The Problem of Susan/Caspian
So, for the past few months the whole of the Narnia fandom has been taken over by Susan/Caspian. After re-watching the movie, I have something to say about it, of course.
I will confess. I, like many other die-hard Narnia fans, was rather taken in by the kiss between Queen Susan the Gentle and King Caspian X (no, they aren't related) at the end of the newest Narnia movie, Prince Caspian. It really caught my attention and made me think - which, I suppose, was the director's intent. Two kids falling in love then being separated is something that people have been bothered by, to the point of obsession, for a good long time. It's a formula that has been used frequently, not to mention successfully. It seems as though the Andrew Adamson knew what he was doing, right? ...Maybe. My fascination with the pairing he created is matched, maybe even born of, annoyance. It seems as though a whole new sector of the Narnia fandom is resulting from that one kiss.
According to the director, it was supposed to represent being able to have a good time and move on. Now, that sounds more like a party or casual sex than a relationship. Great job on what was supposed to be a Christian film!
For another thing, it isn't in the books, which is what most people are screaming about. (Caspian will go on to find a wife in VDT.) And, as if it weren't bad enough that the Four left Narnia once, they leave again - right after the kiss, of course - and the eldest two, Peter and Susan, can never return.
But why? I don't really understand why they had to leave at all. (In the whole Christian allegory thing that C.S. Lewis had goin' on, the only thing that I could thing to compare to "leaving" because they were "too old", to go to "another world" is death. But how can you die... twice?). It bugs me so badly that Susan can just kiss Caspian and be done with it. What is that teaching? So life is just about having fun, with no consequences? That is what goes against C.S. Lewis' beliefs, not love itself (he himself was married for many years) - according to many outraged Narniacs.
Or maybe, as some would wish, the two didn't forget about each other. "Suspian" has a screaming fanbase. Check out any website - particularly fanfiction.net - and you are sure to find loads of badly-written angst upon the separation of these teenaged soulmates. Sounds pretty reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet. And if the whole point is to romanticize it, dramatize it, whatever, fine. But the whole point of it is to write well and be original, which most people no longer seem capable of.
I, admittedly, love these Suspian stories IF (and only if):
*the story is an AU - alternate universe - story in which everyone stays in Narnia and there is no Ramandu's daughter or angsty, faithless, Last Battle Susan.
*if Susan and Caspian are older and in "movieverse" (are the 13- and 14- year olds that Lewis wrote about going to fall in love? No.)
*if it is well written, original, and has a plot (not just smut.)
*if it is NOT just the VDT with Susan added in. (We read the book and don't need you to write it again, thanks.)
*if it is not overly emotional (ever heard of plot?...)
*if it is somewhat realistic (or, at least, as realistic as anything in a world containing Centaurs, Fauns, and talking, all-powerful Lions can be.)
So, the problem that I have with the existence of Susan/Caspian is that it really shouldn't exist at all. Shipping - supporting - a pairing, for me, anyway, requires more than five days' time and more than fourteen years of age to develop a relationship. But maybe that's just me.
Still, thanks to Adamson, it does exist, and you might even say flourishes, at the hand of many an obsessed fangirl. And for something that shouldn't exist, it can be quite entertaining.