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The PC film was about as good as it could have been

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The PC film was about as good as it could have been

Postby glumPuddle » February 1st, 2009, 7:50 am

Obviously, there were far more changes in the PC film than the LWW film. And as a stand-alone film, it’s not as strong as LWW.

But, after spending 2.5 years thinking about how to adapt Prince Caspian for the screen, I have come to the conclusion that most of the problems with it were unavoidable, and the movie was about as good as it could have been under the circumstances.

PC can be a very difficult thing to discuss, because the problems with adapting it are a lot more complex than they seem. It's the kind of story where one change forces you to make many others. So, to start with, here are three points that I feel are essential things to keep in mind when adapting PC:

1) The story needed to be re-structured to eliminate the need for the flashback. Going back in time for 4 chapters and cutting away from your main characters works well enough in the hands of C.S. Lewis and his wonderful storybook tone. But cinematically, it's a pacing nightmare.
2) It's important to get the Pevensies into the story as soon as possible. They're the backbone of the first few books, and non-readers expecting to see a sequel to LWW will get confused if you don't get to them soon (Even as a fan of the book, I was relieved when the Pevensies finally came on screen). The book, of course, opens with the Pevensies on the platform.
3) Aslan should not return to save the day until near the end of the story. (Story-telling 101)

Blowing the Horn
So, the story needed to be re-structured. This is a lot more complex than is seems. It’s not as simple as just telling the story as it is in the book chronologically. If they did that, Caspian would blow the horn 30-45 minutes into the movie. That’s 30-45 minutes, and we haven’t seen the Pevensies yet (violates point #2). So the filmmakers did the only thing they could do: They cut out all of Caspian’s early scenes and moved the blowing of the horn to earlier in the story (both changes were made to satisfy points #1 and especially #2). I don’t like these changes, but I haven’t been able to come up with any better solutions.

The Return of the Lion
The re-structuring of the story unavoidably made it so the Pevensies find Caspian earlier in the story than in the book. This presents another problem: We’re only one hour into the movie. It’s not time for Aslan to return, and not time for the Pevensies to start “seeing” him. So, what were the filmmakers to do with The Return of the Lion scene with Lucy and Aslan that is so memorable? At this point, I’m sure one of the writers said “I know this is a problem, but there’s no way we can cut that scene.” So they thought for a while, and one of them came up with the idea of making Lucy meet Aslan in a dream. This accomplished a few things: 1) Emphasized the sadness of the old days being gone and the hope that they might return. The dream gives the audience and Lucy a chance to see Narnia as it used to be. Perhaps the most depressing moment in the movie is when Lucy wakes up and finds it was just a dream. Very similar to the book where Lucy feels like the trees are coming to life, and then they don’t. That creates a deeper longing for the old days to return, an important theme in the story. 2) Enabled Lucy to meet Aslan without Aslan returning to save the day. 3) Gave them license to make the scene feel more “dreamlike” than the rest of the movie. In the book, this scene has a very dreamlike quality. 4) Puts off the moment where the others “see” Aslan until the end. It’s not time for them to start “seeing” him. We’re only halfway through the story. Caspian hasn’t even fought any battles yet.
(The dream scene actually kind of reminded me of when Jill meets Aslan in a dream in SC)

"Fighting on most days"
So, the Pevensies have now met Caspian much earlier in the story than in the book. Imagine if in the book, Caspian met the Pevensies the day after meeting all the Old Narnians at the Dancing Lawn. That is basically what happens in the film. Caspian meets the Pevensies and he hasn’t even fought any battles yet. So, logically, this leads you to another change: The Pevensies are present when Caspian first starts fighting.
In the book, Lewis says that there was fighting on most days during this time. In a movie, it would take way too long to show all those battles. So they did the most logical thing and just did one big battle instead of several little ones. This became the Night Raid in the film, which is loosely based on Lewis’ brief description of a battle that went very badly and leads to short tempers and frustration in the Narnian army. The movie battle has the same ending: It ends very badly, and leads to short tempers…Peter arguing with Caspian. Now, I really don’t like that argument scene because to Caspian, Peter is a figure out of myth and legend. But I think the filmmakers’ were thinking “So, the Pevensies were involved in the battle with Caspian that went badly…and so they will also be involved with the short tempers that result.” In both the book and movie, this battle makes them decide to seek help. In the book, they decide to blow the horn, which calls the Pevensies. In the movie…the horn has already been blown and the Pevensies are already there. So instead, they had them seek Aslan’s help. You can tell by the way the scene is written that the filmmakers clearly knew it didn’t make sense for Aslan to show up at the Narnians’ bidding. Again, there was no way around this. In the movie, they’re vague about exactly what Lucy plans to do by riding into the woods. But it is implied that she is hoping Aslan will show up. In the movie, when Aslan appears, he does so to rescue Lucy from a pursuing Telmarine. This was so that it wouldn’t feel like Lucy called for Aslan and he appeared. Instead, he appeared of his own free will to save Lucy.

There are many more things that can be discussed, but those are some of the big ones.

Conclusion: Most of the changes in PC make sense, and most of the problems are unavoidable. The movie was about as good as it could have been considering the source material they were working with. If there’s one person to blame for PC being a weak film, it’s C.S. Lewis. It’s a great book that was clearly never meant to be a film. Now that they’ve gotten past PC (phew!), they can move onto the stories are much more suited for film.

…Now, there are plenty of changes that were perfectly avoidable, and make me pull my hair out. Peter being a jerk, the kiss….ack! And where the heck are Bacchus and Silenus? But most of the major changes couldn’t really be helped.
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Re: The PC film was about as good as it could have been

Postby carol » February 1st, 2009, 9:50 am

Good comments glum!
Glad you have become more comfortable with these changes.

Oddly enough the only things that really irritate me are the length of Peter's hair (he looks like a Teddy Boy from the 60s) and the length of Susan's school skirt when she is sitting at the station - it too looks like 1960s. What was Wardrobe thinking of? :wink:
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Re: The PC film was about as good as it could have been

Postby Leslie » February 1st, 2009, 6:18 pm

Yes, thanks for this analysis. I think before the film was released, we were all trepidatious, knowing that the book could not be faithfully adapted to the screen as easily as the other books, and I appreciate your thoughtful enunciation of the major obstacles in translating the story to film.
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"At myself. My little puny self," said Phillipa.
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Re: The PC film was about as good as it could have been

Postby glumPuddle » February 2nd, 2009, 3:57 am

I'm okay with most of the changes in PC because most were unavoidable. But, I will a lot more strict for VDT.
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