Taking “Beowulf,” one of the oldest and most important pieces of English poetry and adapting it for film is a bold move, especially when the film is modernized in every way possible.
Anyone who has seen the trailer for director Robert Zemeckis’ “Beowulf” (out in theaters tomorrow) can see that the film is about as “˜Hollywood’ as you can get, even featuring a gold-tinted, stiletto-wearing Angelina Jolie playing Grendel’s mother.
Filmmakers used computers to alter the imagery, making the actors look more like realistic video-game characters than actual people.
The film is clearly aimed at a younger crowd: film buffs and others attracted to action and flashy style. But the movie may also find a more studious audience in literary and linguistic enthusiasts amused by the attempt to modernize a classic work.
Directors often creatively adapt written work for the big screen; recent examples include independent fare, such as “Into the Wild,” and big-budget dramas such as next month’s “The Golden Compass” and next year’s “The Lovely Bones.”
“Beowulf” though, is not an ordinary piece of literature. As the only surviving major Anglo-Saxon heroic epic, it has provided a rich template for scholars in the study of Old English.The anonymously written manuscript is believed to date anywhere from the seventh to the 11th century.
There are bound to be differences in opinion over whether the fanciful film will tarnish the sanctity of the original work or if its progressive artistic style will serve to benefit viewers aesthetically.
UCLA Scandinavian Section professor Tim Tangherlini views the alterations to the original work and the creation of a new “Beowulf” as a natural part of our cultural progression.
“One of the things we find from oral tradition is that people are always varying the stories depending on (the) contemporary political environment in which they are telling the story,” Tangherlini said.
And while producing a technologically-enhanced, action-packed fantasy “Beowulf” is enough to make any literary scholar cringe, the dichotomy of a taking an ancient written work and modernizing it, allows for discussion.
“That’ll be interesting to see ““ how the filmmaker comes down on this story,” Tangherlini said, “A large part is about heroism in the face of almost unprecedented outside threats and the strategies to deal with that type of outside threat. … You could say that maps onto the ideological landscape of the United States right now.”
However, some expect the film’s plot to stray from the original. In the epic poem, the great hero Beowulf comes to the rescue of the Danish mead hall Heorot, which is being attacked by the murderous villain, Grendel. After Grendel’s defeat, Beowulf then fights Grendel’s mother and a dragon.
Alternatively, the trailer suggests that the film will focus more on the seduction of Beowulf (Ray Winstone) by Grendel’s mother (Angelina Jolie), creating a sexual tension that isn’t really present in the literature.
Tangherlini stresses that this focus on entertainment versus accuracy is necessary and that it is important to reinterpret art to make it relevant to a modern audience. Recitations of 3,183 lines in Old English don’t exactly draw large audiences these days.
“I suspect (the filmmakers are) doing something with (the story) that makes it an independent piece of art,” Tangherlini said, “You sit down and you listen to someone reading “˜Beowulf,’ I guarantee you’re going to fall asleep in about 10 minutes. But if you go to the movie theater and watch this great production of “˜Beowulf,’ there’s probably something that is relevant to contemporary life.”
In fact, English Professor Donka Minkova, who teaches linguistic aspects ““ structure, alliteration, meter ““ in her classes every year, finds it somewhat necessary for art to change, depending on the time and the audience.
“If we want to preserve the humanitarian heritage, this is part of it, and every age reinterprets that heritage differently,” she said, “The staging of Shakespeare in the 18th and 19th century and the 20th century even has been quite different from staging in the 21st century.”
Minkova, however, wouldn’t mind if the movie retained some Old English or included recitations of Beowulf’s famous speeches for a taste of authenticity.
“(“˜Beowulf’) is an absolute peak of achievement for that kind of versification and the story is fascinating,” Minkova said.
And while Angelina Jolie seems to sport some sort of Old English accent, it is unlikely that the characters in the modern update will speak much of the actual language originally used in the epic.
“What they will probably have to sacrifice is the richness of the language and the uniqueness of the language,” Minkova said.
Besides the question of using the original language, another problem with adapting a film based on a written work lies in the possible misinterpretation of the story by the audience; the film is only an adaptation and not a definitive interpretation.
“One of the problems is people thinking, “˜This is Beowulf,’ when of course this is simply an interpretation,” said Tangherlini.
But whether or not the audience takes reinterpretations literally, Minkova sees the film as providing positive public exposure for the epic.
“Anything that will get the next generation of young people interested in the literary heritage of English is a positive thing,” she said. “If 300 copies of the “˜Beowulf’ translation are bought and read as a result of this movie, (it) is a positive thing.”