let's talk about The Chronicles of Narnia
I read the whole series before I was ten, multiple times. Seven books, but they aren't that long. I adore them. I've loved these books for a long long time.
And, in a shocking twist, I really like the two movies put out recently. LWW was surprisingly good, and Prince Caspian was, in my opinion, great. It was the perfect example of how a movie should be adapted out of a book: significant changes were made, but they were made to better portray the central core of the story, not to change it. When Peter Jackson dicked over Faramir in the LOTR movies, that was a *bad* change. When whoever directed Prince Caspian messed around with the scene where they try to summon the White Witch, nothing that happened contradicted the book's version of the characters or the spirit of the events. A near-perfect example of translation between media while still preserving the art.
I assume everyone who reads my journal has read these books. If I'm wrong and there's someone who *hasn't* read them, you need to be doing that instead of playing around on the internet. Seriously. Your job, your physical health, and your significant other are the only things in your life more important than reading these books - get started.
LWW came on TV today; I caught it right before the dawn at the Stone Table (see how I'm avoiding significant plot spoilers in case I have friends who have missed out on these wonders?). And watching from that point on, I got emotional. I should explain - I am one of those people who cries easily from things like beautiful sunsets, particular songs, thinking too long about my sisters... non-sad things, basically. Sadness is actually a lot harder for me to cry from. There's a quote in Kushiel's Dart - "we know what it is to weep at the sight of beauty." That's me.
**Spoilers from this point on**
So, I'm watching The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe, and Aslan is coming back to life with the sunrise. Why does this make me tear up? The same reason that his second reappearance (at the battle when Peter is facing off against the Witch) makes me tear up: you have this symbol of hope and renewal, of the Light triumphant, of good being undefeatable because of its very nature. The idea of willing sacrifice having a power beyond all others. It's beautiful.
That's a big part of why these books retain such power. A lot of people like to point out that it's a Christian allegory, and C. S. Lewis did write the story as a Christian allegory. However, those symbols are older than Christianity - sacrifice, love, justice tempered by mercy, good vs evil: these are powerful concepts. The golden heat of summer against the frozen death of winter. The oldest dichotomy in our collective unconsciousness, right there with light against dark. How could this story not affect someone? I'll admit that I'm more reactive than most people to things like this; I don't know of anyone else moved to tears as easily as me. But these archetypes do have power to affect people, regardless of anything else.
Of course after LWW the stories become less archetypal, more centered on characters, but the themes are still universal (as the best books always are) and the writing is still great. Narnia, like JKR's wizarding world, is a *world* with a history and mythology all its own. I think this is what separates great writing from mediocre writing - a sense that there is a greater, wider world that the book is merely a part of. Cair Paravel, the Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea, the entire book of The Magician's Nephew, these are all evidence that there is more to Narnia than what is seen in the (other) books.
There's no way to talk about these books (and movies) without talking about the four main characters. (I do realize that there are other "main characters" in some of the books, but frankly Shasta, Eustace, and Jill simply cannot compare to the Pevensies.) Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy - no weird fantasy names, nothing unusual in them. I really admire this, especially compared to a lot of YA writing today where you have main characters with ~*~super creative~*~ names (Saralynn, Melodie, Ariana, and similar things) and ~*~super unique~*~ traits (purple or silver eyes, more-beautiful-than-everyone, smart-with-no-effort, etc). I don't know if Mary Sue traits are really becoming more prevalent or if I'm just more sensitive to it now than I used to be. ANYWAY.
Four children, two boys two girls. Both my sisters read these books, too. We all had our favorites, but (and I'm almost embarrassed to admit this) I don't remember who theirs were. In my head, I connect Rachel and Lucy and Teresa and Edmund, but I have almost zero reason for that. Susan is my favorite, which led to me being very pissed off by the end of the series. Susan is beautiful and dark-haired, and she is frequently responsible and maternal toward her siblings. Queen Susan the Gentle. And then, near the end of the series, all of a sudden Susan is not allowed back into Narnia, because she's all "grown up" and she spends all her time thinking about nylons and boys, and she doesn't believe in Narnia anymore. This was the only point where I felt like the Christianity allegory (each of the four children represent a different "kind" of Christian/stage of faith) damaged the story, although that's probably due to my personal distress. It also seemed to say that moving beyond childhood into the realm of sexuality costs a person magic, belief, faith, the 'higher self'. And I utterly reject that message, just as I reject the privileging of the mental/spiritual over the physical. Boo, C.S. Lewis. Susan didn't deserve that.
And ... I've now been typing away at this for like an hour and a half, and I've kind of lost track of what I was saying. So I leave you with a quote and an observation:
"To the glistening eastern sea, I give you Queen Lucy the Valiant. To the great western woods, King Edmund the Just. To the radiant southern sun, Queen Susan the Gentle. And to the clear northern skies, I give you King Peter the Magnificent. Once a king or queen of Narnia, always a king or queen of Narnia. May your wisdom grace us until the stars rain down from the heavens."
Going by the directions to which they are presented, and then also the landscape mentioned:
Lucy is Air, or Water
Edmund is Water, or Earth
Susan is Fire
Peter is Earth, or Air
Something to think about, anyway.