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Beowulf Book Vs Movie

Decent Essays

The Beowulf book and movie were both made differently. There is always an argument of which was better: the book, or the movie. Some people feel as if the movie didn’t include crucial parts from the book and that the differences between them ruined the film. Sometimes the movie makers were able to keep those big changes at bay and stay on track with the novel. Though, no matter how hard they work to keep the changes contained, the book lovers will always stand on the side of the book, and the people who loved the movie better won’t cross the thick line between author and producer because the changes were much too big to become accustomed to. If you read the book, you’d be able to point out every one of them, as countless as they are. Some …show more content…

In Beowulf, it was the biggest area of the differences. Grendel and his mother changed. Instead of being the typical green, chubby monster, Grendel was pale and as skinny as his bones. Instead of His mother being ugly and black, she was gold and beautiful. Even Unferth changed, the drunk, insane one with a boil on his neck. Caught between good and evil, he never got the chance to feel the joy others got to touch before he was killed by Grendel’s mother. Unferth didn’t die in the movie, and was better-looking to the eye. Beowulf, short and kind in words, was tall and intimidating in the movie. He fought better when he was naked and fell in love with - and cheated on - Wealtheow, Hrothgar’s wife. Hrothgar was the king of the land of the Danes. He was young and had red hair in the book, but was old enough to be Wealtheow’s father in the movie. He was drunk in the opening and appeared to be drinking all the time with his clumsiness and the way he treated Wealtheow. But the biggest change made to the characters was that Hrothgar killed himself when he discovered Beowulf slept with Grendel’s mother, who later gave birth to the firedrake, Beowulf’s son. Hrothgar didn’t die in the book, nor did Beowulf sleep with Grendel’s mother. It pushed the movie in the opposite direction, giving it twists and bumps that weren’t thought of when the author wrote …show more content…

Not in Beowulf. The movie surprised everyone by opening with hall Heorot, a place built by Hrothgar to thank the soldiers for their bravery, expected to be giant and elegant, but was actually in a building that looked more like an old barn. The hall was supposed to contrast to the fen the same way light and dark do. But that didn’t happen. It didn’t in any way appear to differentiate with the fen the tremendous way it did in the book. The fen, a swamp with the lovely, depressing filter of evil casted in the sky in the book, was located more in the mountains than in front of hall Heorot. It came across as a pool of water from a fantasy novel where fairies assembled together to plan to overthrow an evil queen of some sort. It was also supposed to be across from hall Heorot, but was kilometers away from it, affecting how it contrasted with hall Heorot. It was clear the directors didn’t want to keep that small detail that affected the story as a

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