Beowulf
Sometimes my brother, W, makes wild statements that I cannot ignore. During Thanksgiving dinner I was quietly eating the corn on my plate, somewhat ignoring the loud sound of my family hopping from one topic to the another when my brother, W, uttered these words:
“I feel like I have to go see the remake of Beowulf. Now that I’m an English teacher I need to be familiar with the contemporary portrayal of the stor...”
“What?!” I exclaimed. “You do not need to see a CGI based film in order to understand Beowulf! The movie doesn’t even follow the epic poem!”
(I haven’t seen the movie but I’ve read up on it. And, it seems to me there is a drastic difference between the (boring) epic poem and Angelina Jolie’s scary, animated braid or the fact you get to see Angelina naked! In CGI! Oh my!)
We debated this topic for quite some time before W admitted he liked someone involved in the film who is also a comic book writer… at which point I felt utterly exasperated. Let me explain: My brother has recently become an English/Math teacher. He has also taken a recent liking to comics. Meaning: instead of reading Shakespeare and other great works of English literature (or novels, even) he is delving into how the X-men became united or about how an ordinary boy discovers he has the power to move through time… which, by the way, you can skip reading because it has been covered extensively in movie form.
I believe everyone has the right to read whatever suits his or her fancy. The average Joe might not need to read Beowulf or A Tale of Two Cities in order to survive. I do, however, feel like my brother is in a different position. I feel like as an English teacher he should be replacing Ultimate Spiderman with The Great Gatsby. The Sandman should be replaced with Paradise Lost. He should be reading each and every boring story that English literature has to offer. After all, if he doesn’t read and love it, who will?
I suppose this matter is close to my heart as someone who almost became an English teacher. I had a lot of time to think about the kinds of things I would and wouldn’t do in this position. Being well-read and loving literature in its original form seems important. I came to this conclusion early on. (Then, after taking countless teaching courses I discovered teaching was not for me.)
Also, a part of me likes the idea of my brother reading Beowulf and trying to silence such thoughts as: God, this is awful followed by No, this is really awful and Do I really have to read this? Or should I just go kill myself now in order to skip the next few pages? This is the kind of torture every older brother should have to endure.
“I feel like I have to go see the remake of Beowulf. Now that I’m an English teacher I need to be familiar with the contemporary portrayal of the stor...”
“What?!” I exclaimed. “You do not need to see a CGI based film in order to understand Beowulf! The movie doesn’t even follow the epic poem!”
(I haven’t seen the movie but I’ve read up on it. And, it seems to me there is a drastic difference between the (boring) epic poem and Angelina Jolie’s scary, animated braid or the fact you get to see Angelina naked! In CGI! Oh my!)
We debated this topic for quite some time before W admitted he liked someone involved in the film who is also a comic book writer… at which point I felt utterly exasperated. Let me explain: My brother has recently become an English/Math teacher. He has also taken a recent liking to comics. Meaning: instead of reading Shakespeare and other great works of English literature (or novels, even) he is delving into how the X-men became united or about how an ordinary boy discovers he has the power to move through time… which, by the way, you can skip reading because it has been covered extensively in movie form.
I believe everyone has the right to read whatever suits his or her fancy. The average Joe might not need to read Beowulf or A Tale of Two Cities in order to survive. I do, however, feel like my brother is in a different position. I feel like as an English teacher he should be replacing Ultimate Spiderman with The Great Gatsby. The Sandman should be replaced with Paradise Lost. He should be reading each and every boring story that English literature has to offer. After all, if he doesn’t read and love it, who will?
I suppose this matter is close to my heart as someone who almost became an English teacher. I had a lot of time to think about the kinds of things I would and wouldn’t do in this position. Being well-read and loving literature in its original form seems important. I came to this conclusion early on. (Then, after taking countless teaching courses I discovered teaching was not for me.)
Also, a part of me likes the idea of my brother reading Beowulf and trying to silence such thoughts as: God, this is awful followed by No, this is really awful and Do I really have to read this? Or should I just go kill myself now in order to skip the next few pages? This is the kind of torture every older brother should have to endure.
