Beowulf: Past, Present and Future - Essay Example

Beowulf: Past, Present and Future The movie industry has been resistant to the idea of tackling the story of Beowulf in comparison to the number of versions of similar tales. A search on Internet Movie Data Base for movies or television shows that feature Beowulf returns less than ten hits and three of those are for multi-episode story arc of Xena: Warrior Princess. Out of the attempts that have been made, none deserve the accolade awarded to cinematic translations popularly known as "faithful." There is certainly a potential rationalization for this lapse; after all, the plot of Beowulf contains elements that filmmakers seem to think moviegoers abhor: too much talking and too little coherency. That is not to say that the story of Beowulf and his appointment with Grendel is utterly lacking in cinematic potential, but rather that the bare bones of the story is perhaps too sparse for a filmmaker without exceptional talent to exploit. Even so, Beowulf is epic in scope and is perhaps unparalleled in treating universal themes ranging from heroism to envy, so why then did a somewhat recent film take its title and story only to execute the art of filmmaking in such a way that it bears almost no resemblance to its source material The 1999 film Beowulf differs most obviously from its source in setting. In fact, the setting seems closer to a post-apocalyptic world than a pre-modern one. Despite the fact that the movie clearly takes place in some vague and nebulous future, however, it also harkens backward in time and on occasion does seem to be a weird amalgam of the past and the future combined together to create some kind of bizarre present. For instance, King Hrothgar still lords over a medieval-type outpost, only now he has the benefit of some elements of advanced civilization at his disposal. The opening sequence of this version of the story presents a backstory that eventually centers on the fact that Hrothgar's kingdom, if you will, is currently the focus of attacks from some kind of reptilian beast and Hrothgar is helpless to put an end to the carnage. The film succeeds in showing that the basic core of any timeless mythological tale can be transplanted forward in time with very little difficulty. The great magic of mythology is that it isn't tied to time, but is sinuous enough in story and large enough in scope to easily cross the boundaries of not only time but also ethnic and racial divides. Beowulf may belong to the Norse mythological canon, but this film proves that its themes are widespread and can easily be adapted. The idea of the evil opponent being vanquished by the lone hero and saving the village has not only been translated forward in time with a still recognizable Grendel, but an argument could also be made that it forms the backbone of the classic western Shane in which Alan Ladd plays a Beowulf-like character who arrives to kill the Grendelesque Jack Palance. Where this film version takes a risk that pays off is in the notion that the people are suffering from a curse because of the Grendel family. This idea is very much in line with the sense of patriotism and it even offers up a stopgap one of the nagging questions that the original poems leaves unanswered: why doesn't King Hrothgar leave Hereot rather than subject his people to the torture of Grendel's unceasing appetite for human flesh for twelve long years. The movie answers this nagging conundrum with the device of a siege line that ensnares the inhabitants within their outpost as a result of this curse. At the same time, the movement of the plot into the kind of nihilistic future that has become so predictable it threatens to become a clich is not a particularly good choice. In doing this the movie sacrifices the claims to patriotism and honor that makes Beowulf so memorable. The poem depict a community in which things like honor and heritage are essential to the very idea of being a warrior and the deaths they suffer at the fate of Grendel retain the glory of giving themselves over to an enemy in the name of something far greater and meaningful than themselves. By reducing the effect of honor and patriotism by translating the story to a place where concepts such as these remain foreign the makers of the movie lose much that they gained in the way of introducing the curse and the siege-line. The mythological element most present in the story of Beowulf is, of course, his battle with Grendel. Grendel's mythological lineage has been traced back to either a race of giants who survived Noah's flood or even further back in Biblical times as a descendent of humankind's first murder, Cain (14). In the film, Grendel is presented as a beast who moves quickly, has exceptionally sharp teeth, thick leatherish skin and spikes that reach from down from his back to his legs. An enormous difference in the depiction of Grendel in the film is that, shockingly, the movie's Grendel doesn't actually devour human beings. The original source material for Beowulf contains precious little description of Grendel's mother other than that she is a kind of hag (Davidson 22). The moviemakers apparently saw the need to borrow from the Malleus Maleficarum and turn her into that sexual vampire known as a succubus; a succubus being a creature who does the devil's work of exciting men while they slumber even to the point of death by orgasm. This seems a very odd choice, although admittedly it is in keeping with the other odd choices in a movie that presumes to deal with Norse mythology and the story of Grendel despite having little interest in remaining faithful at all to the source. The interpretation of Grendel's mother is starkly different from one that generations of readers of Beowulf might expect. The filmmakers appear to have wanted to reach into the very height of Norse mythology when it comes to putting sexuality into the story of Beowulf by first making Grendel's mother some sort of beautiful blonde Valkyrie intent on wreaking revenge for iniquities committed by Hrothgar. To be quite honest, the introduction of an element that combines the past of Hrothgar with the past of Grendel's mother is not entirely an awful idea, but whereas Norse mythology typically makes women strong if only to keep them as effective counterpoints to the Viking heritage, the translation of Grendel's mother into sexual being is here included only for reasons of titillation. A succubus Grendel's mother may be in this cinematic version, but after the seduction of Hrothgar and the birth of Grendel, she is hardly one who would appeal to men even while they sleep as an object of great physical attraction: her multiple arms are equipped with talons and she is quite lacking in skin on her body. If it is true that the story of Beowulf has not interested Hollywood due to the lack of love interest or even a sex interest, this particular reading of Grendel's mother will hardly do justice. The abundance of large-bosomed, blonde and beautiful Valkyries would have been a much more palatable and exciting addition to an already ridiculously loose translation. Despite the fact that Grendel's mother is presented as some sort of sexual vampire, she is actually not the sexual being who is intended to draw in those who might be bored with more of the same old swordplay. That honor is reserved for a new character who is introduced, Hrothgar's heretofore unmentioned daughter. Needless to say, this character is substantially more physically appealing than the many-taloned mother of Grendel. It turns out that she has a romantic interest in Beowulf and their affair seems to be introduced as a means of doing what the original epic poem never considered; namely, offering up the opportunity for a sequel. Although the moviemakers made questionable decisions and essentially appear to have little knowledge of Norse mythology, this translation of Beowulf is not all bad news. While it is jarring at first to see Beowulf and Grendel in modernistic settings, the fact that the future and the past seem to collide succeeds in creating a sort of timelessness that proves mythology should have no bounds. Just as many myths were translated backward into the future in the Star Wars saga, this Beowulf film tries to have it both ways, presenting a strange wonderland that could be either the future or the past depending on particular sequences. While the climax of the story is decidedly not in line with the poem and many changes were made with many characters, the true test of a story based on a myth is not about particularities but the larger thematic concerns and this film does connect with the greater idea of Norse myths about heroism and sacrifice. Both the poem and the film, though they take different routes, arrive at their ends fully intact as operatic stories about people desperately wanting to fight against evil and save the world for the hope of good. The movie does make some attempts at providing contemporary insight into the core of what the story of Beowulf tries to inspire and though at times that insight is at best confused, even the muddled aspects provide an abject lesson in how ancient myths can be adapted to contemporary media to provide a retelling that doubtlessly appeals to somebody somewhere. Works Cited Davidson, Hilda Ellis. Roles of the Northern Goddess. London: Routledge, 1998. A Readable Beowulf: The Old English Epic. Trans. Stanley B. Greenfield. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1982. Read More