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Evaluation of Beowulf Movie 2007

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Evaluation of Beowulf Movie 2007
The Story of Beowulf: the manuscript versus the movie (2007)
The tale of Beowulf is one known by both individuals and literary scholars both far and wide. Scholars believe it to be the oldest Anglo-Saxon poem to have survived the times. After the discovery of the story of Beowulf, it has since be translated and adapted to connect with different languages and cultures. The popularity of the story has spread beyond the written world as well. Many different adaptations and performances have been done over many years. There have been live action plays, screen plays, and movies made about the popular story.
In this assignment, the original written story of Beowulf is analyzed and compared with the movie adaptation that was written by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary. Also, it was directed by Robert Zemeckis in 2007. After analyzing both works, many differences and some similarities have begun to take shape.
The first and foremost thing that stuck out the most was the overall difference of theme. The original poem was based upon a strong religious tone of Christianity. The poem’s theme, focused on one of the most important aspects of Christianity, the battle between good and evil. The movie completely abandoned this main theme and instead took on a more science fiction theme. The movie was very sexual in nature and took on the theme of highlighting the shortcomings of mankind. The poem was the exact opposite in this aspect and tried to show the greatness of mankind through their faith in Christianity. It was also very obvious in the movie that the people responsible for making it, did not take the role that Christianity in the story of Beowulf, seriously. An example in the movie is was Hrothgar’s attitude and personality was a drunkard and womanizer. Where as in the poem, he gave thanks to God for sending Beowulf to save his kingdom from the clutches of Grendel.1
Another difference that stuck out was in the movie was the origins of both Grendel and the dragon that


Cited: Anonymous. Beowulf. Translated by Francis Barton Gummere. Unknown: Print. 20 Feb. 2015. Avary, R., Gaiman, N., & Zemeckis, R. Beowulf. Paramount Pictures. (2007): Film. 20 Feb. 2015.
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