for his transgression and could only punish Medusa, but did so in a way that would give Medusa weapons to defend herself against whoever and whatever would try to harm her again, is a narrative that exists since Antiquity.

My point is that the re-framing of Medusa's myth, departing from the traditional, non-kid-friendly version while still incorporating both classic and modern elements, is a good frame of reference for the series (book and show)' entire approach to mythology. And I guess I'm saying that mostly for the non-book readers who are discovering this world, many of whom might be Greek mythology fans and might have gone "wait, why is Hades AGAIN presented as the bad guy when he's the chillest, most normal, most stable god in this entire pantheon", because that's a conversation the book fandom has been having (over and over again) for more than a decade.

Happy December 10th!

+ BONUS:

i say this because the two shows directly parallel each other in perspective.

in the boys, we follow humans who have been wronged by supes, which place most supes in an antagonist role, some with redeeming qualities but i feel like overall the boys paints supes in a negative light, save for exceptions like starlight and kimiko.

so the perspective that we spend 3 seasons with is the the perspective of humans, humans who have been wronged by supes.

so most supes i would say are characterized in a very vain negative way.

however, with gen v, our main cast are supes, they are the protagonists of this story. gen v explores the discrimination and consequences these kids face as supes, what they’ve gone through and how their identity as supes shapes who they are. we experience supes as our protagonists and we place humans who have bad experiences with supes (like dean shetty) as our antagonists.

gen v and the boys offer two differing perspectives that make the issues and situations they bring up incredibly more complex than before.

think about how dean shetty is compared to butcher, how they operate with the same anger and the same rage because of similar situations with homelander that caused the lives of the people they loved. if dean shetty was on the boys, we would be on her side more so. she operates on the same side as the boys (i don’t think same team but i feel like if she was on the boys she would be an ally).

and yet in the boys, she is (well… was) our titular antagonist. we viewed the world from the perspectives from the supes like jordan and marie.

so like maybe on the boys’ perspective, this would be about making the supes human or making them know they are not gods. the reason some (maybe most) supes act so carelessly with the world is because they think they are better, they are entitled to more because they are gods, they’re better than humans.

i feel like if the virus storyline is played on the boys, we would be pushing for the (at the very least) existence of this type of virus, something capable of wiping powers from supes when they go out of line.

however, in gen v, we experience the storylines of characters who’s powers are not just their strength but integral parts to their identity ie. jordan, jordan needs their power to be able to express their identity, without it they’ll be lost.

and so we root for the absolute destruction of this type of virus.