Monday, February 22, 2016

Love of the Middle Ages in Pop Culture: Beowulf

Although we have already gone over Beowulf in class, it will be the main topic of this post; this is not my reaction to it, but how it keeps popping up in our pop culture. Other than being a story in a literature class that most people have to read in high school and college, the story has leaked itself into our pop culture over and over again. It has not only been a movie, but now is being made into a TV show. The movie was made in 2007 and had a very different take than what the actual text had. It added different aspects to the story. The movie poster is shown first down below while the TV series is shown second. The movie was made in CGI while the TV series, which has not come out yet, will be live action. Our society likes to change the way this story is and how it ends. It will be interesting to see what twist the TV series will have on the story and how the people in charge of it will envision it. Beowulf is a classic "hero" story and seems that it will forever live in our minds, society, televisions, and literature books.

I find it extremely interesting how this story that is so old, keeps leaking back into our pop culture and society. This is not the only medieval themed show that has audiences captured. Shows such as Game of Thrones, Rome, Vikings, and Reign still dominate our televisions. Some of these shows have been critically acclaimed and hold millions of viewers. It seems that our society is almost obsessed with the Middle Ages and loves to bring it into our pop culture. If I were to predict, I believe that the Middle Ages will always exist within our society and pop culture .  


Link to the picture: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/ab/Beowolfposter.jpg/220px-Beowolfposter.jpg



Link to picture: http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BNzI4YzlhYTYtOWVlZS00OTMyLTkxMjItN2U1MzYyNThhMDFmXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTExNDQ2MTI@._V1_SX640_SY720_.jpg



4 comments:

  1. Michaela, do you think the poem is more suited for adaptation into a movie or a a television show? If the latter, how many episodes could be constructed from the continuing adventures of Beowulf?

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  2. Michaela, do you think the poem is more suited for adaptation into a movie or a a television show? If the latter, how many episodes could be constructed from the continuing adventures of Beowulf?

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    Replies
    1. In my opinion, I think that the poem would be adapted best as a television show. I think that a television show enables the viewer to see a greater character development for each character and their reactions to things. It truly will add greater depth to the story. Alas, with greater depth adds more interpretation by writers, directors, producers, etc. The show itself may stray away from the core of the poem, but I think that it will be interesting to watch. In the show that is being produced, it is being filmed in 13 episodes I believe. I think that is a proper amount of episodes because I think it keeps it true to the poem. However, I could see it being a seasonal TV show and stretched out into multiple seasons.

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