Beowulf's (Awesomeness)^nth power

The first time I heard of Beowulf was on television. The commercial featured little clips, but of course the one that caught my eye was Angelina Jolie. When the movie came out, I never watched it. I never had the desire to, until most recently…my boyfriend urged me to watch it, because he felt (just like Mr. B) that Beowulf was an awesomely awesome fellow. I was hesitant and still put the movie off. One day, it just happened to be on FX and I was fixated on the story. At first, I thought the movie to be overly exaggerated. I thought it was meant to poke fun at Beowulf. Yet, I found some appreciation for it. So far reading this story and having the movie as a background template filters my imagination to believe the visual analysis rather than reading it.

When the Comitatus, followers of the king, meet in the Mead Hall, resembles a gathering of a frat house. Or a house party for people to relax and of course drink and play some beer pong. Hmm, I wonder if Beowulf would be beer pong king. Just a random thought. The epic poem would have created more appeal to me with more detailed imagery. If the poem entailed additional appearance descriptions of Grendel would have created a scarier monster, because Grendel seems kind of lame, I mean besides the fact that he eats people.

Beowulf plays a strong, combative character. It was admirable to know he swam for five days and five nights in excruciating icy water to later lose against Breca. Due to his awesomeness, the only reason why he lost the match was because he has done something even more great by slaying nine sea monsters. He challenges Unferth to do the same or fight against the mighty Grendel.

When Grendel eventually comes around and shows his face to Beowulf, Beowulf disarmors in order to have a fair fight with the mystical giant. Grendel has neither sword nor clothes, Beowulf finds it is only fair to do the same and fight with his own hands. But why do guys do that, why do they need to show off their manliness by stripping off their shirts. I understand why girls need to take off their hoop earrings and hair weaves, only so it doesn’t end up hurting them in the end. Grendel represents the defective misfits and rebels of society. The ones who love to insinuate havoc and trouble. It seems like Beowulf finds the passion to rid the “bad” out of the society to maintain order.

Beowulf encompasses an ideal heroic figure. With his big muscles and his eloquence to speak, he resembles the ideal man figure to look up to. He’s like Batman and Superman. He plays the dominant male figure in slaying all the bad monsters and saving the day. Could Beowulf be interpreted or compared to a God? He seems to play a distinctive role in saving people’s lives. Or he just likes to be compared to a hunter shooting a buck and hanging its head in his living room as a trophy of triumph?

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