Disability, Race, and the Black Satyr of the United States of America: The Case of Grover Underwood from Rick Riordan’s The Lightning Thief and its Film Adaptation by Chris Columbus

Anna Mik

doi:10.32798/dlk.20

Published: 2019-07-24

Vol. 1 No. 1 (2019)

Disability, Race, and the Black Satyr of the United States of America: The Case of Grover Underwood from Rick Riordan’s The Lightning Thief and its Film Adaptation by Chris Columbus

Anna Mik

Dzieciństwo. Literatura i Kultura

Section: Studies

https://doi.org/10.32798/dlk.20

Abstract

This article aims to present the book-to-film metamorphosis of Grover Underwood from Rick Riordan’s novel The Lightning Thief (2005), adapted in 2010 by Chris Columbus for the screen. This character in both works is presented as an excluded member of the society: in the empirical world, as a disabled person, in the mythological one, as a satyr. What is more, in the motion picture, Grover, played by a Black actor, poses as an even more marginalised character, as a representative of a community discriminated in the USA. Therefore, the images of this character reflect the various levels of exclusion and show the ideological significance of a contemporary adaptation for the young audience. The comparative analysis is performed with the use of reception studies and critical race theory perspectives.

Keywords:

adaptation, children's and young adult film, children's and young adult literature, Chris Columbus, classical mythology, critical race theory, disability, Percy Jackson, race, reception studies, Rick Riordan, The Lightning Thief

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Mik, A. (2019). Disability, Race, and the Black Satyr of the United States of America: The Case of Grover Underwood from Rick Riordan’s The Lightning Thief and its Film Adaptation by Chris Columbus. Dzieciństwo. Literatura I Kultura, 1(1), 130–146. https://doi.org/10.32798/dlk.20

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Anna Mik

anna.m.mik@gmail.com
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6840-6504

Affiliation:

University of Warsaw Poland

Bio Statement (e.g., department and rank)

Anna Mik – MA, prepares a doctoral dissertation at the Faculty of “Artes Liberales” at the University of Warsaw (Poland) on monsters inspired by Graeco-Roman mythology in contemporary children’s and young adult culture. She works as an assistant in the project Our Mythical Childhood… The Reception of Classical Antiquity in Children’s and Young Adults’ Culture in Response to Regional and Global Challenges led by Prof. Katarzyna Marciniak. Contact: anna.m.mik@gmail.com.