I have to say, I kind of feel that way about Beowulf. Although, some elements of the movie are absurd beyond belief, I find that in being populous, in being an absurd, over-the-top spectacle of images and blood and gore and monstrosity, it keeps to the spirit, if not to the text. Reworking the text to appeal to a modern audience (the millions of dollars in box office tickets) can be likened to poets elaborating and further embroidering the "text" of heroic conquest just to keep everyone interested. Granted, I did prefer reading the text, but I can go with the spirit of the film.
However, actually listening to the actors and the producers of the film, might make you think otherwise. We live in confusing times, my friends.
Beowulf - Story Featurette
Posted Nov 08, 2007An inside look at the story behind Beowulf.
3 comments:
I suppose, as funny as it is to laugh at the changes, there might be a relevant discussion to be had on the subject of revision.
What does revision enact upon a text? This, I think, erases the idea of the Otherness of Beowulf that is present in the actual novel. I think this might drawn in sharp relief the idea of us and them in a text that is somewhat confused.
When you look at the trailer posted below "They say you have a monster here...what we need is a hero..." it's right there, Them and Us, Self and Other. The movie is exceptionally concerned with monstrousness as a category (even if you look at the monster they humanized, Mama, in certain scenes when you can see her reflection in the water she is, no doubt, a monster). It has attempted, however, to erase otherness.
Beowulf is no longer a mysterious large man from god knows where. He comes via a call specifically put out by Hrothgar and he never goes back home, all action is localized in Hrothgar's hall and Beowulf is basically consumed by that culture. He's assimilated so much that he becomes King, the highest representative of being on the Inside, in the center, familiar, Self.
Even if he is an Other, he is still our hero, we still follow him. What does it say about attitudes towards otherness now that we cannot even allow him to be from another, somewhat similar land? Why is it that even the protagonist must be forced into being as familiar as possible?
Or I'm reaching. That's also really likely.
Actual POEM!
Long day.
I took a class in undergrad called "Re-Inventing the Middle Ages" (no joke!). I must admit that many of the things we had to read or watch were extremely "painful": "Tristan and Isolde" (the movie), Michael Crichton's "The 13th Warrior," "The Fisher King," "The First Knight," "Stealing Heaven" etc. As you mentioned in your blog, a great deal of emphasis was placed upon the difference of high and low/pop culture. The ideal of the course was to to try and pinpoint why there is such a fascination with the Middle Ages, whether in texts or films. One of the conclusions we did reach was that today we are fascinated by the exoticism of the culture: the knights, the ladies, courtly love, chivalry, etc. While these films and texts try to instruct as well as entertain. They all seemed to fall short. I think this is the point. In today's culture many seek to be entertained more than educated. Therefore, a film like "Beowulf" is meant more so as a way to find entertainment than education; shock value and exoticism of an abstract culture/time than of a literal interpretation of the text.
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