Similarities Between Beowulf And Grendel

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360 Degrees of Beowulf and Grendel: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Nowadays, movies do not portray a piece exactly the way it was written. For a film to be considered entertaining it must include plenty of drama and romance, or anything the average Joe can relate to. This is a popular dilemma which is evident in the contrast of the film Beowulf and Grendel, by S. Gunnarsson, and it's predecessor Beowulf, by Seamus Heaney. The two societies from each production differ in their cultural values due to the different eras that they were each produced in. Some of the differences in the stories are both of Beowulf’s religious and fatalistic beliefs, both of Grendel’s internal character and the audience’s sympathy for him, and additional …show more content…

The movie was produced in modern times during the 21st century, when it is now acceptable by society to have different beliefs or not have beliefs at all. Having free will is the norm instead of “accepting fate,” which is probably the reason why Beowulf is non-religious. During the movie there are monks and/or priests who try to spread the word of God to the people in Beowulf’s village and to the hero himself, but he rejects the idea and states that there are no such gods. He shoves and yells at Father Brendan, the head priest in the film. He believes that he can take anyone and anything on by himself and win every fight because of his great strength. The entire film includes religious priests and monks with brown gowns and crosses preaching about Jesus Christ, but Beowulf, once again, does not seem to understand or accept their beliefs. Though, towards the end of the movie, some people start to accept Christ into their lives and it makes Beowulf double think. Perhaps these changes were made to the film because more people can relate to the hero’s situation where they are skeptical, but then believe when they are shown and taught about

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