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Beowulf: The Film Versions 1400 Views
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Description:
Movie adaptions always seem to make the hero’s life more complicated than it needs to be. They also always seem to split the last movie into two separate movies. What’s up with that? Check out this video for answers to some of these questions.
Transcript
- 00:01
We speak student!
- 00:04
Beowulf a la Shmoop
- 00:06
The Films
- 00:09
So, Beowulf is, particularly in part because of the great
- 00:14
physical drama and the bling and all the other things
Full Transcript
- 00:16
going on, it makes for great visual feast.
- 00:19
And, as a result, it's had three adaptations
- 00:22
that were pretty major in the theatrical feature film world,
- 00:25
all done within about a decade of each other.
- 00:29
And we can make some great comparisons
- 00:30
between the different interpretations
- 00:32
of the original English epic.
- 00:34
So how do these movies differ from the book?
- 00:37
Obviously, a lot had to be cut out of them
- 00:40
to fit in 96 minutes or whatever.
- 00:42
And how do they differ in interpretation?
- 00:45
And there's -- Some seem very dark.
- 00:49
And others, it's more of a Disney-fied version and so on.
- 00:52
Talk to us about the way those interpretations work.
- 00:54
Yeah, each one is very different.
- 00:56
And what they all share
- 00:59
is that there is an added layer of moral complexity
- 01:04
in these movies that we don't necessarily
- 01:06
see come out in the book itself.
- 01:10
Not that there isn't moral complexity in the book,
- 01:12
but the movies bring it out in a different way.
- 01:14
So, for example, the 1999 version
- 01:16
called Beowulf
- 01:18
is kind of this Western -- It's like sci-fi-ish,
- 01:22
but it's it's like this Western trope of
- 01:24
the "bad" good guy, right?
- 01:26
So, Beowulf is a bad good guy.
- 01:29
And he doesn't really follow the same ethical rules
- 01:33
- as everyone else. - Vin Diesel.
- 01:34
Vin Diesel, who actually plays Beowulf -- No. [ laughs ]
- 01:38
So there's that.
- 01:40
Then, in the 2005 version, which is actually
- 01:42
called Beowulf and Grendel
- 01:44
for a reason, we get a more sympathetic view of Grendel.
- 01:46
We actually get Grendel's backstory.
- 01:48
There's like -- Young Grendel is in the story.
- 01:50
And this is something that,
- 01:52
as we know, we don't get in the book itself.
- 01:55
Which, again, it's the moviemakers, Hollywood,
- 01:58
trying to add a layer of moral complexity.
- 02:00
And then in the 2007 version,
- 02:04
it's, you know, about Beowulf kind of
- 02:06
overcoming these feelings of lost
- 02:08
and trying to focus on killing Grendel, et cetera.
- 02:10
So, basically, in each version, we get some
- 02:13
added layer of complexity that wasn't really in the book.
- 02:16
But that's the moviemakers basically trying to
- 02:20
make Beowulf something it's not.
- 02:22
Really, Beowulf is an adventure story.
- 02:25
It's an epic poem.
- 02:26
Epic poems are adventure stories of heroes.
- 02:29
And, while that kind of flies in Hollywood a little bit,
- 02:34
you always need like something -- Beowulf struggling
- 02:36
or, "Oh, Grendel's an orphan"
- 02:38
or whatever the situation is.
- 02:39
So they try to kind of pull something out of it that's not --
- 02:42
To be fair, there is some moral complexity in Beowulf.
- 02:45
Those little side stories that we talked about?
- 02:48
We see a lot of that when Hrothgar's wife is like,
- 02:51
"Oh, but wait, my sons." You know,
- 02:53
"I value them. Why is Beowulf coming in to take them?"
- 02:56
But these movies leave that stuff out.
- 02:58
They're not focusing on that.
- 02:59
They're focusing on Beowulf and Grendel and --
- 03:02
So they're trying to place moral complexity
- 03:04
where there maybe isn't any.
- 03:06
Or, at least, isn't any the way that we think
- 03:08
in the 21st century of moral complexity.
- 03:10
Yeah, the shrink-wrapped emotions
- 03:13
that, you know, Hollywood movies kind of have to do
- 03:15
- because they're so time-limited. - Exactly.
- 03:17
Exactly. And so it just reminds us once again
- 03:19
that when we read a book,
- 03:20
we have to think of it in its context.
- 03:23
The context of when it took place
- 03:24
and when it was written.
- 03:25
And, in Beowulf's case, also when it was originally told.
- 03:30
How do the film adaptations differ from the original story?
- 03:34
How do the films differ from each other?
- 03:37
What is the common thread between the adaptations
- 03:39
and the original?
- 03:41
Why is it beneficial to keep historical context in mind
- 03:45
when we're reading a book or watching a film?
- 03:50
Oh, Grendel's an orphan.
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