The Case for an Actually Good Beowulf Movie
The Case for an Actually Good Beowulf Movie
By Elizabeth Rotunno
When we talk about literature, we often talk about “classics”: those impressive, illustrious, and intimidating tomes that, like some kind of cruel BuzzFeed personality quiz, divide innocent droves of middle schoolers each year into camps of students who will become forever enchanted by the wonders of word—or who will face lifelong literary trauma (I’m looking at you, Where the Red Fern Grows). Beowulf, an anonymously penned epic detailing the adventures of its eponymous hero, is about as classic as an English language work can get, as it is literally as old as English itself. It was first written into the canon in Old English between the seventh and tenth centuries, and it has since been translated dozens of times, garnering widespread praise and acclaim as a historic and beautiful masterwork.
If you were lucky in middle school and didn’t end up adding all books ever to your hit list, you might have enjoyed Beowulf. But maybe you were personally victimized by an English teacher asking you to analyze the significance of a book character’s bowel movements or the color of their hair and, as such, took no interest in the epic. Or maybe you didn’t get a chance to read it at all. Whatever your relationship to Beowulf may be, there is an argument to be made for its adaptation to the big screen, which, if done right, could usher in a new era of philosophical appreciation in the mainstream for the epic poem.
You might wonder: if Beowulf has been around for so long and is so important to English literature, why hasn’t anyone adapted it already? It’s a good question, considering book-to-screen adaptations have been populating social media discourse lately (think: It Ends With Us, Dune, Little Women, etc.) and have been a popular genre for a long time. The disappointing but unshocking answer is that people have tried to adapt it multiple times. Unfortunately, these efforts have yielded little success, resulting only in poorly costumed, confusingly scripted, and completely forgettable live-action attempts, each more unremarkable than the last. I will note that there is one animated version of Beowulf from 2007 which is quite entertaining and well-made, but it is largely unfaithful to the original work. As such, it loses some of its thematic power. Nevertheless, the point stands that no Beowulf film adaptation captures the essence of the work and makes proper use of the visual medium today.
So, why does Beowulf need a movie in the first place? Just as the prevalence of book-to-movie adaptations has grown in recent years, so too has criticism of these movies. Some think adaptations are naught but lazy cash grabs devoid of originality or purpose. But while certain film remakes do indeed lack soul and nuance, these don’t define the genre. Some of the world’s most beloved films are adaptations, like the 2005 Pride and Prejudice, the 1962 To Kill a Mockingbird, or the 1972 The Godfather. Film, as an artistic form, has the unique ability to directly employ more than one core sense, making it particularly immersive and arresting. This lends itself especially well to adapting literature because much of what writers attempt to evoke through imagery can be brought to life on a screen. Generating a convincing and enthralling setting through film appeals to the inherent sensibilities of audiences. For example, a book can describe a noise as “haunting” or “eerie,” but readers then need to interpret and internalize what this means to them. When a movie translates this description into a sound, the audience will know it is eerie, because their sonic sense is being manipulated, appealing to a biological and emotional process. The audience absorbs details without needing them to be told or stated explicitly. Movies go straight to the emotional source, which is a remarkable ability.
Beowulf in particular makes an excellent candidate for adaptation, both conceptually and technically. The epic poem itself lacks description and imagery, making it difficult for readers to understand the context in which the story takes place. We rarely hear about what characters are wearing or what buildings look like, except for in the vaguest or most abstract of terms. Additionally, Old English wasn’t blessed with the widest variety of adjectives. The language often relies on metaphorical compound words, known as “kennings,” to describe concepts for which a term didn’t exist. Adapting Beowulf could remediate these struggles by creating a set accurate to its real-life milieu. Historically, the homelands, customs, and culture of the Anglo-Saxons have been studied in depth. Research into these details would allow filmmakers to reconstruct the world of the epic accurately, thereby rendering its nature as an epic all the more compelling. The grand and vast world of the Anglo-Saxons was a critically important part of Old English literature because the defining traits of epic heroes included their stalwart natures, their rugged strength, their resilience, and their general prowess, all of which would have been valued because of the backdrop of their stark and inhospitable landscapes. A film adaptation could just be what is needed to subconsciously clue audiences into the true might of the Anglo-Saxon warrior culture. By discussing this culture, the Beowulf story also makes for the perfect mix of action movie and meaningful study on hierarchy, valor, and heroism. Thus, I imagine critics would have a field day with it.
Beyond that, it would be fitting to adapt Beowulf based on its long history of translation and reinterpretation. As tools grow, so does the complexity of our understanding and various translations of any work, Beowulf included. The most recent notable translation, by Seamus Heaney, uses modern diction to appeal to the contemporary reader. A natural progression of this, then, would be translating the page to the screen, using a medium that is representative of our society and culture today. It is human nature to adapt, grow, and build upon our own culture, to carry it with us in new and exciting ways. Therefore, a Beowulf movie would just be one more brick in the road of our collective cultural advancement.
