ShmoopTube

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We speak student!

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Beowulf a la Shmoop

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The Films

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So, Beowulf is, particularly in part because of the great

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physical drama and the bling and all the other things

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going on, it makes for great visual feast.

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And, as a result, it's had three adaptations

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that were pretty major in the theatrical feature film world,

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all done within about a decade of each other.

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And we can make some great comparisons

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between the different interpretations

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of the original English epic.

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So how do these movies differ from the book?

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Obviously, a lot had to be cut out of them

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to fit in 96 minutes or whatever.

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And how do they differ in interpretation?

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And there's -- Some seem very dark.

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And others, it's more of a Disney-fied version and so on.

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Talk to us about the way those interpretations work.

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Yeah, each one is very different.

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And what they all share

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is that there is an added layer of moral complexity

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in these movies that we don't necessarily

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see come out in the book itself.

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Not that there isn't moral complexity in the book,

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but the movies bring it out in a different way.

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So, for example, the 1999 version

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called Beowulf

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is kind of this Western -- It's like sci-fi-ish,

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but it's it's like this Western trope of

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the "bad" good guy, right?

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So, Beowulf is a bad good guy.

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And he doesn't really follow the same ethical rules

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- as everyone else. - Vin Diesel.

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Vin Diesel, who actually plays Beowulf -- No. [ laughs ]

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So there's that.

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Then, in the 2005 version, which is actually

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called Beowulf and Grendel

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for a reason, we get a more sympathetic view of Grendel.

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We actually get Grendel's backstory.

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There's like -- Young Grendel is in the story.

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And this is something that,

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as we know, we don't get in the book itself.

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Which, again, it's the moviemakers, Hollywood,

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trying to add a layer of moral complexity.

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And then in the 2007 version,

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it's, you know, about Beowulf kind of

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overcoming these feelings of lost

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and trying to focus on killing Grendel, et cetera.

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So, basically, in each version, we get some

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added layer of complexity that wasn't really in the book.

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But that's the moviemakers basically trying to

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make Beowulf something it's not.

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Really, Beowulf is an adventure story.

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It's an epic poem.

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Epic poems are adventure stories of heroes.

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And, while that kind of flies in Hollywood a little bit,

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you always need like something -- Beowulf struggling

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or, "Oh, Grendel's an orphan"

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or whatever the situation is.

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So they try to kind of pull something out of it that's not --

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To be fair, there is some moral complexity in Beowulf.

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Those little side stories that we talked about?

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We see a lot of that when Hrothgar's wife is like,

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"Oh, but wait, my sons." You know,

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"I value them. Why is Beowulf coming in to take them?"

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But these movies leave that stuff out.

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They're not focusing on that.

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They're focusing on Beowulf and Grendel and --

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So they're trying to place moral complexity

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where there maybe isn't any.

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Or, at least, isn't any the way that we think

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in the 21st century of moral complexity.

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Yeah, the shrink-wrapped emotions

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that, you know, Hollywood movies kind of have to do

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- because they're so time-limited. - Exactly.

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Exactly. And so it just reminds us once again

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that when we read a book,

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we have to think of it in its context.

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The context of when it took place

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and when it was written.

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And, in Beowulf's case, also when it was originally told.

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How do the film adaptations differ from the original story?

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How do the films differ from each other?

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What is the common thread between the adaptations

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and the original?

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Why is it beneficial to keep historical context in mind

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when we're reading a book or watching a film?

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Oh, Grendel's an orphan.

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