Into the Wardrobe

At this point I am tired of changes. If I see the movie I will probably return and carefully write out a post on how the changes altered the movie for better or for worse. But I still believe the real issue revolves around the change in the characters, (which naturally includes the circumstances affecting and governing their actions).

It isn't about Susan fighting with the men and kissing Caspian.
It isn't about Peter or Caspian being prideful and shouting at each other in front of the men.
And it isn't just about the night raid, the minotaurs, etc.
For me, these are all just things which contribute to stealing away what made the children worthy of crowns and authority in the first place. The movie has apparently even robbed Aslan of his rightful dignity and glory by changing his dialogue, the nuances of his performance, and the fact that he would choose selfish, quarreling teenagers and treat them, and expects his people to treat them, like royalty. (You get the sense that the Narnians deserve better.)

I really have nothing against anyone involved in the movie; I know that from the point of view of the people who originally changed the story, the changes were made for perfectly logically and acceptable reasons. I just wish they could have been more humble when approaching the story, and more open to a vision of beauty other than their own.

Silence

I'll be honest, I would have been very, significantly disappointed about these changes until recently...that said, I still don't necessarily aprove of them, but there are some things that have put my mind at ease about these changes:

(1) The first reason I am at ease about the changes is because of what I've seen of Aslan and Lucy - they appear to be more like they are in the books, in the scenes I've seen of them - Aslan seems to have much greater authority, and Lucy's faith seems much more steadfast. I recall seeing recently a scene where Lucy reminds Peter, she says "Or have you forgotten who really defeated the White Witch?" That just stood out as grabbing the heart of the book...and the scene where Lucy meets Aslan puts my mind at ease too.

(2) Doug Gresham's approval of the movie even with the changes - even though he did express (during the making of the film) his disapproval of them.

(3) In the book, at the end when it's revealed that Peter and Susan are never to come back to Narnia (the old Narnia), I can understand why Susan doesn't - her attitude throughout the book is one unnecessarily bound in fear and unbelief, which appears to me to subside only a very little when they meet Aslan - I can somewhat understand why she's not to come back to Narnia...but as for Peter, I'm more curious about, apart from a minor leadership error, he still seems just as faithful as ever. I think in the movie his apparent decreasing of faithfulness can work as a positive when they come to filming The Last Battle.

I'm reminded of Aslan's words at the end of VDT when he says that they were brought to Narnia so that they would know Him there a little, but so they would know Him (His other name) better in our world. When we read of Peter in LB in Tirian's vision, I think it's pretty clear he has learned to trust more in Aslan (and His other name ) in our world since his last visit to Narnia. He has far greater authority in that book than in any book he was in before - in my opinion.

(4) Finally, one of the videos I've seen of the new movie is the Cinema Judge video of Prince Caspian behind the scenes, and I was struck by that 22min video that whilst there are some significant changes that we've heard about, in the film of PC, I noticed in that Cinema Judge video that they would appear to have more lines direct from the book than in the previous movie - that in itself makes me feel much more at ease, even with those changes to Peter and Susan's characters.

Just some thoughts...

I think Lewis/Aslan intended, when he stopped the children from going back by saying that they were "too old," to prevent just the sort of problem that Peter apparently has in the new movie: The 'I am secretly an important warrior king' mentality/complex.

The natural innocence that goes with their childlikeness was maturing, and it needed to be developed in a solid reality where they could grow roots. Children are always jumping to and fro between fantasy and reality; that is their world, and the way they think. But when you grow up you become grounded in one reality, and 'put away childish things.' At this point, the teenagers would have difficulty identifying themselves definitively with one world and reality, which is part of the process of maturing into well-balanced adults.

If he (Lewis or Aslan) continued allowing the adult children to return, it could lead to all sorts of complications. And the very least, the 'children' would end up with a superhero complex that sounds something like this: "Normal and while on earth, I am Peter Pevensie. But when something goes wrong and I get the call, I become High King Peter, the Magnificent!"

I am constantly confounded with how society has gotten to the point that even a natural stage of development is constantly misunderstood, psychoanalyzed, and treated as though there was something fundamentally wrong with it; some hidden meaning must exist to be exploited! If we are to believe Hollywood, all the happy, healthy, well-balanced children, teenagers, and adults have been consigned to an extinction category.

Silence