{"id":863,"date":"2008-05-20T20:12:00","date_gmt":"2008-05-20T20:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2008\/05\/the-greek-gods-go-the-warrior-women-stay\/"},"modified":"2008-05-20T20:12:00","modified_gmt":"2008-05-20T20:12:00","slug":"the-greek-gods-go-the-warrior-women-stay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2008\/05\/the-greek-gods-go-the-warrior-women-stay.html","title":{"rendered":"The Greek gods go, the warrior women stay."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>
From USA Today<\/a><\/i>\u2018s story on the \u201ctightrope\u201d that the makers of The Chronicles of Narnia:<\/a> Prince Caspian<\/a><\/i> have walked, between satisfying Christian fans of the book and broadening the movie\u2019s appeal:<\/span><\/p>\n

He also had to leave out some beloved scenes and characters. Goodbye to Greek God Bacchus and his wild girls who in the book accompany Aslan on a joyful romp; writer Stephen McFeely said the Greek gods are no longer an easily recognizable cultural reference.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Um, isn\u2019t that kind of the point<\/i> of the story? That the culture \u2014 both Narnian and English \u2014 has lost touch with its mythic, imaginative roots<\/a>, etc.? Certainly one of the things I<\/i> always liked about the Narnia<\/i> books \u2014 and movies like Fantasia<\/a><\/i> (1940), pictured above, which also depicts Bacchus \u2014 was the way they introduced<\/i> me to stuff like this when I was a kid.<\/p>\n

I do like the Gresham anecdote that comes near the end of this other bit from the USA Today<\/i> story, though:<\/p>\n

Adamson also updated the movie for 21st century mores. To make it more inclusive, he added female dwarves, child-aged fawns and an \u201cAfro-centaur\u201d (Cornell John) as Glenstorm, the noble half-man, half-horse. In addition, the Pevensie sisters, Susan (Anna Popplewell) and Lucy (Georgie Henley), join the battle, which they avoid in the book.<\/p>\n

For Adamson, it was an obvious choice to allow women an active role in the fight<\/a>. Referring to the gift of bow and arrow that Susan received in the first movie, Adamson laughs, \u201cIf she\u2019s just going to make sandwiches, then give her a plate and a knife.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adamson made his case for the changes to Gresham by arguing that Lewis\u2019 female characters become stronger as the book series progresses \u2014 something he attributes to Lewis\u2019 real-life romance<\/a> with Gresham\u2019s mother, Joy Davidman. Gresham agreed. As evidence, he recounted an encounter he witnessed between Lewis, Davidman and a longbow-wielding trespasser on their property. Davidman carried a small \u201cgarden gun.\u201d When the man aimed a drawn arrow at the pair, Lewis chivalrously stepped in front of Davidman to shield her. He remained for a moment until Davidman, a Bronx native, commanded, \u201cGoddamn, Jack, get out of my line of fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat whole kind of experience of my mother\u2019s determination and personality I think changed Jack\u2019s ideas towards women,\u201d says Gresham.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I have heard variations of that anecdote before, and I do like it, even if I am somewhat dubious about the way Adamson invokes it here \u2014 or the broader characterization of Gresham\u2019s mother \u2014 to turn Susan into another generic \u201cgirl power\u201d killing machine.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From USA Today\u2018s story on the \u201ctightrope\u201d that the makers of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian have walked, between satisfying Christian fans of the book and broadening the movie\u2019s appeal: He also had to leave out some beloved scenes and characters. Goodbye to Greek God Bacchus and his wild girls who in the book […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Greek gods go, the warrior women stay.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"From USA Today's story on the "tightrope" that the makers of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian have walked, between satisfying Christian fans of\" \/>\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\/filmchat\/2008\/05\/the-greek-gods-go-the-warrior-women-stay.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Greek gods go, the warrior women stay.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"From USA Today's story on the "tightrope" that the makers of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian have walked, between satisfying Christian fans of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2008\/05\/the-greek-gods-go-the-warrior-women-stay.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FilmChat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-05-20T20:12:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_MwnH1kpbPRM\/SDOuzydLp7I\/AAAAAAAABlM\/plEprNdIh_g\/s400\/fantasia-bacchus.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter T. 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