Richard Scott Nokes' article on an unexpected set of reactions to the casting of a black actor as Beowulf in Beowulf: Prince of the Geats is now available on line.
It is a journalist's cliche that only weird English profs (and not all of them) care about Beowulf; and they masochistically inflict it on their defenseless students. The flood of Beowulf material in recent years, in movies and elsewhere, blows that throw-away out of the water.
Thanks to Modern Medieval for the heads-up.
Image: Jayshan Jackson as Beowulf.
Another major difference between me and Nazis (and Odinists) -- when they look at that image, they are horrified to see a black Beowulf. When I look at it, I'm horrified to see Beowulf doing a thumbs-up to the camera.
ReplyDeleteJayshan, it's not the 1980s. Time to retire the thumbs-up pose.
I have to ask, was there outrage at Denzel Washington portraying Don Pedro in "Much Ado About Nothing"?
ReplyDeleteNice
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