Culture evolves as time progresses, and this can be clearly seen in the differences between ancient works of literature and their modern movie adaptations. The epic Beowulf (Heaney 2000) and the film Beowulf and Grendel (Gunnarsson 2005) have different values between the two Beowulf’s. The movie Beowulf and Grendel reveal a modern Beowulf whose role changes over the progression of the film expressing a more modern concept that it is no straightforward matter to understand the origins of a culture that has evolved and the differences in beliefs between good and evil in a modern society and a six century society. Beowulf in the epic is referred to as a god and a hero. The scop of the epic describes Beowulf as a hero who does everything
…show more content…
The scop describes this battle between Beowulf and Grendel in a very biased way towards Beowulf. He is very boastful about Beowulf stating, “The King of Glory had posted a lookout who was a match for Grendel, a guard against monsters, special protection to the danish prince.” Of course, we see authorial intrusion as the scop is all for Beowulf, as he was the protagonist throughout the whole epic. Beowulf kills Grendel, as described in the book for the evils he has committed to the society of the Danes but only according to an Anglo- Saxon culture. In the film, we see a more in depth reason why Grendel is attacking Hrothgar and Heorot the mead hall. This shows a level of culture complexity that has evolved and we don’t see evil truly in one way today as it was in the sixth century. Beowulf sees Grendel as an evil “monster”, but today in modern culture as reflected in the film Beowulf discovers that “monster”, has feelings, emotions and talks just like us. This is shown in the film to illustrate the different cultural values the Anglo-Saxon had compared to the values of today’s society. In a complex society we don’t believe that somebody is born into evil, everybody has feelings and …show more content…
This is due to anglo-Saxon culture as they believed he was a savior to the Danes he defeated Grendel and is collecting accolades of battles. Our modern society is reflected in the film which Beowulf shows characteristics of a modern culture. He begins to show emotions that a Beowulf in the epic never wouldn’t dare show. This is due to a different time period as noted the film was produced in two-thousand-five. It shows more of a modern level of complexity. We as humans today wonder why we commit certain actions and they're motives for every action. Beowulf becomes very curious as to why was the justification as to why he killed Grendel. He is puzzled as to why Hrothgar asks to for him to kill Grendel. In our human culture, we seem to seek answers as to why we do things. In the film we see why Grendel retaliates against the Danes and that's because Grendel saw Hrothgar kill his father for stealing a fish from the Danes. This justifies how Grendel is just a human who is trying to seek revenge on the Danes for killing his father. Beowulf is carrying a load of emotions because in the twenty-first century we do things we justifications. We don’t stereotype people because of their actions. Beowulf starts showing his modern identity in the film as he discovers why Hrothgar wanted him to kill Grendel and protect the Danes. This starts to take a toll on Beowulf
The scop describes this battle between Beowulf and Grendel in a very biased way towards Beowulf. He is very boastful about Beowulf stating, “The King of Glory had posted a lookout who was a match for Grendel, a guard against monsters, special protection to the danish prince.” Of course, we see authorial intrusion as the scop is all for Beowulf, as he was the protagonist throughout the whole epic. Beowulf kills Grendel, as described in the book for the evils he has committed to the society of the Danes but only according to an Anglo- Saxon culture. In the film, we see a more in depth reason why Grendel is attacking Hrothgar and Heorot the mead hall. This shows a level of culture complexity that has evolved and we don’t see evil truly in one way today as it was in the sixth century. Beowulf sees Grendel as an evil “monster”, but today in modern culture as reflected in the film Beowulf discovers that “monster”, has feelings, emotions and talks just like us. This is shown in the film to illustrate the different cultural values the Anglo-Saxon had compared to the values of today’s society. In a complex society we don’t believe that somebody is born into evil, everybody has feelings and …show more content…
This is due to anglo-Saxon culture as they believed he was a savior to the Danes he defeated Grendel and is collecting accolades of battles. Our modern society is reflected in the film which Beowulf shows characteristics of a modern culture. He begins to show emotions that a Beowulf in the epic never wouldn’t dare show. This is due to a different time period as noted the film was produced in two-thousand-five. It shows more of a modern level of complexity. We as humans today wonder why we commit certain actions and they're motives for every action. Beowulf becomes very curious as to why was the justification as to why he killed Grendel. He is puzzled as to why Hrothgar asks to for him to kill Grendel. In our human culture, we seem to seek answers as to why we do things. In the film we see why Grendel retaliates against the Danes and that's because Grendel saw Hrothgar kill his father for stealing a fish from the Danes. This justifies how Grendel is just a human who is trying to seek revenge on the Danes for killing his father. Beowulf is carrying a load of emotions because in the twenty-first century we do things we justifications. We don’t stereotype people because of their actions. Beowulf starts showing his modern identity in the film as he discovers why Hrothgar wanted him to kill Grendel and protect the Danes. This starts to take a toll on Beowulf