Compare and Contrast Model Essay

Greek Mythology Grade 6: Module 1: Unit 2: Lesson 6

Name: ______Date: ______

Prompt: How does the experience of reading chapter 11 of The Lightning Thief compare to watching the same scene from the movie (47:15–56:48)? Consider what you see and hear when you read the text and watch the film clip.

The Lightning Thief Film and Text Comparison Can you imagine learning that your father is a Greek god? What about fighting immortals to find Zeus’s lightning bolt? This is what happens to Percy Jackson in The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. In the book and the movie, Percy is a twelve-year-old boy who learns that he is the son of the Sea God, Poseidon. Then Percy and two friends go on a quest to find Zeus’s bolt. A comparison of chapter 11 of the book and the same scene of the movie reveals both similarities and differences. Much of this scene in the movie and the book is the same. Percy, Grover, Annabeth, and Medusa are main characters in both. They play the same roles in this scene. The three children are the heroes and Medusa is the villain. The settings of the novel and the movie, while not exactly the same, are quite similar. The novel describes a warehouse full of statues. The statues are “people in all different poses, wearing all different outfits and with different expressions on their faces” (Riordan 173). This is similar in the movie. In the movie, there is a large building with life-sized statues of people. The statues wear different clothes and have different facial expressions (Columbus). In both the book and the movie, Medusa chases our heroes through the warehouse. At the end of both, Percy triumphs. He chops off Medusa’s head and saves them, with the support of his friends. These similarities make the movie familiar to anyone who has read the book. Although the outcome is the same in both, the plot of the scene in the novel and movie is different. In the movie, Percy, Grover, and Annabeth find the warehouse empty (Columbus). In the novel, they are greeted by “Aunty Em,” who turns out to be Medusa. She seems like a nice old lady and feeds them (Riordan 173). This introduction to Medusa in the novel doesn’t build suspense. In contrast, in the movie, when the three split up to explore the empty warehouse, the viewer knows something bad is going to happen (Columbus). There are also differences in the battle with Medusa. In the novel, Grover uses his flying shoes to hit Medusa from above

Greek Mythology Grade 6: Module 1: Unit 2: Lesson 6

and rescue Percy (Riordan 180). In the movie, Annabeth drives a truck through the warehouse to knock Medusa down. This gives Percy the chance to cut off her head with his sword (Columbus). The truck is unexpected and causes a lot of destruction. This difference provides a quick solution to the problem. Both differences in the movie add more action to the scene. Both the book and the movie include Riordan’s strong main characters. Although the plots are a bit different in the book and movie, the outcome of the scene is the same. In both the novel and the film, three unlikely heroes triumph over evil. Perhaps the biggest similarity between the book and the movie is the feeling of strength and power both readers and viewers experience as they make this fantastic journey alongside Percy and his friends.

Sources:

Columbus, Chris M, director. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (DVD). 20 Century Fox, 2010.

Riordan, Rick. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. Disney Press, 2005.