Beowulf: Prince of the Geats is a 2007 film based on the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf. The film was made by Scott Wegener on a shoestring budget with proceeds benefiting the American and Norwegian Cancer Societies.[1] The film was shown only briefly in theaters, but that its central character was played by a Black actor generated much racist online commentary.[2]

The film addresses issues of "colonialism and exploitation", according to Kathleen Forni.[3] Unlike earlier film versions, the main character is played by a Black actor. Director Scott Wegener had cast the African-American actor Jayshan Jackson for the main part, and then reworked the script accordingly: in Wegener's version, Beowulf's father was a fisherman from an African people, who ended up in Northern Europe where he fathered a child with a local woman. This led to protests from neo-Nazis and other white supremacists, via email and on websites.[1] Neo-Odinists, who consider Beowulf as equivalent to a sacred text, were offended by Wegener's choice.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 Nokes, Richard Scott (2008). "Beowulf: Prince of the Geats, Nazis, and Odinists". Old English Newsletter. 41 (3): 26–32.
  2. 1 2 Clark, David (2019). "Race/Ethnicity and the Other in Beowulf". In Clark, David (ed.). Beowulf in Contemporary Culture. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 31–50. ISBN 9781527544062.
  3. ↑ Forni, Kathleen (2018). Beowulf's Popular Afterlife in Literature, Comic Books, and Film. Routledge. ISBN 9780429880353.


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