lantern waste
Ice ice ice. The drive to work this morning was interesting, to say the least. Saw a couple of accidents, and also a few folks who had just scared themselves silly, puttering along the side of the highway after leaving a squirrely trail of skidmarks dangerously close to the center guardrail. My car was encrusted with a nice layer of ice, necessitating some brutish (and quite noisy) scraping action. Tomorrow’s going to be hell if the temperature doesn’t rise above freezing and begin to thaw what freezes overnight.
Saw LW&W last night. My expectations were very high, having read good reviews, not to mention how seminal the books were in my own development. Overall, I enjoyed it very much. A few observations:
- I had to fight hard for at least the first few scenes against subconsciously comparing the film with the excellent Lord of the Rings series. I had to consciously remind myself many times to that Lewis’s mythology was not nearly as developed as Tolkien’s during the writing of the first book, and that he greatly fleshed it out later, especially with The Silver Chair (Ettinsmoor, the Wild Lands of the North and Harfang) and A Horse and His Boy (Calormen and Archenland). It was difficult to evaluate the film on its own terms, though, between the double pressure of my own expectations from the books and the subconscious comparisons with LOTR.
- The score was nicely handled, contrasting (again) with the Celtic feel of LOTR with, instead, more brass and an exotic almost middle-eastern feel. The scene where Mr. Tumnus plays the Narnian lullaby for Lucy in his home typifies the musical tone.
- I particularly enjoyed how the screenwriters must have tried to sneak in a little Lewisian apologetics in the scene with Professor Kirke, Susan and Peter. Susan tries to explain to the Professor how, “logically,” Lucy must have been making up her adventures in the wardrobe. The Professor then asks Susan and Peter if Lucy is crazy, to which they of course respond no. He then asks them whether she is a habitual liar, something they both deny. The Professor then asserts that if she isn’t crazy, and she’s not lying, then logically she must be telling the truth. This is a close paraphrase of C.S. Lewis’s own trilemma, a concept he uses to rationally undergird Christ’s claims of divinity. A big kudos to whoever wrote that into the scene.
Yeah… I wrote that bit.
Yeah about that ice… half an inch completely covering my car… I couldn’t even get the door open. And there was no brutish or noisy scraping! Only a sad retreat back to my apartment… and then all hell broke lose. But that’s another post…
I agree with your second two observations (having not seen LOTR yet, I haven’t much to agree or disagree with the first) Mr. Tumnus’s lullaby was nearly as close to Lewis’s own description as I could have imagined. I was nearly as entranced as Lucy! I did like the scene you mentioned… as well as keeping Father Christmas… I had imagined the Stone Table scene a bit differently, but I don’t think the symbolism could have been any clearer without an arrow and a flashing “this is Christ” in big bold letters.
Mmhmm. Hay Em :)
Yikes :/ Yes, I read about your lack of power… I’m glad to see you’re back on-line again (and hopefully warming up).
I had imagined the Stone Table scene differently too. And especially the resurrection… It just felt rushed to me. Maybe I’m just too used to Lewis’s own descriptive narrative observations about his characters’ frames of mind. They’re the best part of the books and the sort of thing hard to convey in film without prior knowledge of the story. Ah well.
Yes, warming up and taking full advantage of all power source (I’m cooking and doing laundry while watching TV, listening to a CD, and writing on the ol’ ThinkPad, with the heat on, lights burning, and fans… fanning I guess!)…
I suppose movie length had something to do with it… I was expecting the life to start coming back into Aslan, his mane growing back, and him “not looking so dead after all” (I believe that’s about right). But at just over two hours, I think they could have embellished a bit more… Maybe they’ll come out with an extended version of it! ; )
they left out the “deeper magic still” line. i was so disappointed. but they did get in the “he is not a tame lion but he’s good” part at the end so i breathed a sigh of relief for that.
i just jumped into your conversation, didn’t it…sorry. i just saw the film yesterday and it was kinda traumatic as i practically have those books memorized.
Yes, I was glad to hear the “not a tame lion” line… The “deeper magic still” was left out, but didn’t they mention that the magic that brought Aslan back was the magic from before the world began? Or am I just mixing in memories of the book?
Goodness, now I want to go see it again!