Talk:Grendel (film)

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Accents

"Most of the cast have British accents, whereas the real Danes and Geats of history would have had Scandinavian accents if they spoke the English language."

Wow, that's remarkably redundant. The Danes and Geats wouldn't have been speaking English for a start. In fact, when Beowulf was written, it would have been Anglo-Saxon to the writers, so perhaps they should all be speaking Old English in Scandinavian accents if you want to be correct about the thing.

Something wrong with using British(and I think you mean ENGLISH) accents? Given that the story is an ancient English one, I think this is fair.White43 10:31, 23 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I have removed that...we don't actually know what they sounded like at the period...and it WOULD not be a modern Scandinavian dialect as the dialects we know now came after the language had shifted somewhat.

I have also removed: "* The Danes and Geats of the time that the poem was set in almost universally grew thick beards^{[citation needed]}. In the film, some of the men are clean-shaven."

As we do not know this and their is evidence that males in the Viking age and even earlier had a number of styles. - Sigurd

Differences

CITATIONS INDEED!

"In the epic poem, Beowulf fights hand-to-hand, at one point striking so hard that it breaks the sword he's using[citation needed]. In the film, Beowulf uses a quadruple crossbow that fires explosive bolts."

"In the poem, Grendel and his mother live in a swamp."

"In the poem, Beowulf is mentioned as being taller (and presumably proportionately more muscular) than all of the men around him. In the film, he is a man of average size."

Pray tell, where is this mentioned in the poem? All is stated is that :

Beowulf wrenches Grendal's arm clean off, with his GRIP.
Grendal and his mother live in a cave, under the swamp.
Beowulf is described as 'greater and stronger than anyone anywhere in this world' - not necessarily taller.

All of this can be found in the translations of the poem. Found here: http://www.lone-star.net/literature/beowulf/ White43 10:56, 23 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I've removed some erroneous statements and corrected some of the 'differences'. There should be no need for pedantic 'citations needed'. The evidence is in the poem. Which I believe exists in modern English and Anglo-Saxon on Wikipedia. White43 11:37, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Citations are pedantic? Eh, the business of verifying is one of our five pillars, thank you very much. Moreover, since there are significant differences between translations, it's hardly an academic point. Drmies (talk) 15:46, 15 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Agree with Drmies. I think it is perfectly acceptable to be using "chapter and verse" type citations as needed when quoting or describing a line, section, or event within a poem, somewhat in the same tradition as when quoting or referring to Biblical, Torah, or Qur'an verses. The verifiability policy trumps virtually everything, and the readers have a "right" to know from where a claimed "fact" (swamp vs cave, taller vs average, sword vs crossbow) originated, whether from the film, or some translation or other. Open comparisons between versions of translations and interpretations, or artistic presentations, are part of what makes the expanding knowledge base in the Wikipedia so great. Of course we do not need to put a "citation needed" on every word of the article, just on those points that need some way to be verified, independently of held notions and assumptions. --T-dot ( ^Talk/contribs ) 16:01, 15 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]