Beowulf, the movie
Beowulf, the movie, is an essential learning tool that helps to teach the poem. It helps the imagination of the viewer to better picture the poem when reading it, and to forces the reader to notice differences in the movie from the poem, offering a deeper understanding.
In the poem, no physical descriptions of characters are made in full detail. So when seeing a character from Beowulf, the poem, in the movie, it provides a better visual image of the character. Also, the movie portrays little details that the poem leaves out. For example, in the movie Grendel has very sensitive ear drums, which explains why he came to the mead hall after the thanes had celebrated there. These little details makes the poem come to life to the reader better than just reading it.
The movie has some major differences from the poem, making it not so true to the poem. However, it is my belief that these differences are a good teaching tool. When watching the movie, I often found myself comparing it to the poem. Comparing the two also made me rethink the story, looking back to parts that I did not understand, and because I did that, I found it easier to read the story after that
These two reasons fully explain why watching the movie Beowulf should be used to help teach the poem.
