How Hollywood Ruined a Hero
There are many distinct differences between the text and the movie of Beowulf. This is because Hollywood likes to apply their own twist to the story. Many changes have been made to the storyline of Beowulf. In these changes Beowulf no longer is the hero we knew him as in the text. Throughout this paper, you will see how Beowulf is no longer a true hero.
One of these distinct differences is that Grendel is not Hrothgar’s son in the text, however, in the movie he is. Also, during the battle between Grendel and Beowulf, Grendel manages to conjure up fire. However, this is not talked about in the text. In the movie more people die in Beowulf’s attack on Grendel than in the poem. Even the way Grendel dies is different in the movie than in the poem. In the movie Grendel is caught by a link of chainmail; the door then closes on him, ripping off his limb and inflicting a fatal wound. However, in the text, Beowulf grabs hold of him and uses his strength to inflict a fatal wound. The fact that he uses a weapon makes him lose the verification of him being a true hero.…show more content… However, in the text there are other monsters there to weaken him so that he is her equal. If he is not her equal then he cannot fight her without losing the qualities of a true hero. After he stabs her he is given an ultimatum to either attempt to slay her or to have sex with her. This is one of the many problems with Hollywood. Hollywood is quick to add sex into a movie simply because they know that sex sells. He accepts the choice thus giving birth to a dragon who he will have to attack later in the poem or movie. By doing this it also makes him seem like more of a traitor than a