#seriously though I've been a percy jackson fan for two weeks

[writeywritey]

a bad-faith criticism I have read of the pjo tv show is that it needs to be darker and aimed at an adult audience which is fundamentally a bad take because like, it's based on kids books so they made a kids show, cope

but it's also utterly wild to me considering I just read one of the books later in the series in which percy is so brutal in a near-murder of one of their enemies annabeth straight out admits he scared her

I mean, genuinely, most adult books would not go that far; having their hero do something that morally can't be pushed aside with a single smart quip. I don't know if the book pushes it far enough for my tastes, but it's such an interesting and intelligent moment, it's one of my favourites in the whole series, it's fabulous

like, just say the unsaid shit out loud; you want the tv show to have R-rated violence and for the kids to be saying fuck every two minutes. but that's boring. consider theme analysis instead of brain splatter, because you may find once you start digging there's no need to make this series darker

[katnissdoesnotfollowback]

#Who would I have become if I discovered the fandom back in 2012?!?!#I was going to use my actual age in the tags for added comedic effect#but I legitimately don’t remember how old I am#I had to ask excel#and was shocked at the result#lol#ask#KDNFB#thank you for the ask

omfg @mollywog you had to ask excel bwahahaha

+++

#also in my early 40s 😖#and my daughter read thg last year#but i don't like to talk about it bc she doesn't love peeta#i've failed as a mother lmao#she'll come around right?

@distractionsfromthefood I feel you on this one. It's such a nail biting experience introducing the kiddos to the series we love so much.

My youngest came home from school last year with a permission slip from his 6th grade English teacher. They planned on reading The Hunger Games and my son was all "you're gonna let me do this, right Mom? because you've read these books. I know you have, Mom. They're some of your favorites sooooo....?"

So of course, I signed it and sent it back the next day. But then, apparently there was OUTRAGE amongst some of the other parents. They didn't just mark "no" and send it back, they wrote angry notes to the teacher about it. So she had them read Percy Jackson instead, The Lightning Thief. Which okay, whatever, I love those books too so my son and I read the first series together and talked about them because he loved the first book.

Neither of my kids are big readers, at least not of text novels, so I didn't push him to read thg when summer rolled around, even though he said he wanted to eventually read the series. He's more into graphic novels anyways. Then, my oldest opted out of a field trip and came home from 8th grade that day all "Hey Mom, so we watched The Hunger Games movie and Catching Fire, but we didn't get to finish it...what happens?" And I was like ooooooh no, buddy. I don't hand out spoilers. You wanna know, we gotta watch. And of course, youngest was incensed. "I WANNA WATCH TOO!"

So we sat down over the course of like two weeks, started from the beginning for the youngest, and made it through all four movies. I was nervous about a few things because I've never loved the movies the way I loved the books, even if I was absolutely parking my butt (alone) in the theaters opening week for all but the first movie and was definitely embroiled in the fangirling here on tumblr back in 2012-15 whatever it was. I figured my oldest might (gasp!) be a Gale fan, but he surprised me on that one. I did warn them both that given the plot, characters that they got attached to would die, but I didn't really want to warn them specifically which characters.

There was definitely a feeling of relief when we got halfway through the first one and my youngest was basically climbing on me going "Peeta doesn't die, does he?!?!?!" He knew Katniss doesn't because she's on the cover of all my dvd's lol, and he was still a little shaken by Rue's death. Well, this is my kid who will break down sobbing inconsolably when a dog dies. Literally cannot tell you how many movies we've been in the middle of watching and I'm frantically checking doesthedogdie.com so I can warn him. We are the criers at movies in this family. Oddly, he watches seriously bloody horror flicks with his dad without batting an eye, but animals or characters they specifically get you emotionally attached to? nope. can't handle it. So given that he was specifically asking me about Peeta, I caved. "No, honey. He and Katniss both survive." He didn't believe me so I told him I'd spoil just this one character for him and gave away the epilogue. "They get married and have two kids."

That seemed to settle him for a long time, and while it was rough going (he was seriously pissed at me over the hijacking, but he was more so angry at Snow for that) he made it through...

And then Finnick. Lord, that was not what I was expecting him to lose it over. But he literally stood up on the couch and screamed at Katniss over it. Threw a pillow. "WHAT?!?!?! NO!! HE COULD'VE MADE IT!!! GET BACK IN THERE, KATNISS!!! MOM!!! YOU DIDN'T TELL ME FINNICK WAS GONNA DIE!!! THESE MOVIES ARE HORRIBLE!! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!?!?!?! MOM WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? YOU LIKE THIS?!?!?!"

Yeah. I felt like a shit bag. But also... alright, we're getting the message. Except he still hasn't read the books. Every time I mention it, he scowls at me. "I'm still traumatized from the movies, Mother."

Meanwhile, the oldest was like.... meh at the end. *facepalm*

You all are truly making me feel old here lmao.

Gah. The year I first read the books, which was also the year the first movie was released, this b***** turned 30. My babies were actually babies. Most of the people I followed on here were mid twenties to fifties, so I wasn’t even that old, in comparison. Now my kids are the target audience age and it’s like every new person I see on here, I wanna ask them if their mother knows they’re here. And also to stop reading my porn, but then I remember the kinds of things I was reading at 13-19 and I’m like okay fine read my porn but don’t blame me if you get traumatized. 🤣

And also to stop reading my porn

🤣

I remember finishing the Mockingjay audiobook hunched over in my cubical, driving home on autopilot, calling off work the next day (but feeling hungover about it for weeks), then spending the preceding years trying to avoid THG ennui:

This was not a universal experience?! Lol