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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