Beowulf Review, Part 1.
The new Beowulf was an evil movie. It was a full attack on Jesus Christ, and that fact should not be missed. In this regard, it should also be noted that the new Beowulf movie (I will never simply refer to it as “Beowulf,” since the original remains a Christian masterpiece) is one part of the larger attack of the new atheism. Da Vinci Code had the same “cherish the myth anyway” moral at the end of it, and I suppose the upcoming Golden Compass will echo similar platitudes.
The most striking thing about the new Beowulf movie, though, was its ugliness. Hrothgar was a fat, drunken, impotent, dolt. Beowulf was a prideful and greedy betrayer. The mead-hall was a place of debauchery rather than joy. Wiglaf seemed to embrace the eternal recurrence of greed and death. No one could have any kids, and life was always dying.
This is the atheist myth of origins.
It should be noted that the characters in the real Beowulf were fully the product of Christianity. Grendel, as the bad guy, was a descendant of Cain. Hrothgar did have kids. Beowulf killed the She-Wolf, Grendel’s mother, and went back home to reign. Wiglaf grants his aid to Beowulf as all the of the rest of the army runs away, and the noble Beowulf gives his life in the battle.
There are three major conflicts because the Christian life is always triune.
In the new Beowulf movie we note initially that Hrothgar declines to add the new Roman god “Jesus Christ” to the Danish pantheon. He gives us a Pelagian parable about how the gods only help those who help themselves, and then proceeds to show us just how that works out: dying and more death.
Towards the end of the movie Beowulf mentions that the “Christ God” has done away with all the monsters, and thus there is no room for heroes anymore. This is supposed to be dreadful. But hasn’t the movie already proven that the heroes are but fallible men? Hasn’t the movie itself demythologized the story?
The climax of the movie comes when we find out that the Song of Beowulf is a lie. It does not include the horrible sins that Beowulf committed. And that is just as it should be, we are told. History is not important. The song is important. The role that the song plays in your life is what counts.
This is atheistic moralism, but it fails to take note that the kids are tired of lies. Haven’t these guys seen Magnolia? The noble lie has run its course, and we’re not inspired by it anymore. Islam isn’t interested either. It believes it’s song. Be sure of that.
What we need is something real. A foundation for love and redemption. We need something to die for. We need something to live for.
We need the true Beowulf who renounces pride. We need the true Beowulf who kills the She-Wolf.
We’ve got enough of the ugly. We need the truth.
Review Part 2.
“A Few More thoughts on the Beowulf movie”
In the original, Beowulf lost his swimming match against Breca because of his avarice. He learns from this experience and thus renounces avarice, which is the root of all sins. The movie missed this one by about 180 degrees. Everything after this was all the consistent outworking of their inability to grasp the point. Atheism is dense and boorish. It is sad and ugly. It would do better to continue with the simple opiate-binge of Paris Hilton and super-sized colas.
The “believe the myth anyway” apologetic that the false song of Beowulf seeks to employ is no different from Tom Hanks’ character in the Da Vinci Code and the recent “Imaginationland” triology on South Park. The myth is important because of the role it plays in our personal life-stories. Beyond that there is no truth.
But doesn’t going along with this require you to know that you’re a phony? I mean, come on, you’ve already admitted that the story isn’t true! Telling people to “just go with it” isn’t going to last. Marx was better than this. Nietzsche was too. He had no tolerance for this new pretty-boy atheism. He knew the score, which is why he stormed out on Wagner. Lies are lies. Your choices are either Jesus or nihil, and no amount of flowery language is gonna change that fact. Nietzsche could deal with it (sorta). Why can’t these new moderns?
In combating this, the Christian appeals to the absolute historicity of his story. If Christ didn’t really rise from the dead, our faith is in vain. If God doesn’t really exist, we are without hope. The Bible is true- or else.
We cannot go down the road of the idealists who say that the literal-historical doesn’t matter. The earth was created in six-days. Six days, bucko. Deal with it. The genealogies in Genesis are real. The earth is about 6,000 years old from the creation of light. We believe this. Yes, all of those animals got on one single boat. It happened.
The Christian sings because the songs are true. The Christian tells his story because it is true. Good fiction needs to be true too.
The original Beowulf was true fiction. The new Beowulf movie was fake fiction. Between the two there lies a world of difference.
http://wedgewords.reformedblogs.com/
The earth was created in six-days. Six days, bucko. Deal with it. The genealogies in Genesis are real. The earth is about 6,000 years old from the creation of light. We believe this. Yes, all of those animals got on one single boat. It happened.
…believe the myth anyway…
By: AMB on December 11, 2007
at 7:04 AM
You’re kidding me, right? The earth is 4 billion years old. A mere baby in cosmic terms. Humanity, being one of the youngest of the species on earth, is only about 1 million years old. Maybe they were right when they said that when you give a monkey a brain, he’ll claim to rule the universe.
By: vic on September 24, 2009
at 8:42 PM
holy….. you people are hardcore lol
By: lol on January 21, 2008
at 2:05 AM
[...] distortions of the original story. Christian Movie Reviews writes about the ugliness of the new Beowulf movie. A friend who saw the movie referred to what he called “Barbie-doll porn,” i.e., an [...]
By: The Real Beowulf « Faith Matters on March 1, 2008
at 2:52 PM
Calm down it’s a movie. A movie based on Scandinavian folklore at that! It is also based in a time when Scandinavians believed in multiple gods. Doesn’t this go directly of the “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” commandment?
By: Wow on March 22, 2008
at 7:06 PM
my god that is unbelievable
1) beowulf is not a christian story, its from the nowell codex. the references to cain represent a christianisation of norse mythology
2) men have avarice, greed and pride – beowulf was a man
jesus would not have taken such light entertainment so seriously….u guys need to relax and let the true light of god enter u
then little stuff like this cannot possibly be seen as evil, that is the most ridiculous thing i have ever heard
By: toby on May 7, 2008
at 2:10 AM
well said.
By: vic on September 24, 2009
at 8:43 PM
“jesus would not have taken such light entertainment so seriously…”
Throwing dice and playing cards could be called light entertainment, and didn’t Jesus throw a purple, hairy fit when he caught merchants doing that in the temple?
Just a thought…
For what it’s worth, I enjoyed the film. I didn’t understand the nature of Angelina Joile’s character though.
She bears a monstrous son to a mortal man whom she protects, but only until her son reaches an age where he can massacre entire villages. She then seduces another mortal man to replace the son that gets killed by a hero and so begins the cycle again.
Point please?
By: GypsySilver on May 19, 2008
at 5:15 PM
Jesus was upset because no one invited to the party. Paul lost his sandals that day at the roulette table. And don’t get me started on what Judas was up to.
By: vic on September 24, 2009
at 8:46 PM
Uh, clearly the christians are missing thousands of years of history. Time to bring back the Colosseum. Only this time we’ll use Muslims instead of Lions.
By: ariadne on June 7, 2008
at 5:29 AM
I did notice a lot of the differences in the movie from the actual tale. But in case anybody hasn’t noticed, this happens in nearly any literature-to-film reproduction.
I don’t agree that this was an intentional bash against Christianity. Besides, even if Beowulf has any significance to Christianity, the female demon represents sin, and Beowulf is a man with flaws but took responsibility for his own sin (he pays with his life). Doesn’t that sound like Christian morals? Men sin. Sin is punished? The whole point is that Hrothgar and Beowulf after him both sinned, and they both were punished for it in the end. Just like how Sodom and Gamora were ridden with sin and they were destroyed. So I don’t see what the big deal is even if you’re viewing it from a Christian stand-point (which I don’t think anyone should take any film that is clearly for entertainment purposes and not educational seriously..)
Just so everyone knows though that entire role of the female demon was massively skewed from the original. The original is a lot less complicated and straight forward and the film-makers perhaps thought it was too boring so concocted the whole whore element–and who better to cast for that than Angelina Jolie?
I think the “moral” at the end is that if you do not unveil the truth then history will repeat itself, since the film hints that Wiglaf will follow the same fate as the Kings before him. Isn’t truth part of Christian morals? It’s not like they cover up Beowulf’s sins and there are no suggested reprecussions for it, that would be another matter.
By: schan on August 25, 2008
at 8:29 PM
Wow… Here I am, a public school educator AND a Christian reading another ridiculous misrepresentation of fiction. Beowulf– your “Christian masterpiece”– is a PAGAN legend that was passed down through centuries before a Christian poet put it to paper and infused the tale with Christian allusions. This happens a lot with the oral storytelling tradition. (Did you even know that what you were reading was initially a heathen work??? Oh my! Whatever will you do now that you allowed your eyes to view such a thing?) Listen Mr. or Mrs. Movie-Review-Expert… respectfully, go back to school before you write about subjects in which you so obviously have no credible basis of education. Beowulf the movie is just another example of Hollywood trying to make a quick buck. They changed the plot, took creative liberties, and made a poor representation of a great epic. Entertaining? Yes, I thought so– and by the way, so did the 200 students that I took on the field trip. They laughed at the inaccuracies between the epic and the movie, and then we had a wonderful discussion the following day examining all of the differences.
I’m sure there are the self-righteous out there who come onto this website and believe everything you –cough, cough– experts write. You know what? That’s fine. I just want to put this out there for your readers: You can still be a good Christian and think for yourself. You can still be a good Christian and read a book or watch a movie that’s deemed “unacceptable,” and form an opinion of your own. What if your interpretation is different because you indeed ARE an intelligent human being, and you find that you actually enjoy exercizing the free will that God bestowed upon you?
God bless everyone!– even (or especially) the ignorant! I’m off to continue my reading of the last Harry Potter.
By: J Lea on September 14, 2008
at 5:12 PM
Surely you don’t think being a teacher in an public elementary school makes you a credible critic of either culture or artistic merits? The fact that you took young children to see this film shows an awesome lack of judgment on your part. That you are a Christian just goes to show that religion does not ensure either wisdom nor kindness, as your analysis exhibits neither wit nor grace.
By: Neiswonger on January 6, 2009
at 1:01 AM
It is always interesting to see how dogmatic some people get when they detect dogmatism in others. Perhaps J Lea should consider another possibility: Beowulf was quite possibly written by a Christian in order to compare/contrast what society was like before the Anglo-Saxons were converted to Christianity. Even the best of the pagans was still caught up in the endless cycle of violence and revenge, whereas Christianity brought with it the emphasis on loving your neighbor and forgiveness. These Christian tenets are the foundation of Western Civilization, and the freedoms we take for granted. I believe it was the author’s original intent to point out to his readers the blessings they had received by converting to Christianity.
I really don’t understand your need to mock and deride someone whose interpretation differs from yours. Or is it that truth is only based on interpretation, and anyone with strong convictions is “ignorant”?
By: Gman on October 10, 2009
at 2:29 PM
A quote from Beowulf the evil movie:
“We men are monsters now
The time of heroes is dead
The christ god has killed it
Leaving human kind with nothing but weeping martyrs, fear and shame”
eh, look around folks, do you see what I see?
The other anti-christian movie Golden Compass, depicts the Catholic Church in a fair light, dark twisted creepy so and so’s. The Catholic Church claims dominion over “lands conquered and YET to be conquered”, no wonder you’re afraid of Golden Compass 2.
Christian people pls consider the possibility that the original Beowulf was a “story” to achieve what effect Beowulf descirbes as what happened in reality, or what passes for reality.
My NIV bible even descirbes what the story’s of the bible really are: plagarised myths from Egypt, Babylonia, Sumeria, who knows even Ireland.
e.g. Daniel is the sun (king) and Delilah cuts his hair representing his loosing strength in Autumn (the Fall people is the “fall of the sun”)
By: Colobus Monkey on January 6, 2009
at 2:05 PM
One more thing, who made Beowulf? HOLLYwood, they make magic remember? Witches magic wands were made out of wood from the holly tree, hollywood.
Someone up there asked about the Angelina character, surely she is simply the Christian typical, typical beautiful temptress. Unfortunately folks, the christian message, bible, Beowulf et al, has taken the original sources, pagan or otherwise and turned everything on it’s head. The result, man is split down the centre and spends all of energy trying to mend the pieces.
Before Christianity, women (or the feminine in us all) were revered (women in Egypt CHOSE the pharoah etc) the Goddess tradition etc.
So in final conclusion, Beowulf and Golden Compass contain both Christian and Anti-Christian aspects, simply to show all who can truly see that the black sorcerers hidden behind a thousand curtains are proceeding quite nicely, thank you very much. We, on the other hand are unfortunately running around like headless chickens.
Shelley wrote : Rise up like lions after slumber, in unvanquishable number, shake your chains to earth like dew that in your sleep had fallen on you, YE are MANY, THEY ARE FEW!!
By: Colobus Monkey on January 6, 2009
at 2:35 PM
wow you people are so sad and pathetic that you need to believe on a god to simply go on with your empty lives. And these movies aren’t and attack on your christianity they are a way for the producers and actors to make a ton of cash you think they really care what its about unless they make money? get off your idiotic high horses thinking the whole world is out to stop your religion cuz in this day and age religion is about as worthless as someones blog.
I view your religion just as make believe as scientology both are nothing but a sad joke to prey on weak minded adults who force there kids into there belief system which is just as bad as child molestation
Think of it this way if there was a god people like me would have been killed long ago
By: ChIaNg ShIh on February 17, 2009
at 12:44 AM
A few thoughts…
Beowulf the movie is entertainment. There are though messages in it (as in the original), including: men should be brave, fierce in defence of their homes, ‘brothers’ and beliefs (way of life); they should be honourable (note the disgust shown towards the mistreatment of the slaves and prisoner on the beach and the depiction of avarice, cowardice and self-serving); they are subject to temptation; AND there is a price to pay for everything.
Hrothgar and Beowulf were offered glory and secure kingship (dominion over all you survey, to paraphrase some book or other) and took it, knowing there was a price – Beowulf at least had a fair idea from seeing Hrothgar. Hrothgar, once free of the demon, killed himself, only to be taken by her at the foot of the cliff. The Beowulf was also claimed (or defiled) by Grendel’s mother in the flames of his pyre.
Beowulf’s motives may have been selfish when dealing with Grendel’s mother, but his deal with her secured his kingdom (in the movie version) and, although it did not bring peace, it brought victory and safety for his people.
May-be this was a noble sacrifice on his part?
Beowulf also sacrificed himself to slay the dragon/son creature before it consumed his kingdom and those in his care, rather as he had consumed those who came against him. A nice irony was that he severed his own arm to accomplish this, bringing us back to the death of Grendel.
Re. the weeping martyrs comment – it seemed to me that Beowulf, last of the heroes, laments the passing of demons because there is nothing to fight any more, apart from other men and that has become a pointless slaughter. The Christ God has banished monsters and pagan gods from the minds of men and without belief, they cannot exist. Therefore, Beowulf and his savage ilk are now the monsters.
Note to Neiswonger, J Lea is a public educator. She took students to see the film. She did not state their age. You should be careful that your prejudices do not tempt you into distorting the facts: “The fact that you took young children to see…” It is self-serving.
As far as Christianity goes, which brand are we talking? Remember, it is a faith that has had many revisions and schisms over the centuries. Catholicism (and its Anglican form) won out in Europe by C7th, but it was not the only brand, nor was it even the dominant one for centuries. Who now remembers Arian Christianity (not the Arians of Asia or the Nazi party)?
And, what of the editing of the bible over the past 1500 years? And which bit of the bible? There are 2 versions creation in there plus some really brutal lessons on how to behave. Does the old testament have primacy over the new? even though Jesus came with a revised message of hope and salvation. If it does, shouldn’t Christians be following the Jewish interpretation of it, as they are closer to the original?
I like the thoughts of Hypatia on freedom of thought (before she was murdered by a Christian mob):
“All formal dogmatic religions are fallacious and must never be accepted by self-respecting persons as final.” Note, she did not say, ‘must never be accepted,’ she was urging caution regarding those dogmatic types who insist theirs is the ONLY way. St Augustine, original sin and newborn babes condemned to the pit for the sins of Eve and Adam was quite dogmatic.
“Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all.”
Hypatia of Alexandria
By: Rethinkingman on February 22, 2009
at 5:31 PM
i’ve read some articles claiming that beowulf is a pagan myth and it is bad that christians added the creation song to it. but in reality, properly analyzed, you will find that beowulf is a christian work all the way through. undoubtedly a pagan story was used as the base, but it is a wholly christian reworking. the moral of the story is anti materialism. it starts off with a dead man being burried at sea with a whole heap of gold that nobody knows who will find or receive, then it goes through beowulf and all his buddies fighting monsters and other men for gold, and finally ends with beowulf giving his life to win a dragon’s lair full of gold that turns out to be mostly corroded, and that his idiot followers then simply send away on the sea with him anyway. it is supposed to make you think about how you waste your life on materialism, and to do so with an entertaining story about fighting monsters.
By: rey on March 29, 2009
at 12:11 AM
Do you even realize how wrong you are? Very wrong. First, I agree that this movie was incredibly horrible, but I think so for different reasons. It hardly followed the plot of the poem at all, but I’d HARDLY call say that it is bashing on Christianity. That’s where your wrong, and not the first time. This is an anglo-saxon epic, not a christian moral story. You know why it has christian tones? Because it was an oral story, it had to be copied down. And you know WHO copied it down? Christian monks who took it upon themselves to edit the story to include the christian god. I won’t even get into all your other false comments. And you obviously have no idea how anglo-saxon life was. It was not a prissy little christian moral society. This was a race of warriors, not pansy ass christian crybabies. So, my leaving comment is this, just remember that your god was nailed to a cross, and mine carries a big hammer. Have a good day you ignorant whiny christian. Now THERES some christian bashing for you!
By: TC Fred on April 7, 2009
at 2:40 PM
In his wisdom
By: Troy on October 7, 2009
at 7:28 PM
Can’t you people ever realize that there are other religions and customs in the world, and the world doesn’t revolve around yours? I can’t wait until all the christian piss off the other religions, or each other, and start another holy war. I’ll be waiting to watch with my popcorn!
By: TC Fred on April 7, 2009
at 2:43 PM
“Good fiction needs to be true too”
“Good fiction needs to be true”
“Good fiction”
“fiction”
fiction isn’t real, bro.
By: The Great Nihil on May 12, 2009
at 7:29 AM
the earth was made in 6 days bucko, live with it.
Why did God tell us the world was made in 6 days and then create a world and a universe that looks like it was made 14 billion years ago.
Well, maybe it was the audience, a tribe of desert (ok maybe it wasnt a desert then) dwelling nomads/farmers who couldnt count above a thousand.
How do you explain the real universe to such a people?
I think Christianity and most of the monotheistic religions have a really small God. My god can make a universe that is 14 billion years old, and still decide that now is the time for intelligent life to exist in this tiny corner of it. My God is bigger and more powerful than you can imagine Christians, my God made a universe with more galaxies than you can count in a lifetime. My god made an interesting, self consistent universe. The God you worship was defined and fenced in by a bunch of 3rd century clerics for their own purposes.
Do you want you life ruled by a 3rd Century gay priest ? I dont.
It wasnt until the dawn of the age of enlightenment that people took the entirety of the Bible literally. Everyone understood that everything in the Bible is a parable, a lesson on how to live life, a vision of hope in a life that ALWAYS ENDS IN DEATH. Everybody dies, and that seems just so wrong.
By: jim on July 6, 2009
at 2:11 AM
just thought i would point out that Beowulf is a folktale from a time before Jesus was born. So to call it a atheist story is just making you look like an idiot. Its from the Nordic beliefs when vikings roamed the earth.
By: Dave on October 4, 2009
at 12:21 PM