Whats the difference between Beowulf the movie and Beowulf the book?

Answer 1

the book explains in more relevant detail the classical story of Beowulf. The scriptwriters of Beowulf the movie made a good attempt at keeping the movie classical all the while not understanding that it went from a classical epic novel in to your average Hollywood production. The scenes of near nudity where very innapropriate. In the book it explaines grendal as more of a monstorous killer who is like a thief in the night and slaughters soldiers like its nothing. In the movie it shows that grendal is a half crazy half sensitive killer which they do not explain in the movie at all

Differences from the poem"It occurred to me that Grendel has always been described as the son of Cain, meaning half-man, half-demon, but his mother was always said to be full demon. So who's the father? It must be Hrothgar, and if Grendel is dragging men back to the cave then it must be for the mother, so that she can attempt to sire another of demonkind."- Roger Avary[1]

One objective of Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary was to offer their own interpretation for motivations behind Grendel's behavior as well as for what happened when Beowulf was in the cave of Grendel's mother. They justified these choices by arguing that Beowulf acts as an unreliable narrator in the portion of the poem in which he describes his battle with Grendel's mother.[13] These choices also helped them to better connect the third act to the second of their screenplay, which is divided in the poem by a 50-year gap.[14]

Some of the changes made by the film as noted by scholars include:

• the portrayal of Beowulf as a flawed man
• the portrayal of Hrothgar as a womanizing alcoholic
• the portrayal of Unferth as a Christian
• Beowulf's funeral
• the portrayal of Grendel's mother as a beautiful seductress who brought Grendel as Hrothgar's child and the dragon as Beowulf's child
• the fact that Beowulf becomes ruler of Denmark instead of his native Geatland[15][16][17]

Scholars and authors have also commented on these changes. Southern Methodist University's Director of Medieval Studies Bonnie Wheeler is "convinced that the new Robert Zemeckis movie treatment sacrifices the power of the original for a plot line that propels Beowulf into seduction by Angelina Jolie-the mother of the monster he has just slain. What man doesn't get involved with Angelina Jolie?' Wheeler asks. 'It's a great cop-out on a great poem.' ... 'For me, the sad thing is the movie returns to…a view of the horror of woman, the monstrous female who will kill off the male,' Wheeler says. 'It seems to me you could do so much better now. And the story of Beowulf is so much more powerful.'"[18] Other commentators pointed to the theories elucidated in John Grigsby's work Beowulf and Grendel, where Grendel's mother was linked with the ancient Germanic fertility goddess Nerthus.[19]

This is not the first time that the theme of a relationship between Beowulf and Grendel's mother was explored. In Gaiman's collection of short stories, Smoke and Mirrors, there is a poem, Bay Wolf, which is a retelling of Beowulf in a modern day setting. In this story, Beowulf as the narrator, leaves it ambiguous as to exactly what happened between him and Grendel's mother.

In addition, philosophy professor Stephen T. Asma argues that "Zemeckis's more tender-minded film version suggests that the people who cast out Grendel are the real monsters. The monster, according to this charity paradigm, is just misunderstood rather than evil (similar to the version presented in John Gardner's novel Grendel). The blame for Grendel's violence is shifted to the humans, who sinned against him earlier and brought the vengeance upon themselves. The only real monsters, in this tradition, are pride and prejudice. In the film, Grendel is even visually altered after his injury to look like an innocent, albeit scaly, little child. In the original Beowulf, the monsters are outcasts because they're bad (just as Cain, their progenitor, was outcast because he killed his brother), but in the film Beowulf the monsters are bad because they're outcasts [...] Contrary to the original Beowulf, the new film wants us to understand and humanize our monsters."[20]

Citation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf_%282007_film%29#cite_note-14

Answer 2

The movie Beowulf takes creative liberties with the original text, including changing elements of the plot and characters to make it more appealing to a modern audience. The book, on the other hand, is an Old English epic poem that tells the story of Beowulf, a hero who battles monsters and dragons. While both versions share the same basic narrative, they differ in their interpretations and portrayals of the characters and events.

Answer 3

some similarities:

the clothes

the drinking and merrymaking in the mead hall

that there were battles between Beowulf grendal and the mom (even though they were not the same fight scenes as the poem)

how Beowulf fought grendal with no sword or armor

Beowulf's arrogance

the swimming race between Beowulf and that other guy

unferth trying to put down Beowulf when he first arrives

how unferth offers Beowulf his sword

those are a few that i can think of off the top of my head hope this helps!!!

Answer 4

Well for one Grendels mother was not an attractive woman, she was a monster like Grendel. Beowulf never slept with Grendels mother, and the dragon he fights in the end of the movie is not his son its a random dragon that he fights after returning home to Geatland to be crowned king.

Answer 5

Well for one Grendels mother was not an attractive woman, she was a monster like Grendel. Beowulf never slept with Grendels mother, and the dragon he fights in the end of the movie is not his son its a random dragon that he fights after returning home to Geatland to be crowned king.

Beowulf is the epitome of an epic hero in the poem. In the movie Beowulf is a lying, adulterous, and cruddy excuse for a hero.

Answer 6

1. The portrayal of Beowulf as a flawed man rather than a heroic warrior.

2. The portrayal of Hrothgar as a womanizing alchoholic rather than a noble king.

3. The portrayal of Unferth as a Christian.

Answer 7

There were quite a few similarites. For one Beowulf arrives in Denmark the same way in the book and movie; being questioned by Hrothgar's luitenit. Secondly, Beowulf does defeat Grendel in both movie and book; although in different ways it still happens, none the less.

Answer 8

Well for one Grendels mother was not an attractive woman, she was a monster like Grendel. Beowulf never slept with Grendels mother, and the dragon he fights in the end of the movie is not his son its a random dragon that he fights after returning home to Geatland to be crowned king.

Answer 9

What_are_the_literary_differences_between_Beowulf_the_epic_poem_and_Beowulf_the_movie

Answer 10

1 is a movie and 1 is a book...