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just because everything's changing doesn't mean it's never been that way before
So, the Dawn Treader film.
The usual caveat: I am terrifying about books I love being adapted into movies. I also have what I call the Harry Potter Book:Movie Ratio, wherein how much I love the book is inversely proportional to how much I love the movie. Therefore, I passionately hate the Prisoner of Azkaban film, but I think four through seven are quite good. Voyage of the Dawn Treader is probably my favorite Narnia book. Oh, and I love the first two films to pieces, so it had alarmingly high standards to live up to.
And the Dawn Treader film ... I think it was extra agonizing because I was seeing it with the double vision of [a] understanding exactly why they made every choice that they made but [b] knowing exactly what it could have been. Let's just get out of the way the fact that I disliked the green mist through-plot, felt pretty unhappy about the resultant total change in narrative tone, was frustrated with the island-shuffle, wanted more post-dragon Eustace, and had no idea why they decided to let the movie be so short. I did love many of the things they did with Eustace, though, and even though my FEELINGS FEELINGS FEELINGS were mostly frustrated ones, I still teared right the hell up when Reepicheep said goodbye and went off to Aslan's Country.
That ... could probably be my entire reaction post, so if you were just curious as to what I thought, that's about it! Since I am still full of THOUGHTS and FEELINGS, though, I'm going to talk about the things I think the book did right, the things I think the movie started to do right and should have followed through on, and ... I don't know, what I would have wanted to see.
The opening is about right. Eustace is excellent. Interesting things are being hinted at with Edmund and Lucy: they've both hit puberty, obviously, and are struggling with the our world vs Narnia thing a bit the way Peter and Susan were. With Lucy it just needed to be taken a bit further, but more on that as we get to it. With Edmund ... his whole character arc in this film (such as it was) was a sort of weird mashup of Oh Noes White Witch and Peter Redux, and both of those things are problems. If Edmund's trying to sign up to fight in the war, it's because he knows he can do good; if he's overshadowed by Peter and Caspian, he's going to be fighting against it with sensibility every step of the way. I know that's a lot of what they were trying for, but -- hell, maybe he just needed different lines.
The whole damn tenor of the film needs to be different, too. It's all doom and gloom and danger, but really? doing it as a lovely adventure of discovery wouldn't be any more episodic, and, let's be honest, I'm in it for the character work. I'll even throw in a few exciting battles, since people seem to like those!
At the Lone Islands, Caspian, Edmund, Lucy, and Eustace are sold into slavery. Because there's a slave trade there that is motivated by plain old piracy, greed, and a corrupt governor. Caspian is bought by one of the Seven Lords, who is kind and intends to free him. Caspian reveals himself, the Lord helps him with a political plot, they storm the governor's headquarters, Caspian reclaims the Islands, and the Lord is set up as the new governor. It's in the book. It's clever and tricksy and Caspian is awesome, and -- jfc, the tasty Telmarine politics of the Prince Caspian movie were excellent. FOLLOW THROUGH.
I love that Eustace's pilfering of rations and resultant sword fight with Reep was actually about Reepicheep being kind to him, and Eustace starting to respond. I was fervently hoping that this meant Eustace would start to change of his own accord because of the kindness of the people around him, even before Dragon Island, so next on the queue we'll have Deathwater Island. It's terrifying because it's a nice pleasant pool they want to use to replenish their water supply, and they almost make the same mistake the second Lord did. Caspian and Edmund still have their fight even unto drawn blades, motivated by all their own greeds and fears. Lucy, of course, stops them.
We have the storm, then, followed by their stop on Dragon Island, which isn't volcanic, it's all foresty and lovely. Eustace sneaks off to get away from work and ends up lost. I actually loved the bit where it looks like a dragon's eaten Eustace, and then dragon!Eustace takes Edmund to the HELP I'M EUSTACE message; it's much more direct and less silly than in the book. Eustace of course helps them rebuild the ship, and gets changed back by Aslan.
Much as I adored dragon!Eustace fighting the sea serpent, I am equally content to give him swordfighting lessons from Reep followed by him participating in the battle against the sea serpent -- which is, incidentally, real, and mistaken for islands at first. They shove it off the back of the Dawn Treader; it takes the ship's dragon tail with it.
They afterwards land on the Dufflepud Island; things can go more or less as they did in the film, although giving the Dufflepuds more time to be funny, and giving Lucy the chance to choose to be brave and go, would be good. Oh, and also the Dufflepuds made themselves invisible in the first place; the magician didn't do it For Their Own Good, jfc, horrifying subtext. The whole bit with Lucy wanting to be Susan is fucking excellent, though, and can carry on through that amazing dream she has. If Edmund wants to dream of the White Witch, too, he certainly can; this heralds the Dark Island. In the darkness surrounding the Island, of course, all the terrors and temptations are psychological, and the Aslan-sent albatross rescues them.
I haven't quite figured out what to do with Ramandu's Island. I want it to be something about Caspian, and about his fledgling romance with Ramandu's daughter (Lilliandil! I am pleased they gave her a name). And then of course the firebirds come and eat all the food, and they sail onwards through the ever-brighter light and the sweet water and the lilies, because all of that is fucking gorgeous and needs to be lingered on for just a moment.
And the ending, with the goodbyes just outside Aslan's country and their going back, is actually excellent as is and might have been pitch-perfect had the rest of the film been of the right tone. I'm fine with Eustace carefully putting the picture back on the wall and it ending with them closing the door, but -- both the other movies ended with smiling or laughter or some kind of hope, so here -- let them at least smile a moment, let them take a moment of wonder and delight at what they just did, and there we end it.
...I think the moral of this story is that I want to write lots of Dawn Treader fic for the movie that's in my head. There would be lots of Lucy being excellent. And Edmund/Caspian. And and and. ALL THE FIC. FEELINGS FEELINGS.
The usual caveat: I am terrifying about books I love being adapted into movies. I also have what I call the Harry Potter Book:Movie Ratio, wherein how much I love the book is inversely proportional to how much I love the movie. Therefore, I passionately hate the Prisoner of Azkaban film, but I think four through seven are quite good. Voyage of the Dawn Treader is probably my favorite Narnia book. Oh, and I love the first two films to pieces, so it had alarmingly high standards to live up to.
And the Dawn Treader film ... I think it was extra agonizing because I was seeing it with the double vision of [a] understanding exactly why they made every choice that they made but [b] knowing exactly what it could have been. Let's just get out of the way the fact that I disliked the green mist through-plot, felt pretty unhappy about the resultant total change in narrative tone, was frustrated with the island-shuffle, wanted more post-dragon Eustace, and had no idea why they decided to let the movie be so short. I did love many of the things they did with Eustace, though, and even though my FEELINGS FEELINGS FEELINGS were mostly frustrated ones, I still teared right the hell up when Reepicheep said goodbye and went off to Aslan's Country.
That ... could probably be my entire reaction post, so if you were just curious as to what I thought, that's about it! Since I am still full of THOUGHTS and FEELINGS, though, I'm going to talk about the things I think the book did right, the things I think the movie started to do right and should have followed through on, and ... I don't know, what I would have wanted to see.
The opening is about right. Eustace is excellent. Interesting things are being hinted at with Edmund and Lucy: they've both hit puberty, obviously, and are struggling with the our world vs Narnia thing a bit the way Peter and Susan were. With Lucy it just needed to be taken a bit further, but more on that as we get to it. With Edmund ... his whole character arc in this film (such as it was) was a sort of weird mashup of Oh Noes White Witch and Peter Redux, and both of those things are problems. If Edmund's trying to sign up to fight in the war, it's because he knows he can do good; if he's overshadowed by Peter and Caspian, he's going to be fighting against it with sensibility every step of the way. I know that's a lot of what they were trying for, but -- hell, maybe he just needed different lines.
The whole damn tenor of the film needs to be different, too. It's all doom and gloom and danger, but really? doing it as a lovely adventure of discovery wouldn't be any more episodic, and, let's be honest, I'm in it for the character work. I'll even throw in a few exciting battles, since people seem to like those!
At the Lone Islands, Caspian, Edmund, Lucy, and Eustace are sold into slavery. Because there's a slave trade there that is motivated by plain old piracy, greed, and a corrupt governor. Caspian is bought by one of the Seven Lords, who is kind and intends to free him. Caspian reveals himself, the Lord helps him with a political plot, they storm the governor's headquarters, Caspian reclaims the Islands, and the Lord is set up as the new governor. It's in the book. It's clever and tricksy and Caspian is awesome, and -- jfc, the tasty Telmarine politics of the Prince Caspian movie were excellent. FOLLOW THROUGH.
I love that Eustace's pilfering of rations and resultant sword fight with Reep was actually about Reepicheep being kind to him, and Eustace starting to respond. I was fervently hoping that this meant Eustace would start to change of his own accord because of the kindness of the people around him, even before Dragon Island, so next on the queue we'll have Deathwater Island. It's terrifying because it's a nice pleasant pool they want to use to replenish their water supply, and they almost make the same mistake the second Lord did. Caspian and Edmund still have their fight even unto drawn blades, motivated by all their own greeds and fears. Lucy, of course, stops them.
We have the storm, then, followed by their stop on Dragon Island, which isn't volcanic, it's all foresty and lovely. Eustace sneaks off to get away from work and ends up lost. I actually loved the bit where it looks like a dragon's eaten Eustace, and then dragon!Eustace takes Edmund to the HELP I'M EUSTACE message; it's much more direct and less silly than in the book. Eustace of course helps them rebuild the ship, and gets changed back by Aslan.
Much as I adored dragon!Eustace fighting the sea serpent, I am equally content to give him swordfighting lessons from Reep followed by him participating in the battle against the sea serpent -- which is, incidentally, real, and mistaken for islands at first. They shove it off the back of the Dawn Treader; it takes the ship's dragon tail with it.
They afterwards land on the Dufflepud Island; things can go more or less as they did in the film, although giving the Dufflepuds more time to be funny, and giving Lucy the chance to choose to be brave and go, would be good. Oh, and also the Dufflepuds made themselves invisible in the first place; the magician didn't do it For Their Own Good, jfc, horrifying subtext. The whole bit with Lucy wanting to be Susan is fucking excellent, though, and can carry on through that amazing dream she has. If Edmund wants to dream of the White Witch, too, he certainly can; this heralds the Dark Island. In the darkness surrounding the Island, of course, all the terrors and temptations are psychological, and the Aslan-sent albatross rescues them.
I haven't quite figured out what to do with Ramandu's Island. I want it to be something about Caspian, and about his fledgling romance with Ramandu's daughter (Lilliandil! I am pleased they gave her a name). And then of course the firebirds come and eat all the food, and they sail onwards through the ever-brighter light and the sweet water and the lilies, because all of that is fucking gorgeous and needs to be lingered on for just a moment.
And the ending, with the goodbyes just outside Aslan's country and their going back, is actually excellent as is and might have been pitch-perfect had the rest of the film been of the right tone. I'm fine with Eustace carefully putting the picture back on the wall and it ending with them closing the door, but -- both the other movies ended with smiling or laughter or some kind of hope, so here -- let them at least smile a moment, let them take a moment of wonder and delight at what they just did, and there we end it.
...I think the moral of this story is that I want to write lots of Dawn Treader fic for the movie that's in my head. There would be lots of Lucy being excellent. And Edmund/Caspian. And and and. ALL THE FIC. FEELINGS FEELINGS.
no subject
I had so much disappointment in this Narnia film. SO MUCH! Part of it is the high expectations from them not failing in the first 2 films and indeed, making me extremely happy with those movies. Part of it is the weird rewriting of the whole freaking thing. Most of it was the "GO FIND JESUS" emphasis at the end.
So, please, go write fic. I will read it. There was definitely E/C action there on that boat. No one can convince me that there wasn't. Also, the world always could use more Lucy being awesome.
no subject
I am with you on this, although re: the "GO FIND JESUS" at the end, as far as I remember that bit was cribbed more or less directly from the book. It was by far the most eye-rolly part of the book, though. At least when they found Aslan in the film, he wasn't disguised as a LAMB. Oh, Lewis.
I am absolutely going to go write fic! Clearly it needs to be written.
no subject
no subject
How are you doing on Yuletide? I have gone insane and have written six stories. (And I have tried writing a seventh but I have not slept for days and my brain is rebelling.)
no subject
I have only done my actual assignment, but I am seriously considering trawling the Yuletide letters this afternoon and writing some additional stuff.