1. What genres do the following texts belong to, and how do their intended period contexts, purposes, and intended audiences differ?
Voluspa, Volsunga Saga, Beowulf, The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.
Remember to give some examples from these texts that support your identification (for example: "Voluspa is an example of the _____ genre, as the following references to gods from the poem illustrate: "Hear my words / you holy gods' (l.1) "By Odin's Will I'll speak the ancient lore" (l.3), etc).
2. What are some possible features of residual (or "secondary") orality preserved in Voluspa, according to the criteria Ong (1982) advances?
3. Identify a central incident that happens in at least four of the above texts, and discuss how it is both similar and different in each example (remember to cite from the original texts).
4. How did Tolkien draw on the Old Norse and Old English texts in his The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings fantasy novels? Provide some concrete examples.
5. Discuss how Tolkien's use of "tradition" (e.g. older literary sources) differs from the techniques and agendas of modernism (see Week 7 in your Reader).
6. Identify some recent films, TV shows and/or games which have brought back some of the old gods and heroes from obscurity. What place do the old myths have in the modern world?
7. How does the film Beowulf and Grendel "problematise" the hero-myth of Beowulf ? [Subject to viewing]
8. Discuss what you think any of these texts desire (in the sense of their intention, how they wish to be received, what pleasures they offer, etc).
6. Identify some recent films, TV shows and/or games which have brought back some of the old gods and heroes from obscurity. What place do the old myths have in the modern world?
ReplyDeleteAs we are all aware, the Marvel universe has brought the Norse Gods back into our current social sphere. With Odin, Thor and Loki seen in such movies like Thor (2011), Thor: A Dark World (2013), Thor: Ragnarok (2017) and The Avengers (2012). They were also reintroduced in a few television shows discussed in our workshop, The Almighty Johnsons, American Gods and appearing in Vikings. Game of Thrones also has norse influences.
Old myths return to the modern world often to teach audiences various morals and meanings. They are reimagined in a world we are familiar with, to become relatable despite the distances we might share with the Norse Gods as mere humans. However, these Gods are reintroduced to us and are used to show they face challenges just as we humans do. For example, in Thor (2011), Thor struggles with his romantic feelings towards another character called Jane; this is a human problem we are all very familiar with.
Having these gods and heroes experience relationships and emotions in a modern setting, show that even though they are extraordinary and powerful, they have the same basic needs as us. It reminds us that even the most powerful of people in our own communities, whether they are the in the highest ranking in our government or the boss of a workplace, feel hardships and struggle with emotions too.
I did a little research to see what others would have to say on the topic of old norse myths in the modern world and came across Dr. Karl E. H. Seigfried. He comments on the fact the ‘there is something in Norse mythology for everyone’ (http://www.norsemyth.org). Seigfried (2013) suggests that young people are likely to be enamoured by Thor because of his spirit, while adults likely relate to Odin’s wisdom. By having such relatable characters in old mythology, it opens up the potential for an audience to engage. They have attributes that can be seen in any of us as humans, which to me, shows the value these old myths have in our modern world.
Seigfried, K. E. H. (2013) Norse Mythology in Popular Culture [blog post]. Retrieved March 9, 2018, from http://www.norsemyth.org/2013/05/norse-mythology-in-popular-culture.html
1 a. Genre
ReplyDeleteVoluspa belongs in the genre of Mythological poem, evidenced by its premise; a prophetess addressing Odin, a Norse God, and reciting her knowledge of the world’s creation and it’s fiery end. Her account tells tales of giants, trolls, other Gods, and a wolf who swallows the sun, all further categorising it the genre of myth, “Westward the ships sails, Loki steers; ruin by fire flies across the sea with Muspell’s demons, monsters, and the wolf.”
As the name gives away, Volsunga Saga belongs in the saga genre. Speculated to have arisen in medieval Iceland, the saga is an umbrella term for many forms of text, one form is a fictitious narrative, an attempt to imagine the unknown past. The Volsunga Saga perhaps can be categorised in the latter as it tells the story of an ancient family, featuring battles for power, mischievous Gods, and a fight with a dragon.
Beowulf belongs in the epic genre. Though it, as Voluspa, is a poem which features Gods, it’s primary focus not divinity but a human, a hero. Rather unimaginatively named, Beowulf follows the hero Beowulf as he conquers enemies, gains the respect of the realm, and eventually ascends to the throne. An example of his heroism is in his act of facing an enraged dragon though he knows it means death for himself, “Now I am old, but as king of the people I shall pursue this fight for the glory of winning”.
The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings’ genre is fantasy, specifically, high fantasy as Tolkien’s worlds aren’t accessible through our own, but belong in a realm of their own. As fantasy texts ought to, Tolkien’s worlds offer mythical creatures and magic, from the high elves to hobbits.
1 b. Audience
DeleteThe audiences are vastly different because their periods are. Voluspa and the Volsunga Saga are found across a few sources, one of which is a compilation of medieval Icelandic literature, The Poetic Edda with anonymous authorship (Cole, 2009). Voluspa is said to have been written around when Iceland was converting to Christianity, somewhere in 1000 AD (Thorarinsson, 1981). As noted by Nixey (2017), Christian monks both preservered and erased ‘pagan’ texts. The erasure was a violent one, with more texts being destroyed than kept. From this contextual knowledge, several questions arise around Voluspa’s audience - though featuring Norse gods, was it contaminated by Christianity? For example, is it coincidence that females are identified as the bringers of evil in both Voluspa and in the story of Eve? (Jochens, 1989). Were the audience Christian? ‘Pagan’? Both? Also, why was it written, when literacy was a rarity, and stories were told orally? Further, did the person transcribing it change anything? The same questions arise with Beowulf, which is regarded as originally an oral text, first written down around 1000 AD, and featuring aspects of paganism in a time where Christianity was dominant (Yeager, 1999). Thus, for these three texts, the audience and purpose are very hard to capture. The audience and purpose of Tolkien’s texts is more documented. Borrowing elements from Volsunga Saga and Beowulf, The Hobbit (1937) was a story intended for children. Interestingly, the texts have been adopted by people of all ages and the audience kept growing as the texts were adapted into films and video games. Today there is an avid fan base for Tolkien content.
Thorarinsson, S. (1981). Tephra Studies and Tephrochronology: A Historical Review with special reference to Iceland. Tephra Studies, 1-12. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-8537-7_1
Nixey, C. (2017). The Darkening Age. London, United Kingdom: Macmillan.
Jochens, J. (1989). Vǫluspá: Matrix of Norse Womanhood. The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 88(3), 344-362. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/27710187
Yeager, R.F. (1999). Why Read Beowulf? HUMANITIES, 20(2). Retreived from https://www.neh.gov/humanities/1999/marchapril/feature/why-read-beowulf
3. Identify a central incident that happens in at least four of the above texts, and discuss how it is both similar and different in each example (remember to cite from the original texts).
ReplyDeleteA central incident that happens in the texts for this week is the slaying of the dragon. In Voluspa, Thor kills the snake, “Far-famed Thor, the son of Earth, the son of Odin, goes forth to fight the Snake.” (Voluspa); in Beowulf, Beowulf himself fights and slays the dragon, “as king of the people I shall pursue this fight” (p79, Beowulf); in Volsunga Saga, Sigurd sets a trap for the worm and kills it. “So whenas the worm crept over the pits, Sigurd thrust his sword under his left shoulder, so that it sank in up to the hilts” (p59, Volsunga Saga), and in The Hobbit, Bard spears the dragon with his black arrow causing it’s death, “And that was the end of Smaug and Esgaroth” (p238, The Hobbit).
The first three of these texts, Voluspa, Thor and Beowulf, have the most obvious similarity, where the slaying of the monster leads to the heroes own downfall. Whereas, Bard in The Hobbit, survives and is named King by the people of Lake-town.
Another similarity between Voluspa and Beowulf are that both Thor and Beowulf stand as the people’s protectors, proof of this is found in the above quotations pulled from the respective texts. For Thor, it continues to describe him as “Midgard's defender” (Voluspa), and Beowulf himself tells us that he is “king of the people” (p79, Beowulf).
There is a similarity also between Beowulf and Volsunga Saga, where both of the heroes die because of poison. In Beowulf, the King is bitten by the Dragon in the neck, causing its poison to run through his veins, Beowulf's death wound, “seized on his neck, with teeth that were bitter” (Beowulf). Sigurd in Volsunga Saga, digs a hole and covers it with leaves once he is hiding beneath it, once the dragon in this tale, known as the worm, moves over the pit Sigurd waits in, he strikes upward and gets the worm in its underside, causing it’s poisonous blood to cover Sigurds arm, “and therewith was his arm all bloody, up to the very shoulder” (p59, Volsunga Saga).
2. Orality
ReplyDeleteOng’s proposed features of orality (1982) can be found throughout Voluspa. The opening stanza itself contains several: “Hear my words, you holy gods, great men and humble sons of Heimdall; by Odin’s will, I’ll speak the ancient lore, the oldest of all that I remember.”
The very first word reveals it is a text to be heard, not read. It references its own orality. It also follows Ong’s thought of orality being additive, as shown by the descriptors attached to the word gods and men - the gods are holy gods, the men are great men. Ong also notes that oral cultures are participatory and empathetic, that oral texts seek to include others and appeal to their shared humanity, thus encouraging subject engagement. This is perhaps evidenced in Voluspa by the use of “you”, targeting specifically the gods and men present, addressing the audience to make them feel involved. Lastly, there is the notion of homeostasis wherein oral cultures are concerned with present values and systems of belief, and not concerned with (or perhaps not equipped with the tools to acknowledge) those past. This is shown through the prophetess proclaiming her tale to be “the oldest of all”, that she remembers.
Ong, W. (1982). Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word. New York, NY: Routledge.
I like your response to this question Sehej and how you’ve referenced Ong so well to support your reasonings.
DeleteI also found through reading Ong’s work, that although writing quickly displaced orality in terms of status and how frequently it is used in today’s modern world, our written words “all have to be related somehow, directly or indirectly, to the world of sound” (Ong, p.8), which is exactly what we can see when we read Voluspa. Along with the quote you used, we can also see this residual orality coming through with the phrase: “I’ll speak” (Voluspa, l.3). This is used instead of, ‘I’ll write’. The mythological poem was written down in a primarily oral culture and you can definitely sense this when reading Voluspa; the reader is being spoken to.
Ong (1982) also says, “orality needs to produce and is destined to produce writing.” (p.15). Writing enables our thoughts to become organised and thus becoming our primary use for accumulating knowledge and passing on information, in this case, an incredible Old Norse legend that will continue to carry on for centuries to come.
Ong, W. (1982). Orality and Literacy: The technologizing of the word. New York, NY: Routledge.
3. Voluspa, the Volsunga Saga, Beowulf, and The Hobbit all feature the slaying of a dragon. There is a resounding difference between Tolkien's dragon slaying and the others as it occurs without the traditional motif of the hero, as elaborated on by Glenn, (1991). Glenn says that Smaug’s death is made possible only by collaboration; Bilbo Baggins finds out about Smaug’s weak spot, Old Thrush picks up the information and it is then passed onto the archer, Bard. Bard, then, is accredited solely for the ability to understand the message and shooting the fatal arrow. Bilbo, whose information made this all possible, is not credited at all. Tolkien has neglected the lone-hero motif that is present in Beowulf, and even Voluspa. In both those texts, there is a self-sacrificing male warrior that slays the dragon and gives up his life doing so. In Beowulf this is evidenced in Beowulf’s last boast, “I shall pursue this fight for the glory of winning, if the evil one will only abandon his earth-fort and face me in the open” (Heaney, 1999, p. 77). In Voluspa, Thor’s slaying of the Snake is recorded with, “Midgard’s defender dies triumphant” (Terry, 1966/1990). In the Volsunga Saga, the dragon slayer is helped by others, Regin and Odin, but still it is the singular Sigurd that delivers the fatal wound. From the depiction of the individual warrior defeating the dragon to this kind-of communal victory, the message I take from Tolkien’s translation is that we don’t all need to be heroes.
ReplyDeleteThere are also differences within the dragons. The Volsunga Saga features a different type of dragon to the other texts; the Worm. As the name suggests, the Worm is a wingless, legless creature that slithers on the ground (Freimuth, 1981). Still, it is classified as a dragon. One could say that anger, violence, the propensity to hoard are shared characteristics of all these texts’ dragons, an idea which is a very Western one (Freimuth).
Heaney, S. (1999) (trans). Beowulf: a new translation. London: Penguin
Freimuth, J. (1981). A comparative study of the Beowulf dragon fight and twelve dragon battles of Norse, German, Celtic, and English legend (master’s thesis). McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
Morris, W. & Magnussun, E. (Trans.) (1888). The Story of the Volsungs (Volsunga Saga). London: Walter Scott Press.
Terry, P. (trans). (1990, 1966). Poems of the Elder Edda. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press
6.
ReplyDeleteThroughout recent years there have been some attempts at including old Norse gods in movies, books, TV shows and even music in some cases. Whilst I was growing up I don’t remember watching anything that really included any of the old Greek gods. I feel as though the world went through an age where there was too high of an expectation for everyone to be religious, but religions such as Christianity, freemasonry, Catholicism etc. The mainstream religions. Now as the world hunts for entertainment that is bigger and brighter, something new, writers all over the place are looking back instead of forward, and it’s a good thing.
There are the more mainstream films such as the Thor series in which the Norse gods such as Loki, Odin and even Fenrir the monstrous wolf from Norse mythology feature. We also have Television shows such as American gods who reference different gods each episode who include Odin (known as Mr Wednesday), Ostara, Vulcan and more. Other shows that feature these gods are Vikings, Hercules, the Almighty Johnsons and games of thrones is also loosely related.
Personally, I’m glad that old myths are coming back. Some of the entertainment that speaks of these gods aren’t accurate and just use the characters but even in that regard I find to be more entertaining than a Romcom. These gods are not perfect, they have their downfalls but they are true to themselves and are confident and that is something I think all people should learn from. After finding out that the days of the week are named after the old Norse gods I thought about how much these gods still play a part in our daily lives, with many people not knowing it! I think many people do not believe in these gods, they are a story and people find them entertaining.
In this day and age, the world has changed drastically in comparison to when these myths and stories were originally told. I enjoy the Norse gods stories and myths because they seem genuinely out of this world, like true gods.
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ReplyDelete4. How did Tolkien draw on the Old Norse and Old English texts in his The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings fantasy novels? Provide some concrete examples.
ReplyDeleteThe following quote explains why so much of J.R.R Tolkien's famous works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings resemble the Old Norse and Old English texts of Voluspa, Volsunga Saga and Beowulf. “Tolkien was a professor of Old and Middle English” (Tolley, 2016).
One similarity that I didn’t notice until I started doing research on this subject, was the character likeness of Aragorn and Beowulf. Tolley (2016), states that Aragorn “is wary of his own lineage... just like the hero of Beowulf, he takes up the crown not with ambition, but with much persuasion after harbouring doubts about his own suitability for the role.” Aragorn is an heir, as is Beowulf. Both men are more than just physically strong, they are each good men and great kings in their own right. In The Two Towers (p.498), Aragorn is introduced as the “son of Arathorn, the heir of Kings”, and in Beowulf, Beowulf is said to be the “son of Ecgtheow” who eventually takes “the throne, to sit in majesty and rule” (p.75-76).
One event that cannot be ignored, is the act of slaying dragons. Bard in The Hobbit spears Smaug and kills him, just as Thor in Voluspa destroys the snake, as Beowulf stabs his dragon and as Sigurd in Volsunga Saga ends the worms life. A classic heroic act that carries throughout the Old Norse and Old English texts that Tolkien had studied and taught for majority of his life.
In The Hobbit, Bilbo, who has been dubbed the dwarves personal burglar sneaks into the Lonely Mountain on a mission to steal the Arkenstone from Smaug, our slumbering dragon. Of course, Smaug wakes and discovers something amiss resulting in outrage and terror raged upon Lake-Town. This is essentially just what happens in Beowulf; “The hoard-guardian scorched the ground as he scoured and hunted for the trespasser who had troubled his sleep… The dragon began to belch out flames and burn bright homesteads… [it] would leave nothing alive in his wake.” (pp.73). Then just as Bard succeeds in The Hobbit, Beowulf ends the dragons life, the difference of course is that Beowulf gains his death wounds from the fight, where Bard survives.
Tolkien also drew inspiration for the dwarves in The Hobbit from the mythological poem Voluspa. Not only was Gandalf, meaning “magic-elf” (Bellows, 1936), inspired likely by the Norse God, Odin, but some of the names were directly taken from the listing of dwarves in the poem. These names are Bombur, Thorin, Dwalin (spelt Dvalin in Voluspa), Bifur, Bofur, Fili, Kili and Nori (Voluspa, p.6-7).
Tolley, C. (2016). Old english influence on the lord of the rings. Retrieved from http://catalogue.pearsoned.co.uk/assets/hip/gb/uploads/M02_NORT6036_02_SE_C02.pdf
Bellows, H. A. (1936). The Poetic Edda. Retrieved from http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe03.htm
6. Identify some recent films, TV shows and/or games which have brought back some of the old gods and heroes from obscurity. What place do the old myths have in the modern world?
ReplyDeleteMany of the old gods and heroes have in some way or another been revived in the past half century through either films, television or comics. With these adaptations fairly notable changes are often made to the myths to better fit today’s ideas of what gods and heroes are. Hercules, for example is and was one of the most commonly recognized heroes in both Greek and Roman mythology. Hercules is the son of Zeus, the king of gods on Mount Olympus and Alcmene, a mortal woman, who is the granddaughter of Perseus. From birth Hercules is hated by the god Hera, Zeus’ wife, as his existence represents another time that Zeus has been unfaithful towards her. Hera attempts to murder him when he is an infant by leading snakes into his crib as he is sleeping. Fortunately, Hercules’ godlike strength saves him when he strangles the two snakes before they can harm him. In the most extreme use of her divine powers Hera cast a spell on Hercules, driving him into a temporary fit of blind rage. In this fit he murders his wife and two children. This is an uncommonly dark twist for a hero’s origin story and one that is more often than not left out of the film adaptations in order to better fit the modern audience’s idea of a hero. For example, the Disney animated film titled ‘Hercules’ featuring Tate Donovan as well as ‘Hercules in New York’ featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger both removed the arc in Hercules’ story where he murders his own family in a violent fit of anger. Another more obvious, less morbid example, is the Thor movies themselves, where all sorts of science fiction and fantasy elements are added to enhance Norse mythology for a modern audience. In this fashion many of the old gods and heroes from Greek, Roman, Norse and Egyptian mythology have to some extent maintained their place in society… aside from occasional alterations to their stories, like the ones above old gods and heroes still captivate an enormous number of people with their extreme heroics and drama.
Hercules – Ancient History - History.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/hercules
1. What genres do the following texts belong to, and how do their intended period contexts, purposes, and intended audiences differ?
ReplyDeleteVoluspa, Volsunga Saga, Beowulf, The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.
Voluspa, Volsunga saga and Beowolf are all similar texts, based around the idea of Dragons. These stories have one thing that massively differs from the hobbit and the lord of the rings, being the time in which the stories were released. The lord of the rings (the first book) was released in 1954, the first film following in 2001. Richardson (2014), confirms Voluspa was first available in writing in as early as 1220 in Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda. It is widely believed that before 1220 the story was known by word of mouth. Volsunga Saga was released in the 13th century (between 1201-1300) and was written by an anonymous writer from Iceland. Beowulf is potentially the oldest surviving poem, dating back to as early as 520 AD, according to Beowulf: The Date (n.d.). This Shows the stark difference in time between the release of these old poems and the newer stories that have been written by J.R.R. Tolkein.
I believe the texts range in genre, from fantasy to drama to horror in some cases. I personally feel that the older texts are between magic realism and Heroic fantasy. With the newer texts I believe they have a few different genres that the books fit into such as the earlier mentioned genres that the old poems fit into, additionally Medieval fantasy and historical fantasy.
I believe the purposes have changed, in relation to the stories. The old poems served as a way of being true to the religion they followed (depending on the story) with the side benefit of having the stories as a form of entertainment. With regard to the newer texts, they serve as only entertainment, this is because there are few who would look at the lord of the rings and consider it to be the religion they follow.
References
Beowulf:The Date. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/britannia/anglo-saxon/beowulf/date.html
Richardson, N. (2014). Völuspá: The Seeress’s Prophecy. Retreieved from http://thejunket.org/2014/01/archive/voluspa-the-seeresss-prophecy/
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ReplyDelete6. Identify some recent films, TV shows and/or games which have brought back some of the old gods and heroes from obscurity. What place do the old myths have in the modern world?
ReplyDeleteNorse and old gods are prominent in pop culture depictions. According to
old myths in popular media such as Marvel’s The Avengers, Thor, and Vikings
television series introduce mythological characters and surroundings within a mainstream context. This visual aid enables a wider understanding of Old Norse, which was once preserved exclusively in literary form in Old Icelandic language, and manuscripts known today as Poetic Edda and Prose Edda.
Ancient mythology aimed rationalise and explain major occurrences within the ancient world such natural disasters, human grievances and spirituality. Mythology in modern world acts as a reminder legacy and great historical processes. Mythology remains prominent in the form of belief and religion within the modern world. Although science disapproves or invalidates many aspects of mythology, the belief element remains in the form of religion which is derived from ancient mythology. Smith (1988) summarises that mythology in the modern world acts as a form of historical framework for scientific research based around religion and origins of life. Mythologies do not aim to be illusions nor legitimations, but are rather widely accepted narratives that refer to past, present and future events. Therefore within the modern world these mythologies continue to link elements of a nation’s ancient past with the events of the present and insight into the future (Smith, 1988).
By introducing old myths into pop culture Wilkins (2016) argues that works such as Vikings and Thor a result occupies and fill a new ground of pseudo-historical entertainment by combining half-remembered legends and myths from folk history and animating them into visual media, results in solidify these Norse culture and old myths into the mainstream.
The reincarnation of Norse mythology in pop culture results in an over-simplified version of history and begins to frame socially unacceptable behaviour as part of a fantasy world, which according to Wilkins (2016) defuses the socially constructed attitudes toward these critical events. For example, the depiction of rape in modern Norse romances (such as Thor and Vikings) although represented pre-modern ideologies, excuses the brutal dominating behaviour and lifts existing social restrictions of acceptable behaviour.
References
Rösli, L. (n.d. ). From Troy to Scandinavia – Old Norse topographies. Retrieved March 12, 2018, from University of Basel : https://www.unibas.ch/en/Research/Uni-Nova/Uni-Nova-124/Uni-Nova-124-Old-Norse-topographies.html
Smith, A. (1988). The myth of the ‘modern nation’ and the myths of nations. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 11(12), 1-26.
Wilkins, K. (2016, July). “Ravished by Vikings”: The Pre-modern and the Paranormal in Viking Romance Fiction. Journal of Popular Romance, 22(12), 226-300.
7. How does the film Beowulf and Grendel "problematise" the hero-myth of Beowulf
ReplyDeleteGrendel the troll hinders Beowulf the Geat’s heroism by taking on the role of a victim, rather than a villain. After receiving a challenge from Hrothgar, the King of Danes to kill a murderous troll in the coastal areas of Daneland, Beowulf and small party of Geats set off to hunt down and kill Grendel. Upon arriving in Daneland, Beowulf quickly realises that the challenge from Hrothgar is not as simple as he initially thought. The first wound to Beowulf’s heroism comes when the two initially meet and Grendel, instead of fighting him as one would assume a feral, bloodthirsty troll would do, runs away. Determined to understand why the troll is terrorising the Dane’s, Beowulf goes the see the witch, Selma. He finds out that Selma and Grendel have a son together and that Grendel has protected her from the Dane’s and their hate of witches. Finally, after speaking with a drunk and defeated Hrothgar, Hrothgar tells Beowulf that he and a hunting party of Danes killed Grendel’s father when Grendel was a young boy and that he spared Grendel out of pity.
The Beowulf poem allows Beowulf to act as a stereotypical Norse hero as Grendel is painted as a remorseless demon from the swamps of Daneland, who seeks to aimlessly kill Danes (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2018). Sturla Gunnarsson’s reimagining of Beowulf, however doesn’t allow this as Grendel is a victim of the Danes actions, rather than an evil, man-eating demon. This causes an identity crisis for Beowulf as he cannot act in the way that he did in the original text. In the film Grendel appears to act and communicate almost as any human would and as he only acts to avenge his father and protect his son, slaying him would make Beowulf more a villain, than a hero. By the Oxford Dictionaries definition, a mythological hero should be “a person of superhuman qualities and often semi-divine origin, in particular one whose exploits were the subject of ancient Greek myths” (Definition of hero, n.d.). While Sturla Gunnarsson’s Beowulf does exhibit all these qualities in one way or another, the definition pays little attention to the hero, outside of his or her ability to use inhuman strength and kill mythical beast. The Oxford Dictionaries modern day definition of a hero is “a person who is admired for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities” (Definition of hero, n.d.). Because of this Sturla Gunnarsson’s Beowulf and Grendel challenges the hero-myth through Beowulf’s qualities as he surpasses many of the older expectations of a hero and goes on to show more modern-day hero qualities, such as nobility.
Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (2018, February 1). Beowulf | Summary, Characters, & Analysis. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Beowulf
hero | Definition of hero in English by Oxford Dictionaries. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/hero
In many movies, tv shows, books, music and new media strides have been made to revitalizing or atleast reintroduce mythology including the old god and heros. The most recent and popular franchise of movies based on mythological elements is Thor(series). With Odin, Thor and Loki as primary characters. The series goes as follows, Thor (2011), Thor - A Dark World (2013), Thor - Ragnarok (2017). The characters also make appearances in The Avenger (series).
ReplyDeleteIn fact, the whole Marvel universe has subtle elements of the mythology from the ancient Egyptian Mesopotamian culture.
There is also wave of movies reworking the old mythology for the modern audiences.
In television, shows like American Gods and The Almighty Johnsons, explores the mythology in a modern context.
In the book, there have been few bestseller authors who have explored the mythology in their works. Stephen Fry’s Mythos (2017) and Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules of Life (2017) have been consistent on the bestseller list.
In my opinion, the old myths today should be deeply analysed as it is the evidence of our creative works of the past and studies, the truths and values they restored through these conceptualisations of the myths and our attempts to study and in process understand, or connect with the infinite.
The desire behind texts with hero myth and related to God is to conceptualisation what human courage and will looks like and how representation of the glimpse of the infinite can be captured into a symbol, realising it to some like a God, respectively. These texts should be received like all art should, with curiosity and intent. The pleasure of the fact that through old text we figure out thoughts and beliefs of our ancestry aiding us further in the pursuit that each one of us is on.
ReplyDelete