Beowulf to Batman

“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 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 imaginatio

. . .
”(3) That is why it is extremely important that the fighting be added to each story and poem with care. These differences do not really change the hero; they are just added to please society.

The fighting of Good versus evil is the next major component to the story. The Anglo-Saxons were religious people and had a strong belief in God. It is almost inevitable therefore, that pop romance for example, instruct in spit of itself(2. n and two tablespoons of creativity, and a healthy helping on interesting details and there you have if an epic poem or a pop romance. The hero must kill the villain “face to face” ad never stab it in the back. These heroes represent the Good; they are usually honest, clean, upright respectable people an archetype for the model citizen should be. ) Beowulf clearly states that he is fighting evil by referring to the dragon as the “evil worm. Both the stories tell a tale of Good fighting against Evil and then dying for the people. Apposed to Beowulf whose main asset was his amazing hand strength, not much mention was made of his wily good looks or his incredible intelligence. For example they can be extremely intelligent like Batman, outrageously handsome like James Bond, or amazingly strong and brave like Beowulf. In the pop romances of today we can usually be assured that the hero will not die because does not want to see Evil defeat Good. That why Beowulf fight Grendel with his bare hand and fights his other enemies alone, and Spiderman never carries a gun or a bomb. The other half of this main ingredient is Evil represented by the bad guy or the villain.

Common topics in this essay:
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Approximate Word count = 1144
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

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