Grendel

I could never get thru Garner's book on Grendel.

But there is a distinctively post modern take on the old legends...

Grendel is more a contemporary voice. He is supposed to be an eater of kings ... but he is really the eternal outsider. He looks at mankind and wonders why it has singled him out as a demon as human behavior is not that exemplary."

Taymor sees Grendel as an embodiment of what Americans fear today and says that the glory of Gardner's story is that he turned it all upside down.

"The story that we fell in love with many years ago actually became more potent," she said.

"As we think about today and what is going on with words like 'the outsider' or 'the outcast,' 'the terrorist,' 'the enemy,' 'the immigrant,' 'the foreigner' -- all of these ideas. If you start to look at Grendel ... it becomes more contemporary than anything contemporary because, like Shakespeare, it transcends its time."

Ah, yes...but Grendel's family were outcasts because they were thieves and murderers. There were other choices for his family: in an empty Europe, he could have gone into the wilderness and build a prosperous farm, or even started an inn/tradingpost in the wild...Instead, Grendel and his mother prey on the weak. He does not build homes and schools but steals cattle and money from farmers. Nor does he protect the maids and serfs from wolves or brigand like the king does... nor like Robin Hood does he even bother to share his illgained wealth with the poor... He merely kills for the sake of killing, out of envy.

Yes, we have parallels with this in our modern world. In L.A. these type can be found in their bloodthirsty gangs who shoot up taverns and do driveby shootings for the fun of it...Does Grendel have a story? Of course. But those who are not naive know that there are people who chose evil for the sake of evil but always find a reason for their evil...

BUT the true heroes are those who protect the weak, not those who kill the defenseless...
Our ancestors knew it, which is why we celebrate in film and song those who protect the weak: from John Wayne to Darna to the Seven Samurai...

But, of course, in our politically correct post modern morality, it is better to sing the praises of the modern Grendels who terrorize their neighborhoods in LA, or who fill 300 mass graves with civilians or who bomb Aussies at bars, dancers at nightclubs, or who bomb or behead those merely seeking to pray at mosques, churches, and temples.

For if you told the story as tradition tells it, you might see a certain cowboy as Beowulf....the outsider who kills the monsters...