{"id":475,"date":"2008-04-07T06:03:01","date_gmt":"2008-04-07T11:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christandpopculture.com\/?p=475"},"modified":"2008-04-07T06:03:01","modified_gmt":"2008-04-07T11:03:01","slug":"troubling-descriptions-of-prince-caspian-footage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2008\/04\/troubling-descriptions-of-prince-caspian-footage\/","title":{"rendered":"Trouble in Narnia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The more I hear about the upcoming Prince Caspian<\/em> film (to be released May 16), the more worried I am about it. First, there was director Andrew Adamson\u2019s promise<\/a> (clearly supposed to excite us) that the movie would be \u201cbattles all the way through.\u201d Then there was the screenwriters\u2019 post on the official film blog<\/a> indicating that they would be exploring the psychological difficulties faced by the Pevensie children as they deal with the transition from being Kings and Queens in Narnia to being schoolchildren in England. Blech.<\/p>\n

Now, a report from Quint at Ain\u2019t It Cool News<\/a> on 45 minutes of footage from the film reveals the details of these revisions (Feel free to skip the profanity-laced narrative of his plane journey and scroll down to where he begins to describe the footage).<\/p>\n

Apparently the first scene with the Pevensies involves Peter fighting with another boy in a London Underground station. Great. Describing this scene, Quint reports, \u201cIt\u2019s pretty clear that Peter wishes he was important again, someone to be loved and respected. He doesn\u2019t say as much, but it\u2019s pretty obvious. He went from King to child in war-torn Britain overnight.\u201d It\u2019s hard to tell how much of this is Quint\u2019s interpretation and how much is actually in the scene, but it would seem to fit with what the screenwriters had in mind when they wrote the following:<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>Another intriguing thing for us in revisiting these characters has been exploring the effects their experiences in the first film might\u2019ve had on them. It\u2019s an area Lewis leaves mostly untouched. He memorably examines what it would be like for a 1940\u2019s schoolkid to become King of Narnia. However, he doesn\u2019t much consider what it would be like for a King of Narnia to return to being a 1940\u2019s schoolkid.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

That year back in London must have been awkward at best. Imagine going from giving orders\u2026to taking them. From fighting wars and throwing royal balls\u2026to doing homework. Given their different personalities, each Pevensie handles the situation with varying levels of success. Some are resigned, others frustrated, and their sudden return to Narnia should push different buttons in each.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Does it occur to them that there might be a reason that C.S. Lewis doesn\u2019t explore this aspect of the children\u2019s experience? That he might want to leave it up to the readers\u2019 imaginations? That it might not be relevant to the story he\u2019s telling?<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been trying to figure out why the scene described bothers me so much, and I think it has to do with the fact that it basically undermines Aslan\u2019s explanation (and yes, this is in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader<\/em>, which occurs after Prince Caspian<\/em>) that the children have been brought to Narnia to meet Aslan so that they may come to know him better back in their own world. Lewis never really explores how the children come to know \u201cAslan\u201d in England because this would obviously involve blatant didacticism. But this one passage from Dawn Treader<\/em> has been a huge comfort for young readers like myself, who thrilled to the possibility that we could meet Aslan in our own world (hint: he\u2019s Jesus), in our own stories.<\/p>\n

From the film clip description, it seems like the filmmakers are more intent on exploring how the children are feeling bereft back in their own world\u2014not even feeling bereft of Aslan, which would be understandable if they haven\u2019t yet figured out that he\u2019s in England too, but feeling bereft of grown-up \u201cimportance.\u201d<\/p>\n

From later scenes Quint describes, it appears that Peter\u2019s return to Narnia doesn\u2019t really improve his character. He pushes for a large-scale attack because his \u201cover-confidence has crossed over into cockiness. He\u2019s King here. He can do anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bah. Can\u2019t contemporary Hollywood give us an uncomplicated, noble king for once? In the film of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe<\/em>, Peter was the reluctant king figure\u2014like a wimpier, adolescent version of what Peter Jackson made Aragorn into in The Lord of the Rings<\/em> movies. Are we so steeped in irony that we can\u2019t trust a character who is humble and yet kingly? Do we not understand the difference between humility and lack of self-esteem? Or between authority and cockiness?<\/p>\n

Of course, the children do learn hard, character-forming lessons in C.S. Lewis\u2019s Narnia. They\u2019re not perfect little beings, nor should they be. But there\u2019s something about Aslan declaring you King or Queen that enables you to start acting like a King or Queen\u2014and that\u2019s the aspect that sounds like it\u2019s totally missing here. Also, let\u2019s not forget Aslan\u2019s words at the end of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe<\/em>: \u201cOnce a king or queen in Narnia, always a king or queen.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, Christ and Pop Culture readers, do you share my fears about the Prince Caspian <\/em>movie? Or am I being too picky?<\/p>\n

Hat tip to Peter Chattaway\u2019s FilmChat<\/a> for many of these Caspian<\/em> updates.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The more I hear about the upcoming Prince Caspian film (to be released May 16), the more worried I am about it. First, there was director Andrew Adamson\u2019s promise (clearly supposed to excite us) that the movie would be \u201cbattles all the way through.\u201d Then there was the screenwriters\u2019 post on the official film blog indicating that they would be exploring the psychological difficulties faced by the Pevensie children as they deal with the transition from being Kings and Queens in Narnia to being schoolchildren in England. Blech.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1236,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film","category-literature"],"yoast_head":"\nTrouble in Narnia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The more I hear about the upcoming Prince Caspian film (to be released May 16), the more worried I am about it. First, there was director Andrew Adamson\u2019s promise (clearly supposed to excite us) that the movie would be \u201cbattles all the way through.\u201d Then there was the screenwriters\u2019 post on the official film blog indicating that they would be exploring the psychological difficulties faced by the Pevensie children as they deal with the transition from being Kings and Queens in Narnia to being schoolchildren in England. Blech.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2008\/04\/troubling-descriptions-of-prince-caspian-footage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trouble in Narnia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The more I hear about the upcoming Prince Caspian film (to be released May 16), the more worried I am about it. 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