Torre, Dan, and Lienors Torre. "Scenes of Grendel Grendel Grendel." Grendel Grendel Grendel: Animating . New York,: Bloomsbury Academic, 2021. 31–98. Bloomsbury Collections. Web. 27 Sep. 2021. <http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781501337796.ch-002>. Downloaded from Bloomsbury Collections, www.bloomsburycollections.com, 27 September 2021, 01:57 UTC. Copyright © Dan Torre and Lienors Torre 2021. You may share this work for non-commercial purposes only, provided you give attribution to the copyright holder and the publisher, and provide a link to the Creative Commons licence. Chapter 2 SCENES OF GRENDEL GRENDEL GRENDEL Grendel Grendel Grendel is a significant and a unique (but relatively overlooked) animated film. It is also a disarmingly complex film, and many of its themes and events can go unnoticed on first viewing. As such, this chapter provides a useful and detailed scene-by-scene summation of the animated feature’s narrative. Each of the film’s seventy-odd scenes (sixty-eight plus the introduction and end credit sequence) is described. This chapter also provides lyrics to several of the songs as well as transcriptions of key sections of dialogue. Additionally, a number of frame grabs from the film are also included, which help to provide further context and explication. Although many of these scene summations also include some critical analysis and direct comparisons to Gardner’s book and to the original Beowulf epic – the foremost purpose of this chapter is to provide a very detailed and practical impression of the film, which in turn serves as a basis for subsequent chapters’ more in-depth analysis. Stitt’s film is a broad adaptation of John Gardner’s book Grendel, which is a complete retelling (essentially a parallel novel) of the original Beowulf epic. Alex Stitt writes in the introduction of the film’s tie-in book, The Grendel, Grendel, Grendel Film Picture Book: For the sake of Mr Gardner’s readers and reputation, I hasten to add that it’s a very free adaptation. Many of the complexities and subtleties of his Grendel defy reworking into ninety minutes of animation. Grendel Grendel Grendel must be regarded as a separate entity that I, as the designer and director, Bruce Smeaton as the composer, Phillip Adams as the producer and dozens of animators, painters, actors, musicians and technicians found satisfying to fashion alongside Mr Gardner’s inspirational work.1 In one interview, Stitt acknowledges that the whole thing is an adaptation of Gardner’s book, but I haven’t tried to adapt it faithfully in any way, so the purists will hate it. Out of the attitudes and emotions that Gardner has given the characters, I have selected and toned them down a bit.2 Arguably, it is quite misleading to label Stitt’s film as merely asimplification of the novel – even although it achieves this on several levels. But the movie also 32 Grendel Grendel Grendel: Animating Beowolf generates many of its own ‘complexities and subtleties’ which ultimately would defy the printed page of a novel. These stem from Stitt’s ability as a designer and a director, his deep understanding of Gardner’s novel and the original Beowulf epic, and of the inherent qualities of the animated form. Furthermore, Stitt draws upon a number of additional sources, thereby imbuing the film with his own interpretations and world views. The end result is an animated film that proves to be far more complex than its minimalist animated graphics suggest. In both the book and the film, the narrative is told from the perspective of Grendel. However, the film places greater emphasis on the human’s position, and there are moments where the perspective shifts (but not entirely) towards the human inhabitants of Hrothgar’s kingdom. Grendel, however, is never far away and is often seen lurking in the shadows or slinking away into the night after a scene of human activity has concluded, thus plausibly maintaining ‘the monster’s point of view’. This shift in perspective was a pragmatic alteration for Stitt to make since the character of Grendel rarely speaks in the novel – it is primarily ‘narrated’ and structured through his internal thoughts. And being a non-human ‘monster’, these thoughts can prove to be rather convoluted and schizophrenic. Although there are aspects of dark humour and even moments of levity, Gardner’s Grendel is, on the whole, a dark, brooding, troubled and desperate character. The reader tends to identify with him for much of the novel, simply because it is told from his point of view, rather than because he is particularly likeable. Arguably, in this way, we are forced to identify with our own ‘monstrous’ nature. Stitt, on the other hand, wanted viewers truly to like Grendel; Stitt noting, ‘the heavier or darker side of Grendel’s nature [is] glossed over or almost lost entirely’. And this omitted monstrous nature is replaced with a more civilized one: ‘He’s cultivated and thinks of himself as being very worldly, even though in many ways he’s quite innocent.’3 Because of this streak of innocence, one can also draw some parallels with the main character of Alice in Wonderland; for Grendel also journeys through a strange world, attempting to figure out just what he is doing there. But thanks to voice actor Peter Ustinov, Grendel is also imbued with a number of other increasingly complex layers. Stitt noted, ‘Ustinov is a bit untidy, terribly urbane and also a bit cheeky and mischievous. That’s how people think of him and that’s what we want them to think about Grendel.’4 Adaptations (especially if they are substantially altered reinterpretations) do tend to benefit from a knowing audience – that is, an audience that is well versed in the original source material. John Gardner’s book assumes that the reader is familiar with the original Beowulf poem. Stitt’s film also assumes that the viewer is familiar with the generalities of the original Beowulf story (and to some degree, of John Gardner’s novel). Of course, both Gardner’s book and Stitt’s film do stand on their own, but viewers will probably gain a richer experience if familiar with both source materials. Ultimately, these three accounts of the Beowulf story (the original poem, Gardner’s novel and Stitt’s animated feature) Scenes of Grendel Grendel Grendel 33 form, when placed together, an intriguing, trilateral construct of ‘Beowulfiana’ (to borrow J. R. R. Tolkien’s original term).5 In the following scene-by-scene break down of the film, each scene is divided and numbered as they appear in the original storyboards and screenplay for the film. Introduction At the commencement of the film, producer Phillip Adams presents a three- minute long introduction.6 Although characterized as a ‘live-action’ sequence, in actuality, only the initial twenty seconds are composed of any filmed footage. This live-action portion features Adams, dramatically backlit, stepping through a doorway and walking up to the camera (see Figure 5.8), at which point he proclaims: Monsters! From the minotaur to the bogeyman; from the dragons of legend to the creature from the Black Lagoon, monsters have haunted the human imagination, going bump in our night. It’s almost as though we needed monsters, those metaphors for death, as aphrodisiacs for life; to unite us in our common struggle against the implacable fates. The camera pans away, and Adams continues his narration as a series of still images (both historic and contemporary) play across the screen. Adams effectively outlines a number of the central themes of the film, namely that even though Grendel is branded as a monster, he is not quite so monstrous after all. To underscore this point, he describes how important monsters have been in human culture and the surprisingly positive role they have thus played in facilitating our societal achievements. Furthermore, Adams notes that in our post-Vietnam era, ‘Our version of Grendel is seen through twentieth century eyes when perhaps we are a little suspicious of the military hero and more inclined to see humanity in a monster.’ The final portion of the introduction features a sequence of still photographs which provide a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the film’s production. Displayed are dozens of images of storyboards, character design sheets, drawings, cel paints, the animation camera and editing bays, and a shot of animation director, Frank Hellard, at work. There are also numerous still photos from the voice recording sessions featuring the actors Peter Ustinov and Keith Michell, and the music recording sessions featuring composer Bruce Smeaton, along with a number of studio musicians. Although this introductory sequence certainly complements the overall themes of the movie, its visuals (often historic black-and-white etchings and photographs) are in stark contrast to the strikingly vibrant colours and graphic- designed imagery of the animated film. Similarly, its tone (scholarly) also 34 Grendel Grendel Grendel: Animating Beowolf differs wildly from that of the film (whimsical). Nevertheless, the introduction does provide some suitable insights into the motivation of the filmmakers and clearly signifies to the audience that what they are about to view is not your average cartoon, but instead is an intelligent and ‘grown up’ feature film. Adams concludes his introduction with the words ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, it is with pride that we introduce the lonely, loveable monster who has been living and dying for fifteen centuries with our very best interests at heart.’ And, it is after this rather poetic and multifarious, introduction that the animated film begins. Scene 1 The opening scene provides an introduction into Grendel’s vibrant world, which is composed of brilliantly coloured trees and rocks (greens, yellows, pinks and blues), all flatly rendered.