Book out lo! Long weekend too! Don't you love clearing leave? Well, watched Beowulf at AMK hub yesterday. It was an animated film based on an epic poem of the same name. Of course I didn't know that till after I watched the show. The story was so screwed up that I wondered if it was adapted from somewhere and thanks to google, I got my answer in about 2 seconds.
First the movie review. The animation to say the least, was fantastic. In fact, at the very beginning I actually thought for a moment that it was real filming and not animation at all. Furthermore, after hearing what elroy said about how difficult it its to render animation realistically, I really appreciate the effort put in to materialize every grizzly beard and heroic nudity into 3d. However as far as story lines go, it wasn't that fantastic. In the movie, Grendel attacks the mead-hall because he is frustrated by the din they are making. However, the movie did not explain why the dragon decided to attack the village. Ok, it doesn't sound meaningful here but if you watch the movie it will become clear. Grendel is the 'offspring' of the previous king of the Danes while the dragon was Beowulf's, who succeeded the previous king. Furthermore, Grendel was prohibited from harming his father but the dragon was not. It seemed mighty inconsistent as the whole idea of the movie was that Angelina Jolie, the mother demon gives each subsequent king success in the battlefield as well as wealth and riches in exchange for bearing her a son. A win-win situation considering that she's a rather hot demon too. However, the drawback seems to be that the offspring is either damn ugly, or out to kill his dad. Utterly conFUSED, I googled Beowulf online and got the story behind the poem.
Here it is, highly condensed from http://www.beowulfepic.com/
The story of Beowulf opens by recounting the career of Scyld Scefing, a king sent by God to the Danes. After Scyld's death the Danes prosper under his descendants. One of those descendants, Hrothgar, builds the Danes a great hall called Heorot. Heorot is soon invaded by Grendel, a half-human monster who is hated by God. The Danes are helpless against these attacks until the hero Beowulf arrives to aid them. He battles Grendel in hand to hand combat in Heorot and kills the monster by tearing off its arm. Grendel's mother then comes to avenge her son. Beowulf and Hrothgar follow her to her lair in a disgusting lake, where Beowulf fights Grendel's mother in her hall at the bottom of the lake. Beowulf almost loses, but with the aid of God is eventually victorious. He is lavishly rewarded and returns to his own land where he tells his adventures to his uncle, King Hygelac. The poem then jumps fifty years into the future when Beowulf is in old age and king of the Geats. He then fights his last battle against a dragon that is guardian of a cursed treasure. He tries to fight the dragon alone, but can only defeat it with the aid of a younger relative, Wiglaf. The dragon is killed, but mortally wounds Beowulf in the battle, and the old king passes away while gazing on the cursed treasure. The death of Beowulf marks the decline of the Geats, who are now surrounded by enemies made in previous campaigns. Consequently, the poem ends in mourning for both Beowulf and his nation. The original poem runs some 3182 lines. Which translates into many many words. Anyway.
It can be seen from the poem that all the monsters that appear have no relation whatsoever to any of the human characters. It is just your typical wholesome family-friendly thousand-year-old epic poem.
Ahhh, does it become clearer now? The cleverness of the movie? The movie is in actual fact (my opinion), showing a possible alternative viewpoint of the poem! Think of it this way. The poem is written from the viewpoint of a typical peasant or story crier who knows only what he sees and hears. He doesn't see Beowulf fight Grendel or his mother and from what he knows Beowulf the great hero just defeats both, and the dragon later. All that he knows is what Beowulf tells him and this he dutifully writes into the above mentioned epic poem.
The movie, on the other hand, takes a dig at what might have actually happened. Beowulf was a great hero, but not as great as he seems. What he was greater at was making grand tales. The movie shows him as a slightly boastful man, making up stories to cover up the dirty little deeds that he actually does. In other words, the movie shows how the fundamental story might have been totally different from that of the poem all while being true to the poem's story. He did kill Grendel and its mother and the dragon. Or at least that's what your average peasant or poem writer knows. What he doesn't know is how these beings are all related.
So overall I guess the storyline makes a valid stab at being clever and all, inconsistencies notwithstanding, but I guess that's understandable considering that they have to make the cover story fit the poem.
There. Here's the thinking done for all the lazy moviegoers and for the cgi animators who would have had too much work to do if they had to animate all those links into the storyline.
First the movie review. The animation to say the least, was fantastic. In fact, at the very beginning I actually thought for a moment that it was real filming and not animation at all. Furthermore, after hearing what elroy said about how difficult it its to render animation realistically, I really appreciate the effort put in to materialize every grizzly beard and heroic nudity into 3d. However as far as story lines go, it wasn't that fantastic. In the movie, Grendel attacks the mead-hall because he is frustrated by the din they are making. However, the movie did not explain why the dragon decided to attack the village. Ok, it doesn't sound meaningful here but if you watch the movie it will become clear. Grendel is the 'offspring' of the previous king of the Danes while the dragon was Beowulf's, who succeeded the previous king. Furthermore, Grendel was prohibited from harming his father but the dragon was not. It seemed mighty inconsistent as the whole idea of the movie was that Angelina Jolie, the mother demon gives each subsequent king success in the battlefield as well as wealth and riches in exchange for bearing her a son. A win-win situation considering that she's a rather hot demon too. However, the drawback seems to be that the offspring is either damn ugly, or out to kill his dad. Utterly conFUSED, I googled Beowulf online and got the story behind the poem.
Here it is, highly condensed from http://www.beowulfepic.com/
The story of Beowulf opens by recounting the career of Scyld Scefing, a king sent by God to the Danes. After Scyld's death the Danes prosper under his descendants. One of those descendants, Hrothgar, builds the Danes a great hall called Heorot. Heorot is soon invaded by Grendel, a half-human monster who is hated by God. The Danes are helpless against these attacks until the hero Beowulf arrives to aid them. He battles Grendel in hand to hand combat in Heorot and kills the monster by tearing off its arm. Grendel's mother then comes to avenge her son. Beowulf and Hrothgar follow her to her lair in a disgusting lake, where Beowulf fights Grendel's mother in her hall at the bottom of the lake. Beowulf almost loses, but with the aid of God is eventually victorious. He is lavishly rewarded and returns to his own land where he tells his adventures to his uncle, King Hygelac. The poem then jumps fifty years into the future when Beowulf is in old age and king of the Geats. He then fights his last battle against a dragon that is guardian of a cursed treasure. He tries to fight the dragon alone, but can only defeat it with the aid of a younger relative, Wiglaf. The dragon is killed, but mortally wounds Beowulf in the battle, and the old king passes away while gazing on the cursed treasure. The death of Beowulf marks the decline of the Geats, who are now surrounded by enemies made in previous campaigns. Consequently, the poem ends in mourning for both Beowulf and his nation. The original poem runs some 3182 lines. Which translates into many many words. Anyway.
It can be seen from the poem that all the monsters that appear have no relation whatsoever to any of the human characters. It is just your typical wholesome family-friendly thousand-year-old epic poem.
Ahhh, does it become clearer now? The cleverness of the movie? The movie is in actual fact (my opinion), showing a possible alternative viewpoint of the poem! Think of it this way. The poem is written from the viewpoint of a typical peasant or story crier who knows only what he sees and hears. He doesn't see Beowulf fight Grendel or his mother and from what he knows Beowulf the great hero just defeats both, and the dragon later. All that he knows is what Beowulf tells him and this he dutifully writes into the above mentioned epic poem.
The movie, on the other hand, takes a dig at what might have actually happened. Beowulf was a great hero, but not as great as he seems. What he was greater at was making grand tales. The movie shows him as a slightly boastful man, making up stories to cover up the dirty little deeds that he actually does. In other words, the movie shows how the fundamental story might have been totally different from that of the poem all while being true to the poem's story. He did kill Grendel and its mother and the dragon. Or at least that's what your average peasant or poem writer knows. What he doesn't know is how these beings are all related.
So overall I guess the storyline makes a valid stab at being clever and all, inconsistencies notwithstanding, but I guess that's understandable considering that they have to make the cover story fit the poem.
There. Here's the thinking done for all the lazy moviegoers and for the cgi animators who would have had too much work to do if they had to animate all those links into the storyline.
posted by lyarn at 10:12 pm
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