Rick Riordan's depiction of "feminism" and it's impact to the fandom
i feel like a lot of the fandom is polarized by two things. There are the mainstream fans that like most of Rick's literary decision and call him Uncle Rick, I'm going to expand on this later, but bcs of that they tend to see any valid criticism of his female characters as misogyny. And then there's the one's criticizing ig. I want to try to expand on the why's the how and the what can we do with it. So I'm going to try to contextualize this as well as I can.
The time it was written's feminist ideology
The Percy Jackson books where written in the 2000's. Where the feminist ideology at the time was for one very white cis heteronomative and classist even. Most of the movements at the time where not only very centered around white dishes women, but it also ignored any type of intersectionality that were seeing today.
But even ignoring all of that. My main focus for what I'm trying to say is what the feminist women became at the time. Which was a woman who was a "girl boss" and most of the time hated men. Which culminated into this misandrist ideology romantization. That made a lot of women and young girls feel like men were like that bcs they aren't capable of better. Not because the system sets it up like that, which makes the barrier of men having to get rid partly of our capitalist ideology of need of power to actually not be misogynistic. Which could also get summarized by the fact that that wave of feminism was looking for individual empowerment and carcerall feminism, instead of trying to dismantle the system that creates the problem.
It was understandable for the political climate of the time. But RR's writting really reflects that. And if it was just the first series it would be one thing. But he got stuck with that and hasn't stopped doing it. Which makes that his female characters don't actually get character development in any way on that matter.
More on the girlboss in this YT video by Quality culture.
His characterization of women
im going to try to talk about some of his main female characters from PJO and HOO and as short as I can but still tackling the main issues:
SALLY JACKSON:
She is a good mother. That can't be denied. But in a way, he creates this narrative in which she can't do no wrong. So when she makes questionable choices it is never adressed. My best and biggest offender is this:
When she's with Gabe to protect Percy she is abused by him and thinks that with that he won't touch Percy, which her trauma should have been adressed more in future books because spouse abuse is no joke. But we should also take into account that their house had the floor full of bottles/cand of beer. That is by no means a good environment for a child. And the fact that its never acknowledge how she was neglectful in that part, even with her being abused and the situation, it would have made so much sense if that created mixed feelings for Percy. Hell. It would have made it much more interesting. Children of abuse tend to latch on to their "good" parent (I surely did). But when they grow up and mature they tend to see it from an outsider perspective. And that conflicting feeling would have been very good to show Sally as the flawed character she is and a way to validate abused children's emotions and thoughts.
More on a mothers role and it's social standards in this YT video by oliSUNvia.
ANNABETH CHASE:
She could've been a very good character. Her abandonment issues and pride are some very nuanced problems to tackle. And whould've been a good example for kids struggling with them. But they get ignored. Annabeth got girlboossed so much in canon that her pride is never actually fully tackled in way where she notably grows from it.
In the latter books she still always thinks she's right. Other characters talk about her like she's some kind of perfect person that is never wrong. And with that her actions get worse and worse with each book. When Annabeth is over jealous in the OG series and can't cope with it healthily it makes sense. But when she is the same in HOO with wanting to keep Percy on his toes talking about Rachel it just feels like she didn't grow in that time. When she hits Percy bcs she has emotions, and is a teenager, and is unable to express them healthily. It makes sense. A lot of girls live through a stage where they feel like they have to hit and punch and shout to be heard. But that isn't good for her or Percy. And when it gets to the point where Percy anticipates more that she will hit him than be affectionate when they're together? Then there's no actual development in her anger issues either.
RACHEL ELIZABETH DARE:
She isn't just reduces as a catalyst to move forward percabeth by the end of PJO. But she is never actually completely fleshed out. We never know her feelings about her class/power position and how it affect the environment. We never fully get the whole mortal with sight experience. The fact that she was thought crazy? The fact that she HERSELF thought she was going crazy. The whole Percy and her romantically arc. How Annabethe treated her and called her mortal —used like a slur btw—.The whole Oracle thing. There's nothing actually. We are just told that she and Annabeth make up OFF SCREEN. But there's never even one Rachel POV.
We basically stop seeing her after she becomes the virgin Oracle. And that's because that was mostly used as a way to leave the reigns to percabeth. To stop the perachel fans. She was there to create the tension to make Annabeth kiss Percy and create tension just to make her impossible to date to stop that ship.
THALIA GRACE + CLARISSE LA RUE:
im doing them together bcs they both fall into the stereotype of girl boss that has anger problems that never get a dressed in a meaningful way and are good bcs they aren't girly. (This is the main point and bcs it's one that a lot of people agree with if you want to expand on it I'm sure there's good posts here on Tumblr or you can make me an ask if you want but this is alr long af)
Thalia (and Reyna) are also put in the hunters of Artemis bcs it's inconceivable to RR to have a girl single and not make her aroace. She literally made a point to point out that Reyna and Thalia are only friends just to discourage the fans of the ship.
More on this in the books in this post by rosabell14.
More on this socially in this YT video by Tara Mookne.
More on the ace spec in this YT video by Rowan Ellis.
PIPER MCLEAN + APHRODITE:
She's basically the staple of not like other girls. She's constantly compared with the other Aphrodite kids and how she's better bcs she isn't feminine/superficial (bcs they are treated as one). There's a whole problem with making the whole Aphrodite cabin made as superficial only bcs they're kids of the beauty goddess.
Bcs Aphrodite also got reduced here. She's also a war goddess. The love goddess, and not only romantic which was all RR made of her. She's from the sea. She's prideful. Powerful. Vengeful. But that's never touched.
More on the pick me in this YT video by Jaidyn Zehner.
HAZEL LEVESQUE:
Let me tackle her. Because making one of your only black characters the mom friend. A stereotype that black women/girls have had to endure because of racism and white people adultifying them is insane. Her relationship with blackness and her hair never being really adressed, when she lived in the 40s which was under the Jim crow laws. With segregation. With BIWOC having to relax/straighten their hair just to be able to go to places.
She's not a girl boss. But she gets romanticized. She does no wrong. And she also never actually tackles the dichotomy of her past experience with her race and society and her new life in a basically new world for her.
More of this in this post by bayetea.
The fandom's parasocial relationship with Rick Riordan:
To understand my next point we need to talk about this. Most of this fandom calls him Uncle Rick, see him as a beacon of good writing and representation. We as a fandom have created a parasocial relationship with him via his writing. Bcs the POV he makes are relatable. Bcs his —internalized as it seems— racist, sexist, homophobic opinions that are reflected in his writing aren't noticible at first glance and need some level of critical analysis.
But he's not our friend. We don't know him. He's not a perfect person and not a perfect writer by any means. But by creating this parasocial relationship with him —which he intensifies with how he interacts with us, bcs it's a marketing strategy. You can't lose money when your fans idealize you and defend you immensely.— we've entered a point where if anyone criticizes him a lot of people feel like they're attacking him, and as his "friends" we can't let that happen.
We shouldn't do that the same way we know it's bad when it happens with celebrities.
That does not mean we shouldn't respect him as a human being. But we can criticize his writing. What he does for a living of which we are the costumer.
More on parasocial relationships in this YT video by Shanspeare.
The mainstream opinion:
It has become a personal attack. It's not seen as literary analysis and critical thinking. It's reached a point where it's seen as an attack to him —and bcs of the parasocial relationship— an attack to the fans.
It's also important to denote how this part of the fandom has gotten so into their canon idea —which is actually a rethought of canon. But bcs it's been so popularized it's seen as actual canon.— that anyone with other opinions is treated as "stupid". Fandom is to enjoy the media in any way the fans want. We should not be so canon purists, because it has made the fandom toxic to anyone who wanders even a little out of line.
The critics of this misandrist feminism:
Even if it is important to criticize this kind of ideology, it's also important to note that all the characters are victims of such biases. So just hating the female characters of the PJO series because they don't like the character without understanding the origin of this and all characters with much more other controversial characterizations, —Racism, ableism, homophobia, classes, bad understanding of Hellenistic paganism and more.— loses a lot of information that doesn't just make you have more deep and thought out characters but also gives you more understanding of this political/ethical issues.
Anyone want to add their grain of salt in this is more than welcome!! I'm sure I've missed some parts. Especially on the his characterization part, because I had to try to do it as short and concise as possible bcs this is long af.
