"True Blue Revolutionaries or Tired Beowulf Reruns"
"Beowulf to Batman: The Epic Hero and Pop Culture" by Roger B. Rollins compares the design of the epic poetry to the design of today's pop culture. The epic poem refers to Anglo-Saxon poems such as Beowulf. Pop culture refers to movies, shows, and comics of today such as Batman and Spiderman. The main point of Rollin's essay is to show the significance of epic poetry to the modern day pop culture. He does so by showing the connections between the two, and the similar purposes the stories serve. One basic similarity that Rollins' mentions is "Neither epic poets nor the creators of pop culture are true revolutionaries."(2) Different plots, heroes, villains, and other details make the stories appear to be new and innovative. Though the heroes, villains, and story lines are never the same, it is apparent that the same basic recipe is used to create each different story.
The Old English epic poem Beowulf is written in al...
An illustration of Grendel by J.R. Skelton from St...
English: An illustration of Beowulf fighting the d...The main ingredients for these stories are actually quite simple; first a level cup of Good versus Evil. Then a jar of "fighting for righteousness and apprehending the wrongdoer."(1) And of course a nice finishing coat of Good or Evil also known as "value satisfaction." Add a little pinch imagination and two tablespoons of creativity, and a healthy helping on interesting details and there you have if an epic poem or a pop romance.
Good versus Evil is incorporated in virtually every epic poem and pop romance. The hero in each story is represents good he is the embodiment of what the average citizen should strive to be. These heroes represent the Good; they are usually honest, clean, upright respectable people an archetype for the model citizen should be. The Good also represents what we would like to be. For example they...