Meto's Meta Ramblings
Today, instead of writing my essays or reading my secondary sources or studying geology or anything else necessary, I rewatched Prince Caspian, and thus, I have thoughts.
Namely, the Telmarine dynasty's rule could basically just be classified as 'apartheid Narnia.' Obviously there are all sorts of other historical occasions where one powerful group beat up on the weaker group, and in Narnia's case I think we have a majority of Telmarines, so it's not quite like the whole rich and powerful minority subjugating the majority, but certain phrases from the movie really put you (me, at least) in mind of apartheid specifically. For example, when Miraz goes on his whole rant about how "Much of our forefathers' blood was shed to exterminate these vermin, or so we thought. But while we've been bickering amongst ourselves, they've been breeding like cockroaches under a rock, growing stronger, watching us, waiting to strike. . . Well, I intend to strike back, even if I have to cute down the entire forest."
Now, I don't know about y'all, but I hear the word 'cockroach' applied to a group of people, and I automatically think of two things. One - the Rwandan genocide, the horrific radio messages urging Hutus to stamp out the plague of Tutsi cockroaches. Two - South Africa under apartheid South Africa, with blacks forced out to settlements and townships.
You know, as I think through this, the Telmarine/Narnian relationship really evokes more comparisons to the Rwandan genocide than to apartheid. The genocide was the majority seeking to eliminate the minority, and while it wasn't a conquest sort of thing, there could be a comparison there between the violent uprising against the wealth and power of the Tutsi minority and the overwhelming of the Narnians, previously in control of the (their) land, by the larger Telmarine forces.
Anyway, all this is very sobering to think about (and I hope no one thinks I'm at all making light of either of the aforementioned situations by comparing them to Narnia - not at all. Obviously there's really no comparison at all between the fictional, fantasy-series clash of Telmarines and Narnians and the real life subjugation, torture, and mass-murder of thousands, millions of people. But I do think that the use of 'cockroaches' by Miraz in the film cannot have been a coincidence - it's very evocative.) but also very interesting, to me, so, thoughts?
Namely, the Telmarine dynasty's rule could basically just be classified as 'apartheid Narnia.' Obviously there are all sorts of other historical occasions where one powerful group beat up on the weaker group, and in Narnia's case I think we have a majority of Telmarines, so it's not quite like the whole rich and powerful minority subjugating the majority, but certain phrases from the movie really put you (me, at least) in mind of apartheid specifically. For example, when Miraz goes on his whole rant about how "Much of our forefathers' blood was shed to exterminate these vermin, or so we thought. But while we've been bickering amongst ourselves, they've been breeding like cockroaches under a rock, growing stronger, watching us, waiting to strike. . . Well, I intend to strike back, even if I have to cute down the entire forest."
Now, I don't know about y'all, but I hear the word 'cockroach' applied to a group of people, and I automatically think of two things. One - the Rwandan genocide, the horrific radio messages urging Hutus to stamp out the plague of Tutsi cockroaches. Two - South Africa under apartheid South Africa, with blacks forced out to settlements and townships.
You know, as I think through this, the Telmarine/Narnian relationship really evokes more comparisons to the Rwandan genocide than to apartheid. The genocide was the majority seeking to eliminate the minority, and while it wasn't a conquest sort of thing, there could be a comparison there between the violent uprising against the wealth and power of the Tutsi minority and the overwhelming of the Narnians, previously in control of the (their) land, by the larger Telmarine forces.
Anyway, all this is very sobering to think about (and I hope no one thinks I'm at all making light of either of the aforementioned situations by comparing them to Narnia - not at all. Obviously there's really no comparison at all between the fictional, fantasy-series clash of Telmarines and Narnians and the real life subjugation, torture, and mass-murder of thousands, millions of people. But I do think that the use of 'cockroaches' by Miraz in the film cannot have been a coincidence - it's very evocative.) but also very interesting, to me, so, thoughts?