Two Beowulfs and some thoughts about demons

July 5, 2008 by sagefever

In the beginning, it was the story, the classic hero epic of a man who fails but redeems himself in the end, which always held my attention. Beowulf ~ that nightmare of high school students everywhere~ talk about wordy, the old English a tough read, at first glance it is enough to turn most away . However, it is the story of the story, my heritage and yours also if any North Country blood flows in your veins. This tale, or one very much like it, was told around campfires at night, clan gathered close against the dark and that terrible evil which resides there. In one of the worlds greatest fusions, the blending of the art of story telling ,oral history, the fisherman’s gift for embellishing, and a cautionary moral tale evolved some 1,500 years ago. The demons promise, the sirens song, the dance with evil, bargaining with your very self/soul for the promise of glory, great good or grace. These archetypes run through our very genes and our every day lives.

The origins are murky, somewhere between the 8^th and the 11^th century real events occurred, in Denmark and Sweden, passed from bard to bard, story keeper to story keeper, until two scribes known only as A and B began the recording of the poem, all 3183 lines. Scribe B took over at line 1939, he was quite attentive to detail and even proof read Scribe A‘s work. All else the historians debate over, the exact who, what, when and where are unknown. Is this the tale of one great hero or a compilation of several heroic deeds? It is the earliest story from the Nordic traditions, recorded by very early Christians, whose additions are easily re-figured from their pagan equivalents. The beast Grendel is said to be a descendant of Cain and Abel, a survivor of the great flood. There are passages expressing disapproval of heathen ideas and worship, some ten passages speak of heaven, hell and judgment day, most un-heathen concepts. There are 53 incidental references to the Christian God.

While the Christian hands that wrote this tale are undeniable, there is little doctrine here, what references there are allude to the Old Testament. Beowulf is set in an earlier time, a time when heroes could still walk the earth , a time of change being neither entirely pagan nor fully Christian.

Now put away your Cliff notes, for we have two very different loose translations to avail ourselves of~Robert Zemeckis’s Beowulf and Sturla Gunnarsson’s Beowulf and Grendel. Each film captures an aspect of this saga, yet neither fulfills the promise.

Zemeckis’ take ,scripted by Neil Gaiman and Richard Avery in 2007, advances the same technique that The Polar Express used and is laugh out loud funny at times and only requires you to go on auto pilot to enjoy it. This Grendel, acted by Crispin Glover, is a horror yet strangely endearing ala the original Frankenstein. Campy, gory and meant to be seen in 3-D, it holds to the supernatural elements of the original and runs away with them. “Whenever you are depicting dragons, it is not that you are saying dragons are real. It is that your telling people that dragons can be defeated ~that’s a huge thing and a real thing” Neil Gaiman.

Director Sturla Gunnarsson version requires of the viewer no more thinking than the occasional; they spoke like that and cursed too? This film takes huge liberties with the tale; almost all the inherent otherworld- ness is gone. Poor Grendel is reduced to a mere troll, yet one mean misunderstood troll at that. Watching Gerard Butler in all his manliness is never hard, and an herb woman played by Sarah Pauley is added for sexual tension and a plot twist. The stunning locations really help here, and the weather that cast and crew battled with can be felt on the screen. Heroes still do battle with elemental forces it seems. For a weekend of easy watching, seeing the foundation of such great hero epics as the Tolkien tales and Star Wars, and good old fashioned mind-numbing gore~ I can recommend both films for rental.

Nonetheless, after watching both films, reading those Cliff notes and slugging through the original saga~ it is still the story that captures me. One cannot make deals with demons ~even if they look like Angelina Jolie. We will all die in the end, we are flawed human beings, and our choices echo down to our children. If we are brave, honest and can face our mistakes, we may yet win out in the end. The time of the heroes may well be past us, but stories end is up to each of us.Make good choices.

Crossposted at the B.com Blogs..

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