Beowulf

            The Scandinavinan epic of "Beowulf" is one of the first written accounts of old world heroism and adventure we still study today. Although the story is written in a time long forgotten, the elements of what make the character Beowulf are relevant to any modern reader. He is strong, courageous, self-reliant and most importantly, flawed. Beowulf is cursed with the heroe's pride which has led others of similar origin (Heracles in old Greek and Samson of the Christian bible) to thier decline or ultimate fall. In regaurds to the original story, Beowulf is tasked with killing the beast Grendel and his mother, which he does like any good strong man would, with his bare hands. Considering this, why would modern media make a computer animated version of the tale where Beowulf not only does not kill Grendel's mother, but sleeps with her for the promise of power and fame later in life? I believe changes to an old story like this are nessesary to be able to present dated ideas to a new audience, so long as the idea of the hero remains essentially the same. New Beowulf does not kill the temptress out of lust and youthful hunger for power, which a much deeper and more relatable traite for the modern movie goer than a one-dimensional cave man killing beasts left and right. In addition to not killing Grendel's mother, the movie makes several other small changes, such as burying the hero at sea instead of in a tumulus, and the dragon being Beowulf's son, which add to the idea of the aging hero and the sins of the father, making it a better movie. The values of what makes a hero today are always changing and evolving with the ages, but considering how much we do not know about the original story of Beowulf (such as the name of the original author), truth is relative to the teller of every passing tale in history.