I'm reading Beowulf (again) this time the Seamus Heaney translation. (No, sorry, I don't read Anglo-Saxon!) I've read several version, my favorite probably being Rosemary Sutcliff's. I recently read Tolkien's "The Monster and the Critics" (1936) and wanted to read the poem again. Tolkien's essay is amazing. No wonder it revolutionized Beowulf scholarship. Before Tolkien it was all about the text, not about the work. He changed that.
Several films have been made from Beowulf, though all fall far, far short of the original. Beowulf (1999) starring Christopher Lambert and Grendel (2007), I haven't seen. No comment yet. Beowulf and Grendel (2005) starring Gerald Butler of 300 fame, I liked it in theory, not so much execution. Too much influence from John Gardner's Grendel (1971). The sex scene between Grendel and the female love interest was just a little far from the epic for me. (Yes, that was Sarah Polley of Canada, best known for Canada's eastern classic Road to Avonlea) There was some good creepy scenes with Grendel's ma though. Beowulf (2007) I haven't watched all the way through. Just wasn't working for me. I'll try again. Neil Gaiman wrote the film with Roger Avary. The Gaiman quote on the back of the Heaney translation: "I wish that the astonishing and powerful Seamus Heaney translation of Beowulf had been available when Roger Avary and I first wrote our film script." I do too. I also wish he had read Tolkien (or more carefully). I get that the writers wanted to do something different with the story but making Beowulf an unlikeable hero just doesn't work for me. It would be like writing a Superman movie in which you don't like Supe. Too post-modern for my taste. I think ol' John Ronald would have agreed. I could be wrong.
The Thirteenth Warrior (1999) from the Michael Crichton book Eaters of the Dead (1976) remains my favorite Beowulfian story. Perhaps the least germaine it keeps the spirit if not the details. (I have special affection for the film because the first 20 minutes of the movie were filmed right near where I work). Crichton's book is based on an actual manuscript which he blended with the Beowulf epic. This makes it more interesting I think, as does having an outsider tell the tale. This is a clever trick on Crichton's part because he knows the modern reader is as much an outsider to the Viking culture as the Islamic hero. He acts (like the hobbits in Tolkien) as a bridge between two worlds, allowing us to find our way in. All the other Beowulf movies lack this and are ultimately unsatisfying.
Here's CJ Burch's take on Beowulf.
GW
G. W. Thomas has been published since 1987. He has appeared in over 400 publications including Writer's Digest, The Writer and Black October Magazine. His website is www.gwthomas.org
4 comments:
I really wanted to like Beowulf and Grendel. Gorgeous scenery, filmed as if John Ford was in Iceland, great acting by Gerard Butler and Stellan Skarsgard, great costuming.
The problem was the effort to give Grendel a motivation. It de-mythologized him and thus the story.
Tolkein's point was that b/c Grendel is a mythic monster the story can be universal. Beowulf is heroic b/c he confronts an absolute evil. But if there's a moral equivalency between the Danes and Grendel...
I think you've nailed it there with "de-mythologized". That was exactly it. The mythic feel was gone. Without it the story is just 3 grudge matches on the WWE. Like a lot of later Sword & Sorcery, it has to be more than a warrior kills a monster. I think some of the film makers were trying but went in the wrong direction to do it.
GW
The 13th Warrior is a great movie, and The Eaters of the Dead a great novel.
The "actual" manuscript that Crichton bases the story on is a framing device--much like Burroughs' framing devices, where he comes into manuscripts telling of Tarzan or John Carter's adventures.
From Wikipedia: "Crichton explains in an appendix that the book was based on two sources. The first three chapters are a retelling of Ahmad ibn Fadlan's personal account of his actual journey north and his experiences with and observations of the Rus', the early Russian people. The remainder is based upon the story of Beowulf."
Post a Comment