~ Sceopellen ~

Some spoilers, as one might expect. Not really text spoilers, more movie spoilers – different plots!

Imax, London, 19th November 2007:

Plot:

• Hrothgar as Grendel’s father…
• Beowulf as the dragon’s father – genetics?
• Beowulf sleeping with Grendel’s mother instead of killing her.
• Beowulf marrying Wealhtheow.
• Beowulf becoming king of Denmark..
• Beowulf using the horn as a light – clearly stolen from LOTR.
• No report of Beowulf getting married, just a very strange cut-scene.
• The dragon is meant to be at Beowulf’s home – basically in order to save on CGI costs, they changed the plot. *grrr*
• No barrow on the cliff! Boo hiss!
• And more…

Character representation:

• Beowulf:

Beowulf was not a cockney! He suddenly loses all his clothes numerous times, but the second time, this wonderful *cough* undressing is not shown. Then, his LACK of attire! I know he goes into battle without weapons – but naked? And dressed like a Roman soldier? Slight flaws there…
Also, on searching my blogroll for further Beowulf movie references, I came across the wonderful Quod She, who has beautifully related a point I also found difficult in the movie; namely relating to the last few lines of Beowulf. I quote:

“lofgeornost, “most eager for fame” — and applied it to their characterization of Beowulf throughout. Fine. But in doing so they’ve also decided to ignore the other three descriptors applied to Beowulf in the last lines of the poem: manna mildust (mildest of men), monthwaerust (most gentle), and leodum lithost (kindest to his people). Gaiman and Avary’s Beowulf is an asshole.”

I am inclined to agree. I don’t see him as the heroic ideal – in fact, I greatly prefer Weorot and Wealhtheow, which I don’t think is intended. As she says, Beowulf is a bit of a weed, who doesn’t quite manage the whole ‘honourable strength’ thing very well, instead going for a rather more technologically advanced approach – he tears Grendel’s arm off not with his own bare hands and super-human strength, but instead with the aid of a pulley system of ropes and pillars, trapping Grendel’s arm in the door. He then proceeds to make a rather pathetic (and supposedly heroic) speech based on ‘I am Beowulf’ whilst whacking the door on Grendel’s arm for a while. This rather reminded me of “Me Tarzan”…

• Horses:

Horses do not gallop like that! Completely out of proportion and one cannot argue that it is a species error – perspective people!

• Hrothgar:

Random nudity? Again? Wearing a toga at the outset. Accent was ok… Why on earth does he commit suicide? He is finally rid of the ‘curse’ of his hall, and then he gives up anyway. It seemed as though the writers had done a quick brainstorm on how to get rid of him without needing more CGI… And giving everything to Beowulf!

Apparently, he is a complete drunkard, bringing shame on Wealhtheow and further than that, unable to escape without Beowulf stepping in. When he then ‘possesses’ her, he regularly cheats on her and is just as bad as Hrothgar. Unfortunatley, her acting is rather lack-lustre and so one doesn’t really feel altogether too sorry for her.

• The Women:

Random bed-warmer. *cough* Hot water bottle *cough*. What?!?! Everyone is very clean… WIth good teeth… They did not have Pantene! Random gaggle of women who make no real sense to the plot and all fawn constantly over the great hunk that is… Apparently, all A-S women are sluts.

Oh, and Grendel’s mother of course, who could also be a slut. I quite enjoyed the character development of GM, although the appearance leaves a lot to be desired, namely some signs of GM as the monster she is meant to be! Yet, pretty much the only moving scene was the revelation of the close bond between mother and son when Grendel has passed away. It is as though the directors are aiming to lose the view of GM as merely a monster. Unfortunately, the plot has lost the human feuding which would have caused us to question the nature of the monstrous.

Other characters:

Unferth was a little odd with the whole Christianity thing – it is a Christian poem, but no-one in the poem is Christian. Also, the burning man on the cross? (Was that Unferth?).

I can’t currently remember, but I don’t believe Beowulf made Wiglaf King – did he? Please correct me on that one if i’m mistaken.

Grendel’s appearance rather irritated me, mainly because (I suspect) of flawed CGI. The perspective was often completely wrong and he rarely managed to seem like a great monster – he seemed more like a misguided child most of the way though. If the movie was aiming to present Grendel as a pathetic character, deserving of our pity, then they manage to make Beowulf into a completely heartless git. On the other hand, he kills people, so then one is forced to watch a rather pathetic, drooling, lopsided, mis-proportioned 5 year old.

Also, as Michael Drout aptly says:

“The plot does has some weaknesses. For example, we understand that Grendel is angry because his hearing is hypersensitive, and the parties at Heorot hurt his ears… Let’s accept that change, though — Grendel does a LOT of screaming for someone with hyper-sensitive hearing. He was giving me a headache, and my hearing is in the normal human range. If I had his hearing, I wouldn’t go into the noisy area and start shrieking. Then, when his eardrum is punctured, he shrinks — first down to normal human size, then eventually to fetal size (though, interestingly, when his arm is hanging on the wall later, it is huge, even though he lost it after he shrunk). So … his size is in his ear? Huh?”

Also, the choice of the directors to add in occasional speeches in Old English was quite pleasant. It’s good that the directors are willing to take that risk. However, the accents left a lot to be desired and I could tell that much of the audience were having problems with it. It meant that much of the audience didn’t understand what was going on particularly clearly, resulting in an underdeveloped relationship between Grendel and Grendel’s mother, a rather long pause in the action and consequently, a loss of patience with the pathetic Grendel who drooled onto the audience in the IMAX.

I can see the point of yet another blogger over at Modern Medieval who posits that the use of OE is mainly to reveal the archaic and ‘older, more ancient’ characters, possibly even suggesting that they are not real but merely a product of the imaginations of men. Beowulf’s occasional dream-snatches seem to suggests this.

They are creations born from an older-age of heroism, just as Beowulf states when he laments the loss of the heroic ideal from the land – but are they as old as humans themselves? Do G & GM represent the influences of history and myth on the human mind and more importantly, the human imagination? Are they representative of our deepest desires? GM is a figure of lust, she hoards treasure and is quick to action – G represents anger and both causes and revels in the fall of the hall of sloth and gluttony (he both is angered by their pleasure and kills more than he can eat). Perhaps they are material representations of the seven sins? Christianity is certainly erroneously high on the movie’s agenda – why not also subconsciously?

Setting:

• Rather overly Roman – and why the castle? A very medieval castle, i’ll give you, but rather LATE medieval…
• Layout of the town was really quite odd.
• Overly advanced bridge construction.
• There wasn’t really a mere.
• Nor a barrow on the cliff for that matter, as previously mentioned.
• How come, when e.g. the dragon dissapears, there are gold pebbles left on the beach! If you’re going to make creatures magically disappear, at least take them all away!

Scientific advances:

• Overly-advanced siege weaponry.
• And bridges…
• Too many swords – and rather intricate weapons. Swords would be far to expensive for a King sieged by a treasure-loving monster to own…
• More on the CGI – I loved the presentation of the dragon, except the glowing remnants on the beach. The dragon was beautifully done. However, the heart was on the small size for a dragon that powerful and large!

Gender and all that jazz:

• The representation of women was bar-maid-esque at best. Apart from Wealhtheow, all the women were sluts (who make sexually explicit noises when scrubbing blood from tables) and all had pretty much no self control, or any self-respect. In the text, Wealhtheow is a vital character, serving as a link between communities – essentially a diplomat – and holding a ceremonial role in the hall. Yet she was downplayed and shown as rather weak and feeble. It is implied that she is a possession, to be handed around, and part of the treasure that will be Beowulf’s if he succeeds.
• The only woman who comes out of the film with any power is Grendel’s Mother. Beautiful, not monstrous, and she rather quickly moves on after the death of her son and then Beowulf. As the funeral ship is sent out and burnt (not in the text…), she is seen kissing him on the burning ship, the ship descends to the deep, and within 20 seconds she rises to the surface and begins supposedly bewitching Wiglaf, although that isn’t exactly clear.
• As far as the sexual images go, the movie is TEEMING with them. Almost frustratingly so. Freud would have a field day. Beowulf is constantly undressing himself in the freezing, northern, snow-sprinkled winter and consequenly, requires many interestingly placed glittering spiky helmets and thighs to cover his decency.
• Just to add to my frustration, there are swords galore – and we all know what they are. In fact, Unferth presents Beowulf with his sword in a rather interesting fashion, which Beowulf then uses to attempt (and fail) to kill Grendel’s mother with.
• She somehow manages to stroke his sword until it glows blue, and then proceeds to MELT. I will just add at this point, that the dragon also melts, and Grendel manages to SHRINK. Images of destruction could be rather interesting to study in this film version. However, there are still bits of shiny dragon on the beach, yet there are apparently no remnants from the sword. Grendel is the only thing that is destroyed and yet doesn’t completely lose its original form.
• According to Quod She, there is a link between mere/la mere/mer link – the sea and the power of the feminine is the centre of all power and creation, further emphasised by Beowulf’s return to the sea. I can see where this is going, but as an even better reinforcing point, Grendel’s Mother is the only female character with any sort of power, even if it only leads to destruction – does this mean that destruction leads to creation? Is this suggesting that the suffering of the Geats has made them stronger. Is this a pro-BNP style message? Perhaps that is reading a little too closely, but it seems to connect.
• I realise this is a rather seperate point, but what is with GM’s feet! At one point, her feet are shaped into stilettos, yet at other points, her feet are almost fully distinguishable and her toes can be seen. Also, her plait sometimes magically becomes her tail and visa versa. The relevance of doing this completely evades me, and if she can transform in such subtle ways, why not transform into a slightly more human shape? Also, why does Beowulf initially merit stilettos, and later only see normal human feet? Could it be that GM is losing power over Beowulf, and is therefore also losing the power to change herself to suit him? Even though she needs to woo him more the second time she sees him, she still has more human feet. Does Beowulf have a foot fetish? Now that’s a question!…
• They also appear to be a bit stupid. If a giant dragon is flying towards the small (and historically inaccurate) bridge you are standing on, surely one would get OFF IT. Apparently not.

Conclusion:

I would agree with my fellow blogger Quod She that ‘there were moments that were smart and interesting and effective, but they were buried in a mess of a movie’. Says it all really! I really appreciated moments, such as the emphasis on Grendel’s mother as a MOTHER, on the hall as a community and especially the themes of honour and glory, which although not perfect, were generally quite beautiful. I loved Wealhtheow for her few touching moments, even though the rest of the time she was seen as a glorified waitress, not the queen of the hall. Also, women are not hot water bottles.

I certainly am seeing this movie from an accuracy perspective, and I fully appreciate that this clouds my vision somewhat. The accents of the actors were distracting to say the least, as were the costumes; Angelina Jolie’s glowing-blue stilettos were strikingly annoying and I am fairly sure that much of the rest of the audience were looking rather closely at the gold-tinted rest of her. Grendel, and for that matter, the horses were annoyingly proportioned, and seemed to vary in size throughout the movie!

And as one last comment, there was one particular part I adored. The storytelling. I loved the use of rhythm, the communal aspect, the shouting – it is just as I imagine it would be. Although perhaps less on the grunting side of things. The rather overly-sexual story placed halfway though just before the battle with Grendel was a little annoying, if potentially accurate. What I loved was the story about glory and honour, and the retelling of Beowulf’s battle, using costume. Something rang true in that scene. Perhaps a great story needs to be retold, even if it is within a rather crap movie.

Other links to articles about Beowulf inaccuracies:

Have a look over at Michael Drout’s site- he has a great list. Or rather, several great lists!