The Days of Percy Jackson

 It was in sixth grade that I first took Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan from the school library. Though I followed no specific order of reading and had to read the entire bibliography from the first later on, it was one evergreen ride. The release of the recent TV series has overshadowed the books, what with the plot changes and the cast not sticking to physical descriptions, though not as removed from the storyline as the movies (despite their jaw-dropping moments), and I feel the need to reiterate how the book experience actually was. An account of the story would be illustrative of how massive the experience was; however, I cannot spoil the ride. I must confine myself to giving the vaguest description I can provide the reader, but in a way that induces them to actually take all of the thirty to forty books and read them as they were originally before the adaptations.

It is well-known that the plot is about a storyline of a guy named Percy discovering he is a demigod son of a Greek god and has to train at Camp Half-Blood, Long Island Sound, and go on quests to save the world. The corpus of the pentalogy is carefully written, and though it is a colloquial piece of work, it does not fail to amaze you with the plot lines it fabricates and connects. Every thread connects with each other. It shows the coming-of-age of Percy over time to fulfill the Great Prophecy at a time when the Titans are arising. Characters like Annabeth Chase, Grover Underwood, Tyson, Thalia Grace, and Rachel Elizabeth Dare contribute to the character arc of Percy. The writing simply cannot be underestimated as Percy’s oxymoronically smart-dumb personality sarcastically interacts with that of the smart-aggressive one of Annabeth. The Thalia-Percy tensions in the third book create a rivalry unseen. But most importantly, the first Percy Jackson and the Olympians series focuses on the Percy-Luke rivalry. Luke is everyone Percy is, but Percy is not Luke because Luke exists. This characterizes their story that moves forward. Without their rivalry, the entire series would have been in vain. The first series involves not Percy not just discovering he must do adventure quests, but each quest means something. A quest to prevent the rise of Kronos, the king of the Titans, from returning to the living world from the evil pit of Tartarus in the Underworld. The Lightning Thief sees Percy allying with his demigod friends Annabeth and the satyr Grover to retrieve the lightning bolt of Zeus. In the process, he learns of the Titans' comeback. In The Sea of Monsters, he must save Camp Half-Blood by traversing oceans sailed without return to get his hands on the Golden Fleece to save camp. In The Titan's Curse, he is much more mature with the advent of the kids Nico and Bianca di Angelo. In The Battle of the Labyrinth, he must once again save camp, and it all boils down to the final war to defend Mount Olympus against the forces of Kronos and Luke.

The plot also gets more serious from the first to the fifth book. Not only is there growth of characters, but also sarcasm. Percy’s point of view from a first-person perspective is not heroic. It is a guy struggling to find himself in the world. The growth of these characters is not just among the best-written in literature, but I also hold it is also the best-written romance. The way Percy and Annabeth become a couple at the end of the fifth book is one of the most well-drafted creative pieces. Not only that, it is the most ideal relationship. This continues in the Heroes of Olympus series, which is my next point of focus.

The Heroes of Olympus series does not just have Percy and Annabeth. It introduces to us Jason, Piper, Leo, Hazel, and Frank. Seven heroes of Olympus who must answer the call that has arisen. It is, in Chiron's [Percy’s mentor at camp] terms, the last chapter. This last chapter is due to the events of The Last Olympian, the fifth book in the Percy series. The way I lost my mind reading the last sentence of The Lost Hero, or the way I was dumbfounded by the cliffhanger at the end of The Mark of Athena, cannot be described. I wish to put them in words here but you cannot afford a spoiler. The Heroes of Olympus takes seven heroes, nine if you include Nico and Reyna, to defeat the next big threat. Not only that, it takes you three books out of the five to take you across the world, put you on a ship to travel the length of the globe, to cover half the hemisphere.

This was followed by the Trials of Apollo series, which was equally amazing of course, revisiting the characters we have known for more than a decade. As the Trials of Apollo series wrapped up, it seems there is peace reigning in the world of Percy Jackson. The Kane Chronicles series, based on Egyptian mythology, was also a scary work of art and lengthy in itself, and it tied into the world of Percy Jackson. Tie-ins are not limited to Egyptian mythology alone, but Norse mythology as well, as seen in the Magnus Chase series, about the cousin of Annabeth who discovers the world of Odin, Thor, and Loki. The recent books on Nico and Will, and the new Percy Jackson Senior Year Adventures with smaller stories, do not give you as much entertainment as the old books had given us.

This simply cannot be captured by the new TV series. It is a new work in itself and does not reflect much of the plotline, sarcasm, or descriptions of locations and characters. It has essentially done what the movies did. Though both the movies and the TV series are worth a watch, anyone who has not read the books and has been imposed an imagination through these adaptations needs to be whacked upside the head. Read the books. After that, read the graphic novels. They are better works of art, especially I liked the art of Orpheus Collar, whose art was similar to the canon Viria art. Shame The Blood of Olympus is not coming out. Nor any other future comic. I can speak more, but this broadly covers my elation and nostalgia in engaging with the world of Percy Jackson. Those days shall never fail to astonish me, and no adaptation can replace what I experienced in that era. Period.

On the Iran-Israel conflict

The twelve-day war between the United States-Israel alliance and Iran on the other side has warranted global attention. Iran had been weakened by the crises in Gaza, Yemen, Syria and Lebanon. It is against this background that Israel launched pre-emptive strikes against Iran. The US also backed Israel by jumping into the conflict, with its B2 aircraft delivering bunker bombers or Massive Ordnance Penetrators in a 37-hour long operation (its longest operation was in Afghanistan in the 2000s for 42 hours) to the underground and well-protected nuclear facilities of Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan.

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

The NPT was floated in 1968 to prevent the development of nuclear weapons and ensure peaceful use of nuclear energy. Countries like India, Pakistan, the DPRK, have indeed developed nuclear weapons nevertheless even though the P5 countries of the UNSC attempted to prevent them from doing so.

Iran had, under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, agreed to shut down its nuclear weapons program at a time of scrutiny in return for sanctions relief from the US and the UNSC. Trump, during his first term, unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear deal, piling up sanctions on Iran, leading to concerns over Iran developing nuclear weapons. However, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi and the Director of National Intelligence of the USA herself, Tulsi Gabbard have denied the possibilities of Iran to have developed nuclear weapons. It is only in the aftermath of this conflict that the Iranian parliament has voted to exit from the NPT and the threat of the US and Israel has forced Iran to consider the option of nuclear deterrence.

On the other hand, Israel, not being a party to the NPT, has developed nuclear weapons without accepting inspections by the IAEA, aided by the US. Israel represents a more powerful nuclear threat than Iran itself, which is why we need to look into the legality of Israel’s actions. In the Advisory Opinion on the Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons case in the International Court of Justice also affirmed the right of nation-states to use nuclear weapons subject to the principles of the UN Charter, humanitarian and customary international law. Israel, on the other hand, has been a rogue state under the leash of the US and has violated international law on many counts and remains a dangerously militarized state in possession of nuclear weapons.

Israel’s attacks on Iran

Article 2(4) of the UN Charter says, ‘All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.’ Sovereignty and territorial integrity are vested in all 193 member-states of the UN, which can never be undermined by the use of force or an act of aggression that are prohibited under international law. That is clear. The purposes and principles of the UN Charter, to prevent conflict in this world, has strictly enshrined in itself this fundamental concept.

Use of force is permitted only under certain circumstances. Article 51 of the UN Charter says a nation-state may undertake use of force against another nation in self-defence if an armed attack occurs on its territory, by a state or non-state actor. Even this provision is subject to the test of necessity, immediacy and proportionality under customary international law. Otherwise, under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, the UNSC may determine a threat to peace or an act of aggression and may take measures such as cessation of economic and diplomatic relations under Article 41 or military measures under Article 42. This can only be done on the authorization of the Security Council.

However, clearly, Israel’s attacks on Iran, nor of the US on Iran, do not fall within the ambit of any of these concepts of provisions in international law.

Israel claims that it carried out ‘pre-emptive’ strikes, interpreted to be anticipatory self-defence under Article 51. Despite this contention, it should be noted that the Caroline doctrine does not allow Israeli actions to stand the test of legality. In 1837, British colonial forces attacked an American warship Caroline that aided Canadian rebels in self-defence. This was contended to be pre-emptive. Under the Carolien doctrine, pre-emptive attacks or anticipatory self-defence is allowed but under the condition that a threat is ‘imminent’, ‘inherent’ or ‘overwhelming’ to necessitate the use of force. This conditionality of imminence under the Caroline doctrine also negates the Israeli argument that there was any immediate threat from Iran.

It can only be assumed that the US and Israel have violated the global order of things to attack Iran for their diabolical interests. Iran may be a theocratic state curtailing civil liberties especially those of women but in the international forum, they represent a movement of opposition to hegemony. The Iranian people may want a regime change, but definitely not by a hegemon seeking to install a puppet regime.

Dinosaurs, cinema and politics

 I shall begin with a disclaimer: this post is confined to the Jurassic movie franchise, not the books. My fascination with dinosaurs may have begun from childhood like everyone else but only recently did I begin to appreciate the enormity of the plotlines in each and every Jurassic Park or Jurassic World film. Given the recent release of Jurassic World: Rebirth, I found it imperative to provide my opinions on the franchise.

Throughout the seven installations, it cannot be denied that the dino VFX and CGI have had a great impact on our childhood, our cinematic experience due to their themes of adventure, thriller and so on. But it doesn’t stop there. It is a universally known fact that it is also a science-fiction series. The science may not be so accurate, as it so happens in every sci-fi work of art, but the science is there. The compelling storylines of dino DNA being extracted from fossils of mosquitos, filling gaps in their strands with those of reptiles (why not birds, we may never know), the ability of these dinosaurs to change sex due to the inclusion of West African frog DNA, genetic engineering developing to an extent that mankind can create hybrids, mutants and biological weapons (I found the Indominus Rex and the Indoraptor to be an innovative concept to explore but was disappointed that they delved into this too much to create mutants in the latest installment, focusing on ‘monsters’ than on real dinosaurs) bring to light the possibilities of technology as well as highligh ethical concerns.

The franchise’s focus on science is great indeed but it is the recurring theme of the entire series that incites me to appreciate the franchise even more. ‘Life finds a way,’ is a saying by Ian Malcolm, well-known among the frequent watchers of Jurassic Park and Jurassic World. It is an acknowledgement that mankind doesn’t control nature: like the dinosaurs reproducing by changing sex despite InGen attempting to suppress the XY chromosome in dinosaurs, Owen Grady telling he doesn’t control his Velociraptors rather sharing a mutual bond with them to Malcolm and Hoskins, and the repeated dialogues that reinforce the point that dinosaurs aren’t assets of a company and cannot be seen from an accounting perspective rather they are living beings capitalism cannot seek to control. In this way, the franchise is not only a sci-fi work but also political cinema tuned to commercial audiences who only go to these movies to enjoy the visuals, adventuristic themes and the dinosaurs during vacations. The same theme also returned in Rebirth when Jonathan Bailey’s character convinced Zora Bennett to open-source the medicinal samples from dinosaurs instead of turning them over to a monopolist. It is argued that from when the movies were rechristened as Jurassic World, they had attempted to integrate dinosaurs with Hollywood’s backing of the American military-industrial complex. I may have to digress—due to the fact that while Hollywood, influenced by the CIA, might produce vast numbers of pro-American imperialist narratives, the Jurassic World franchise nevertheless didn’t give in to the whims and fancies of the same military-industrial complex but portrayed the impact of what may happen if dinosaurs were assets of corporations or biological weapons of the military-industrial complex, an excellent critique (and also showing the nexus between the black market and the state, of course). This particular theme never runs dry because people continue to need this understanding.

This may describe my broader views on the political aspects of the franchise, but as I mentioned earlier, the Jurassic movies also possess a different kind of storytelling that many audiences fail to see. The first film created one of the best settings: the invitation of paleontologists and a chaotician to endorse the theme park due to litigation by investors, and continued to balance our amazement with the revival of dinosaurs in the modern era (the inception of a time where our fascination with dinosaurs was induced), and the chaos that follows when Dennis Nedry attempts to steal embryos for profit by turning off the security mechanisms in place and selling them to BioSyn (the first instance of human greed in corporations who are competitors). The second installment showed Isla Sorna, or Site B, when the characters on a rescue mission were trapped on an island, this time with no fences, and also the first interaction of dinosaurs with the human world when the T-Rex undertook a temporary tour in San Diego. In the third part, Alan Grant was sent back to Isla Sorna and his character was done justice as his professional interest in understanding raptors was satisfied by his second entrapment on Isla Sorna which was the natural habitat for dinosaurs, and we also got the one-time famous Spinosaurus that broke the plot armour by being the only dinosaur to kill a T-Rex.

It is unanimously agreed to by movie-goers that the original Jurassic Park films were exceptional. I do not sit well with the indulgence in nostalgia by certain sections of the fandom as they are incapable of differentiating what exactly went wrong with the later movies. The Jurassic World movies may have resorted to nostalgia from the earlier movies nonetheless they continued to have better storylines. The first fight between two the T-Rex and the Indominus Rex in Jurassic World was the cherry on the cake, with compelling characters and a plot that did not stagnate in any scene.

Now comes my dissociation with the rest of the audience. Fallen Kingdom and Dominion were equally well-made. Fallen Kingdom was a peak film, portraying the demise of dinosaur species due to a volcano eruption on Isla Nublar and the characters attempting to save them or the cliffhanger of dinos escaping into the human world (new and fresh takes) and it gave us the creeps with the equally mortifying Indoraptor and the near-death escape sequences. Dominion too by bringing together the characters of both the Jurassic Park and the Jurassic World franchise was the perfect send-off. Of course, the claims of the lack of focus on dinosaurs due to the locusts being genetically developed from dinosaurs and the hyped-up Giganotosaurus exist, but that doesn’t mean it was entirely bad. The overall experience was the same as the earlier movies, with a plotline you had to connect. Unlike many Hollywood movies, animatronics was used till Dominion. The movie changed the theme from allowing dinosaurs the ‘absence’, as John Hammond called it in The Lost World, of humanity to a conclusion that dinosaurs and humans can coexist (while also the Carnotaurus sequence illustrating the chaos ensuring from dinosaurs being released in the human world). It gave closure to Henry Wu, introduced in Jurassic World after a long gap since the first Jurassic Park film came out. Bringing back Lewis Dodgson as an antagonist and the can with the embryos Dennis Nedry lost way back in the first film when he was eaten by a Dilophosaurus, it felt like a fitting end to the franchise, indeed, Chris Pratt called Dominion the ‘Avengers: Endgame’ of Jurassic Park. The movie still had many dinosaurs and new ones like Atrociraptors and the Therizinosaurus were introduced. The raptor chase continued to amaze us of course. The story centrally focused on the ethical implications of genetic engineering derived from dinosaurs (Besides the locusts were from the Cretaceous era!). The Giganotosaurus increasingly felt threatening when it attacked the characters despite the criticism from fans. I do not understand how the audience prefers third-rated movies and compares them positively to critically-acclaimed movies when they do not appreciate adequately the success of the storylines in these films that have tried their best.

Moreover, unlike the fandom, it was my analysis from the beginning that Rebirth was the revival of a franchise that was better left extinct (one review wrote this in a negative manner, however, I’m using this term to denote the closure the audience achieved in Dominion). Rebirth essentially undid the last installment’s ending by making dinosaurs go extinct again due to the lack of a Mesozoic climate that allows them to live only near the equator, undoing Dominion’s conclusion. It could rather have been a film that took place between the events of two earlier films. The Delgados in Rebirth were unnecessary add-ons despite one of them being important in revealing the ill will of the antagonist in the film. Unlike the hybrids in the earlier films which were believable and able to replicate dinosaurs, the idea of mutants did not sit well. Nevertheless, it showed well-known and new dinos and had a solid and direct story without plot holes.

My overall views on the franchise have been descriptively laid down here. In light of the new movie, I decided to pen these thoughts and opinions. My objective of this post would be to highlight how the Jurassic films are not just children’s movies; they are something more. They are cinematic and political.

The Deathstroke to a Civilization

When I walk along the streets, footpaths and platforms,

When I traverse the petty shops and workers’ dorms,

I witness the historical conspiracy,

For which I possess no ecstasy.

There are a great many Gates to Heaven,

And around this Garden of Eden,

There exists unthinkable destitution,

Which has no good reputation.

On my right flank, I see skyscrapers,

Of the kind that are written only in mythical papers,

On my left flank, I see slums, sewage, and disease.

Onlookers of these cannot rest with ease.

How is the country, you may ask;

As a patriot, it is a simple task

For me to say the country is great.

Yet, what follows is its fate.

This country has a great many peasants.

The ants are the Osiris of the nation’s pleasant.

Their surplus is devoured by the locusts,

Remorseless and the cause of society’s rusts.

After my visit to my native village,

I return to the city after an age.

There I find a great many flocks of sheep,

Who do not know to think deep.

When they think deep, they will realize,

They are slaves to the draconian cries

Of their consumerist lords,

Who reside in industrial centers and tour in Fords.

In my place, I saw luxuries and beggars.

I go places, and I see crowds in the city.

Vendors, homeless and muggers,

In the capital city, and everything is now a commodity.

While some live with awesome powers,

Others exist in society and cower.

This nation has not yet attained progression,

Still gripped by the death stroke to civilization.

I paint a grim picture of today,

And throughout history, this has been the way.

From cavemen, to lords and kings,

Countrymen, now is the time to discard your binding rings. 

About the Blog

This blog serves as an interesting platform to discuss contemporary politics, cinema and literature. As a student ever invested in law, the social sciences, the art of language and literature, this is a great opportunity for me to write and publish works of my own in this arena. Please do enjoy yourselves.