GroshLink

The Terminator-like Beowulf comes face-to-face with us on the screen, again (note:  also received press in the recent graphic novel).  Anyone seen this version?  Not sure I'm up to it.  My friend in medieval lit reminded me Beowulf is about the necessity of fighting evil, while not allowing the power you must cultivate to do so in turn destroy yourself and your civilization.  Beowulf, literally, spends 10x as much time talking as fighting, because one of the poem's main points is that he is NOT an out-of-control warrior, but a fighter governed by the laws and customs of civilization -- and THAT is what makes him an ideal hero. But WE make him a muscle-bound clod.

Wish I had time to get back to the classic in the midst of all of my reading, reflection, and writing.  For those with interest, Never Mind Grendel. Can Beowulf Conquer the 21st-Century Guilt Trip? in the Chronicle for Higher Education has an excellent survey of the original writing, its interactions with Christian thought (including Tolkien), and the current film. Below is the provoking conclusion:

 Many academics will probably appreciate the new emasculated Beowulf (thinking it more psychologically sophisticated and more appropriately critical of machismo), but I'm not convinced this new version transcends and nullifies the heroic original. I suspect we need both Beowulfs — the Tolkien version and the more Nietzschean version. As morality plays, the old and new versions deal with different aspects of conflict resolution. On the one hand, a diplomat, or an intellectual, or politician should try to better understand his enemy, sympathize with his gripe, and defuse his aggression. On the other hand, a soldier in the field, like the original Beowulf, does not find nuance in his enemy — he's too busy fighting him.

Perhaps the Zemeckis film has found a way to have its cake and eat it too. At one level, our reptilian brain gets to thoroughly enjoy the triumphant ass-kicking of a take-charge hero, but up in our neocortex we pay our penance for this thrill by morally condemning the protagonist — scolding Beowulf and ourselves for the momentary power trip.

Beowulf might survive Grendel. But in going up against the 21st-century guilt trip, he may have met his match.