{"id":36492,"date":"2008-05-15T14:10:40","date_gmt":"2008-05-15T21:10:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lookingcloser.wordpress.com\/?p=3428"},"modified":"2013-03-18T11:23:43","modified_gmt":"2013-03-18T17:23:43","slug":"lewiss-themes-and-ideas-are-largely-lost-in-prince-caspians-movie-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/2008\/05\/lewiss-themes-and-ideas-are-largely-lost-in-prince-caspians-movie-2\/","title":{"rendered":"DecentFilms on Prince Caspian: Lewis’s Themes and Ideas are “Largely Lost.”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

When it comes to The Chronicles of Narnia films, well\u2026 I want them to be great. I want them to be entertaining, yes. But more than anything, I hope that the filmmakers finds ways to preserve the ideas at the core of the story. In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe<\/em>, they did a decent job, but some of their decisions suggested that they failed to understand some of Lewis\u2019s ideas. And in stripping Aslan of some of his authority, they weakened the character and the core of the story.<\/p>\n

Steven D. Greydanus\u2019s review<\/a> of Prince Caspian<\/em> includes high praise for Prince Caspian<\/em> as a piece of big-screen entertainment. He even goes so far as to say\u2026<\/p>\n

There is definitely an up side: Not only is Caspian<\/em> a better-made film, in some ways it manages to improve on Lewis\u2019s plot without violating its spirit.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But does the movie capture C.S. Lewis\u2019s vision? Is it a satisfying adaptation of the book?<\/p>\n

Greydanus says it doesn\u2019t\u2026 and it isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

And as Christian film critics are already in a mad rush to rejoice about this movie, I\u2019m linking to Greydanus so that more readers come to see just how much of Lewis\u2019s vision was unnecessarily cut from the movie, or revised enough to tamper with what the story means<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a link to a new, expanded version of the article<\/a>\u00a0Greydanus published yesterday, in which he asked the filmmakers about the changes they made.<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s an excerpt from his thorough, thoughtful review of the movie:
\n<\/p>\n

\u2026 while the essence of Lewis\u2019s plot is preserved, the themes and ideas behind the story are largely lost. If the first Narnia film got perhaps two-thirds of Lewis\u2019s intended meaning, Caspian <\/em>is lucky if it gets a quarter. That may not directly detract from its merits as escapist fantasy, but Lewis fans with regrets about the first film will feel betrayed by the second \u2026 and not just because events have been changed.<\/p>\n

Perhaps most damagingly, the filmmakers eviscerate the crucial theme of skepticism about the existence of Aslan and the Kings and Queens of Cair Paravel, as well as the whole world of Dwarfs, Talking Beasts, and spirits of wood and water.<\/p>\n

No longer do we see Caspian\u2019s nurse dismissed for telling the young prince stories of Old Narnia, or his tutor Dr. Cornelius daring to instruct Caspian in these matters only in private. This might not matter so much if the film had other ways of making the point \u2026 but it doesn\u2019t. The whole notion that stories of Old Narnia are anathema in modern Narnia is simply omitted.<\/p>\n

Worse, Trumpkin the dwarf \u2014\u00a0in Lewis an archetypal lovable skeptic \u2026 whose heart knows better than his head \u2014\u00a0no longer shows any sign of disbelieving the old stories. This Trumpkin appears to believe that Aslan and the Pevensies were real in their day, but abandoned Narnia long ago, leaving the Narnians to fend for themselves. This fatally undercuts the theme of Enlightenment rationalism and skepticism which is basic to the whole point of the book.<\/p>\n

Almost as diminished is the theme of faith and sight, with faith opening one\u2019s eyes to the extent that one believes. We do get the scene in which Lucy sees Aslan when no one else does \u2014\u00a0but not the rest of the plotline, in which Aslan is at first invisible to the children until one by one they begin to see him in proportion to their openness and willingness to see him. The whole drama of the scene in which Lucy disputes with the others about which way to go is passed over almost incidentally, with none of the momentousness that it has in Lewis.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Again, I don\u2019t have a problem when filmmakers revise stories and bring them to the big screen\u2026 so long as they admit what they\u2019re doing, and so long as what they do contributes to a meaningful result. It sounds to me like a lot of the changes to Prince Caspian<\/em> were unnecessary, and that they resulted in something less meaningful. If that\u2019s true, that\u2019s a shame, and we should hope that The Voyage of the Dawn Treader<\/em> ends up in more capable hands.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When it comes to The Chronicles of Narnia films, well\u2026 I want them to be great. I want them to be entertaining, yes. But more than anything, I hope that the filmmakers finds ways to preserve the ideas at the core of the story. In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, they did a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1051,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[57,1005,493,35],"class_list":["post-36492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-cs-lewis","tag-prince-caspian","tag-steven-greydanus","tag-adaptation"],"yoast_head":"\nDecentFilms on Prince Caspian: Lewis's Themes and Ideas are "Largely Lost."<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When it comes to The Chronicles of Narnia films, well... I want them to be great. I want them to be entertaining, yes. 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