It looks like Beowulf is a hit, early sales are at the top of the lists. Lord knows why, the trailer does not appeal to me. It looks like a video game, the story looks like it's clichéd beyond words, and the main character can't pronounce his own name ("beahwoof").
I had hoped better, since Neil Gaiman is coauthor.
I wasn't expecting much, because they always feel they have to change things in order to make the poem "accessible" to modern people. The story doesn't require change. For one thing Grendel's mother, as one of "Cain's clan" is a monster, not a stone cold fox. A monster physically, not just mentally.
ReplyDeleteOf course, the bonehead mass audience would probably label me a "geek" for wanting to adhere to the it's-perfect-don't-touch-it original poem.
I too think it looks like a video game, and I haven't played them for close to ten years - it looks like one from that long ago.
that's ironic you mentioned this film, i plan on viewing it today.
ReplyDeleteStory is a cliche? Ummm ... yeah ... that's what I hate about ancient literature, everything else keeps on repeating it to the point that it becomes predictable.
ReplyDeleteThing that surprises me is that they changed the mother into a sex symbol. Where'd they get THAT idea?
Thing that surprises me is that they changed the mother into a sex symbol. Where'd they get THAT idea?
ReplyDeleteI don't know, but wherever they got it I wish they'd left it there. My idea of monsters is a bit different. Try Seamus Heaney's translation - the battles between Beowulf and Grendel, Grendel's mother, and the Dragon are better than any movie could be.
Maybe I'm reading him wrong, but I think Big E's comment about a cliche story is the changes they've made. The trailer reminded me a lot of The Scorpion King - in fact I'm surprised they went with Ray Winstone. Wasn't The Rock available?
I too enjoyed the Heaney translation, I kept looking at the facing page of original text, only to get lost in a tongue I am not familiar with.
ReplyDeleteI was interested to hear there was going to be a film, but it looks like another one of those mass armies of CGI troops and women with painted on clothes in a gore fest of heroics.
I wish Harryhausen would have taken a trip up North in between his Greek classics, he probably could have done a good one back in the day.
There are things that need modernizing, like the discussion of the number of gears on a bike in "A Scanner Darkly" or how Muck needed to become a female character, not male, when "Bob the Builder" was translated into American.
Nothing against painted on clothes, but when shes meant to be a hideous beast, I pictured here more ogre like.
Nothing against painted on clothes, but when shes meant to be a hideous beast, I pictured here more ogre like.
ReplyDeleteIt is, after all, supposed to be a bad thing that the family is of "Cain's clan." Being a sexy beast is not much of a curse; being a beast would be. (Of course, it does seem rather unfair that Cain's descendants pay for his crime. But oh well.)
I never thought to connect Cain's clan to Ables brother. They do say "the sons of the father...".
ReplyDeleteIt says something in the poem about that - that they are monsters cursed by God because of what Cain did. You can tell that this was a people who believed God personally involved himself in the daily workings of the world; Beowulf's victories are partially because God favours him. This is the same idea as that used in the battles in The Iliad, where success or failure depends on the gods' favour, and on fate.
ReplyDeleteThey do say "the sons of the father...".
I'm going to figure that's a typo. :)
"Nothing against painted on clothes, but when shes meant to be a hideous beast, I pictured here more ogre like."
ReplyDeleteHis royal Majesty Shrek the 3rd managed to have both in a single wife. ;-)
Anybody seen the previous movie starring Christopher Lambert?
Joe Dick prophecized...
"(Of course, it does seem rather unfair that Cain's descendants pay for his crime. But oh well.)"
You have no idea! Check the Book of Genesis for Yabal, and then I can reveal to you what happened with that extremely appealing fellow. ):-)
I also hold secrets regarding the fate of his ancestor, the first criminal in history. Very unexpected stuff.
In the unrated movie version - available only on the internet - Grendel's mother sucks Beowulf's giant elephant cock!
ReplyDeleteAh, it's a movie, it's just a big rubber one.
ReplyDeleteSaw the film yesterday and throughly enjoyed it! I was pleasantly surprized. I'd recommend it! Jolene was extremely seductive in it and itb actually made sense.
ReplyDeleteBewarem the sins of the father...........AAAAAA JMHO
Thanks. I may see it anyway.
ReplyDelete(When it comes on DVD, like I usually do.)
In DK they don't give Beowulf in school (they have their own classics to murder). So I don't know the story, I'm merely judging the trailer. Which just looks to me like the generic sword fight movie.
ReplyDeleteWhich just looks to me like the generic sword fight movie.
ReplyDeleteJudging by the trailer, I thought it looked about on par (story-quality-wise) with Conan the Barbarian.
I too may see it, but I'll wait and maybe download it.
In DK they don't give Beowulf in school (they have their own classics to murder). So I don't know the story, I'm merely judging the trailer.
I probably would have found it torture to study in school, but we didn't do that one. Maybe it's just the English who still do. We did Shakespeare, which was bad enough. I enjoy reading his plays on my own, but that's now. When you're fifteen or whatever, it's torture.
"I'm merely judging the trailer. Which just looks to me like the generic sword fight movie."
ReplyDeleteI saw the trailer too. No question about it, when you're right you're right.
"When you're fifteen or whatever, it's torture."
I'm sure there's plenty of room in the scenario for some tasteful, old-fashioned torture. Maybe Grendel was forced to write Norse poetry? (Aaaaarrgh! NOOOOO!)
Anybody seen the previous movie starring Christopher Lambert? Anybody liked/hated/went a big rubbery one on it?
And have you checked on Yabal (Gen 4:17-24) yet? I know the story that's after the story from a prophetic source...
Anybody seen the previous movie starring Christopher Lambert? Anybody liked/hated/went a big rubbery one on it?
ReplyDeleteI haven't yet, but I definitely plan to check it out. Could it possible top Lambert's Oscar-worthy performance in Highlander II?
And have you checked on Yabal (Gen 4:17-24) yet? I know the story that's after the story from a prophetic source...
Not yet, but I will - I swear! It's just that I need to buy a new Bible because my old ones have this underlining, highlighting, margin notes, tabs, etc. that they've become hard to read.
You know, on Wikisource, you can have access to all the Texts with minimal searching.
ReplyDeleteThe Wikisource link:
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Bible_%28King_James%29/Genesis#Chapter_4
I've read it now. Interesting... But stupid! Ha ha ha Just kidding. I was joking, too, about my Bible. Although, I have known people who were that hardcore.
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm not telling you how serious this is, but here's the story behind/beyond the story:
ReplyDeleteCain's punishment was very harsh because, his crime being the first one in Humankind's history, it set a trend, and his inclination to violent crime genetically transmitted to his lineage. Which amounts to a trait present in at least 25% of Earth's population today. Or maybe he just unbalanced the initial gene pool by killing a peaceful ancestor of ours when they were so few, hence his violence becoming more widespread than if Abel had lived to have children.
The Mark that Yahve put upon Cain's forehead (very explicit, so as to be self-obvious to anyone) later inspired one of the hyeroglyphs (I'll blog a picture of it some day), and Cain himself was condemned to never finding escape from his guilty conscience until he atoned for the bigger picture consequences of his act. Therefore, he is in secret an immortal, slightly like the Highlander series, but one which cannot be killed, either by illness, accident, murder or suicide. And he's been trying ever since to atone for the sins of his descendants. Poor guy must be feeling weary...
(At least, he's practically invulnerable, which helps him deal with the risks of his eternal task.)
One of the nastiest of those descendants, as you've seen, was Yabal. He went so deep into hatred and the like, that at the end of his human life he chose to become a top-ranking demon. Yabal even feels that Lucifer is too mellow, essentially doing his job as manager of Hell, so Y has been plotting for milleniae to overthrow his "boss", become the new Satan, and recruit armies against Heaven by encouraging Humankind into the most evil possible ways. The ideal plan being that we destroy ourselves by our own nurtured foolishness, then Armageddon would provide him with a maximally high number of tainted souls to recruit. But of course there is a counter-influence.
And you thought the stories of Gilgamesh and Beowulf were huge epics...
Pascal, I think you might be nuts. I mean, really, it's not like these people actually existed.
ReplyDeleteBtw, just in case - I'm joking. (Although I don't know if anyone's still reading this one anyway.)
ReplyDeleteIf anybody does, it'll be Pascal!
ReplyDeleteEvery time I consider that super-evil Lord Voldemort might be no more than a fictional character, that's exactly what I tell myself: "Pascal, I think you might be nuts."
ReplyDeleteBecause that means that the International Statute of Secrecy of the Wizarding world is bearing its fruits!
Ooh, "they" would love us to believe it's all fairy tales, that there are no roaming Dementors draining the morale of the British people, that it's just Blair's clumsy foreign politics!
I'm not falling for their smooth talk, not THIS smart Doc.
Sure, I'm still reading this one. And I'm writing THAT one. Book #2 of the series will have Domai content, BTW. Really. Lots of it.
With illustrations.
When it finally starts being published, you'll read the news on my blog. I'm not the P-04 referent for nothing, you know.
Pascal to Bridge, energize. Nanoo-nanoo, Pascal out.