I've just seen THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE...

[rj_anderson]

And although I was skeptical at first, right now I am just overflowing with so. much. love.

They got it right. I hardly dared to hope it could be done, but they really did get it right. At least, all the parts I personally strongly felt they needed to get right, they did. And the bits they added in that weren't in the book, I mostly didn't mind, or even outright liked (like the fox).

The absolute best bit, though, has not been mentioned by anyone in any of the reviews I've read to date: When Aslan turns from killing the White Witch, and looks at Peter and says, "It is finished."

My eyes nearly popped out of my head. I couldn't keep it in -- I just burst out, "OH MAN THAT'S SO COOL." I'm sure half the theatre must have heard me. I mean, here I'd been afraid that they were going to downplay the Aslan-Christ parallel or somehow mess it up, and instead they went and made it even stronger, by having Aslan speak the very words of the Lord Himself. I had shivers, and tears in my eyes (not like I hadn't been crying ever since Aslan went to the Stone Table, mind you) -- it was beautiful. Perfect.

As for the rest, Tilda Swinton's White Witch was every bit as cold, ruthless, chilling and brilliant as she needed to be -- and the duel between her and Peter was, as I just finished saying to lydaclunas, WICKED COOL. Loved the way she used her wand and the sword together. As for the Pevensies, I've always had a bit of a literary crush on Peter, and I must say this movie did not discourage that at all. Susan was lovely, and I was very interested by the way they emphasized her being "logical" and more focused on practical and earthly realities, as it were, than the others -- maybe I was reading too much into the script, but they almost seemed to be hinting at her eventual loss of belief in Narnia. Which, I have said before and will say again, is a genuine tragedy and not a case of "Good riddance to bad rubbish" in the least, and I'm sure I will cry buckets if and when the movies get to that point.

Also, hee on the movie's revisionist handling of Father Christmas's infamous "battles are ugly when women fight" comment, rubbed in still further by the presence of tough-looking female centaurs in Peter's army. It's not like I was sentimentally attached to that line or anything, so I didn't mind that particular change in the least. In fact I got a bit of a chuckle out of it.

In short, I loved the movie and would gladly see it again, and when my kids are old enough not to be scared witless by some of the nastier-looking creatures, I'm sure I will. And in the meantime, there's Prince Caspian to look forward to -- at this rate, the sooner the better.

Note to self: badly need at least two Narnia icons.

Comments

[kalquessa.livejournal.com]

While I liked Swinton, I kinda missed the little bi-polar chick that played Jadis in the old Wonder Works/BBC version. I always loved her with the shouting and the raging. Heh. Also, Swinton's dresses bothered me until she changed into her battle dress, which was--like the rest of her in that whole sequence--hard core rockin'.

And right there with you in the crushing of King Peter. He was my favorite when I was a kid because he was nice to his little sister and chivalrous and all that. Gotta say the young man they found to play him was quite a cutie, too.

All the kids were great, really, and I have to say that I am developing a soft spot for Susan. I used to dislike her (again, when I was a kid) because she was the practical, grown-up one that scolded and mothered and I hated that. Now that I've developed several of those character traits myself, I have a lot more sympathy for her, and I feel a lot worse about her fate in Last Battle. Not that I have any doubt that she eventually makes it to the New Narnia. Once a queen in Narnia, and all that. It's just too bad that she has to go through so much to get there.

I await the advent of Reepicheep upon the silver screen with baited breath.

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

All the kids were great, really, and I have to say that I am developing a soft spot for Susan. I used to dislike her (again, when I was a kid) because she was the practical, grown-up one that scolded and mothered and I hated that. Now that I've developed several of those character traits myself, I have a lot more sympathy for her,

I had a similar reaction, which really kind of startled me. :-)

I await the advent of Reepicheep upon the silver screen with baited breath.

Oh, WORD! :-D

[(Anonymous)]

"Now that I've developed several of those character traits myself, I have a lot more sympathy for her, and I feel a lot worse about her fate in Last Battle. Not that I have any doubt that she eventually makes it to the New Narnia." Read Neil Gaiman's "The Problem of Susan" and ask yourself, Does Susan want to go to New Narnia or Heaven or whatever you want to call it? The Problem of Susan has much in common with the Problem of Job--how can an omniscent, omnipotent god permit, even encourage evil? The point of Gaiman's story is that, viewed from Susan's perspective, Aslan is just as bad, just as evil as the White Witch--Aslan, not the White Witch, murdered her family and took away from her everyone she cared about. A malevolent, capricious god, is that someone really worth worshipping?

-- Allyn

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Well, as far as canon is concerned, Susan allowed herself to forget Narnia long before anything bad happened to her or her family, so I really don't think it's legitimate to argue that her family's deaths turned her against Aslan. Also, in order to describe the Pevensies' deaths as "murder" and Aslan's actions as "malevolent" and "capricious", you have to start from a very particular set of presuppositions.

For one, you have to believe that earth, our earth on which Susan alone of her family is still living, is the only good place to be and that to be taken out of it is a terrible thing. There is no better place than the world in which we live -- certainly not a place so wonderful that to be transported there by any means, even death, is the best thing that could happen to a person. Well, sure, you can argue that, but it doesn't fit into the narrative framework of the books, a framework in which Narnia is real and Aslan's Country is a place of surpassing beauty and everlasting joy which represents everything the Pevensies loved about both Narnia and England, with nothing good left out.

In the context of the books, calling Aslan malevolent for bringing the Friends of Narnia to his Country is absurd. He's not harming them in the slightest: he's giving them something infinitely better and more desirable than anything they've ever known. And if Susan had not allowed herself to become so caught up with trivial earthly pleasures and ambitions, if she had not forgotten everything she once knew about Aslan and Narnia, she would know that and she would be glad for them. That's not to say that she wouldn't legitimately grieve, as we all grieve when parted from people we love, but she would at least know that it was a temporary parting and would not lose all hope of ever seeing them again.

But for Susan to simultaneously declare Narnia to be a funny game she played as a child -- i.e. a mere illusion -- and to call Aslan a murderer and a "malevolent, capricious god" for the deaths of her siblings would be nonsensical to say the least. If Narnia doesn't exist, neither does Aslan; and therefore there is no one for Susan to blame.

Also, for Aslan to be "capricious" would require that his actions were impulsive and arbitrary, having no compassionate or reasonable cause and not being part of a plan for the greater good of those involved. Well, from your point of view (or perhaps the point of view of this hypothetical post-series Susan) it might seem that way; but proving it is a much taller order. To be certain that Aslan -- or God -- has done something for no good reason, you have to know everything there is to know about the situation involved. In essence, you would have to be God.

[kalquessa.livejournal.com]

This quite thoroughly makes the case for much that I tried to work into my own reply. I'm glad, since I think that much of this is important to consider when analyzing Susan's situation, but I was too worn out and distracted to work it into a lucid statement like the one above. *applauds*

[kalquessa.livejournal.com]

I had planned on reading Gaiman's story, but decided against it after I heard that it contained White Witch/Aslan sex. I don't think my psyche is ready for that. I already know from reading Gaiman's blog and various interviews with him that I disagree heartily with what he has to say on the subject, so I don't see the point.

Like Job, I'm confident that Susan eventually comes to realize that the death of her family happened because it was needful, not because of some passing caprice on Aslan's part. One might even theorize that the death of her family could have been needful precisely because it was the impetus for Susan's eventual return to Narnia. It's difficult to cling to "nylons and lipstick" after something as tragic as the death of one's entire family. I suspect that the experience forced Susan to grow up and gain a real maturity that eventually enabled hr to reach New Narnia.