Beowulf versus The Lord of the Rings

[dumbledore11214]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "susanmcgee48176" 
<Schlobin at ...> wrote:
>
> http://www.salon.com/opinion/kamiya/2007/11/20/beowulf/print.html
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Terrific and very insightful story at salon.com..
> 
> Please let me know what you think. Susan
> 
> 
> 
> "Beowulf" vs. "The Lord of the Rings"
> One is a living universe, the other a 3-D voyage to schlockville. 
A 
> great essay by Tolkien helps us understand why. 
> By Gary Kamiya
> 
> Nov. 20, 2007 | Robert Zemeckis' new film "Beowulf" gives a whole 
new 
> meaning to the phrase "the sublime and the ridiculous." Zemeckis 
took 
> the oldest and most important text of our ur-language, and turned 
it 
> into a 3-D Disneyland ride so cheesy he should have called 
it "Anglo-
> Saxons of the Caribbean." Of course, there's nothing new or 
> surprising about this. Hollywood has been profaning history and 
> literature since long before Cecil B. DeMille cast Charlton Heston 
as 
> Moses. If the Bible isn't sacred, why should the oldest poem in 
our 
> ancestral language be?
>



Alla:

Have you seen the movie yet? I am going to see it tomorrow and then 
believe me I am going to let you know how I feel :)

I am already going in with very mixed feelings, since I know that 
they changed the story so much and I hate when Hollywood thinks that 
they can write the plays better than classics, BUT I will be the 
first one to say that as long as the heart of the story is there, I 
am game. I do know that movie is different medium, but the heart of 
the story had better be there.

Having said that, I am afraid that I will not be happy, because 
without writing too much for those who have not seen the movie yet, 
I obviously read the changes and OY OY.

Somebody wrote in their review that they decided to make Beowulf 
human. Um, I HATE it when the playwriter feels a need to change good 
character, especially the hero of the story to make him  you know, 
human, meaning having some bad qualities.

Again, this is me not seeing the movie yet, just reading about it.


I mean, I love Neil Gaiman's books dearly, pretty much all of them, 
I LOVED Stardust despite changes in the story.

But if the storyline is what I read about it, I will loudly proclaim 
Neil Gaiman to be a lousy and arrogant playwriter.

We shall see tomorrow.

Alla.