Why There Won't Be an Indian Percy Jackson
It's true.
1. There is a large dearth of good Indian fantasy out there.
2. The Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan is very popular.
But for some reason, I've seen a lot of people saying that someone should mix the two ideas. That someone should make a book series with the heroes the children of the Indian gods. It's a nice sentiment, but sadly one that is destined to fail for the following reasons:
1. The Indian gods are still a part of religion: No one worships the Greek or Roman gods anymore. But our Indian gods are still worshiped. If someone would go around making a book series about them, there is a very good chance that it will end up getting censored. The reason for this is reason number two on our list.
2. The Indian gods aren't like that: The Greek gods went around having children with humans. The Indian gods have always been revered as embodiments of all of our good values, and they value marriage. If there were stories about the Indian gods cheating on their partners, then millions of people are going to consider that disrespecting the gods very seriously, even though you may not think so. The book would be seen as derogatory, and would have to be banned by the Government.
3. It would just be a copy: Come on folks, most Indian movies are copied from Hollywood movies. Do we want to extend that to books to? Even if the book becomes a hit, it will forever be considered nothing more than a simple copy and will forever live in the shadow of the original.
And that is why an Indian Percy Jackson would fail.
Not that I'm saying that the idea should be abandoned completely. Rick Riordan's ideology has always been about bringing mythology to kids in a way that they can understand and popularizing Greek myths. That's what we should be doing. And there are quite a few movies and television shows that already bring Indian mythology to children in an interesting way. Not too many books, but a lot of the shows and movies are popular. It's important as Indian mythology is a big part of Indian culture, and this practice should be continued and encouraged.
Thank you for reading, and I'd love to hear your views.
It's true.
1. There is a large dearth of good Indian fantasy out there.
2. The Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan is very popular.
But for some reason, I've seen a lot of people saying that someone should mix the two ideas. That someone should make a book series with the heroes the children of the Indian gods. It's a nice sentiment, but sadly one that is destined to fail for the following reasons:
1. The Indian gods are still a part of religion: No one worships the Greek or Roman gods anymore. But our Indian gods are still worshiped. If someone would go around making a book series about them, there is a very good chance that it will end up getting censored. The reason for this is reason number two on our list.
2. The Indian gods aren't like that: The Greek gods went around having children with humans. The Indian gods have always been revered as embodiments of all of our good values, and they value marriage. If there were stories about the Indian gods cheating on their partners, then millions of people are going to consider that disrespecting the gods very seriously, even though you may not think so. The book would be seen as derogatory, and would have to be banned by the Government.
3. It would just be a copy: Come on folks, most Indian movies are copied from Hollywood movies. Do we want to extend that to books to? Even if the book becomes a hit, it will forever be considered nothing more than a simple copy and will forever live in the shadow of the original.
And that is why an Indian Percy Jackson would fail.
Not that I'm saying that the idea should be abandoned completely. Rick Riordan's ideology has always been about bringing mythology to kids in a way that they can understand and popularizing Greek myths. That's what we should be doing. And there are quite a few movies and television shows that already bring Indian mythology to children in an interesting way. Not too many books, but a lot of the shows and movies are popular. It's important as Indian mythology is a big part of Indian culture, and this practice should be continued and encouraged.
Thank you for reading, and I'd love to hear your views.
