Comments | elizabeth_hoot: I need a Narnia icon

elizabeth_hoot

I need a Narnia icon

Jan 28, 2011 22:47

But for that, I'd want a The Horse and His Boy adaptation, and I don't know how they'd make it less than horrifically offensive.

Anyway. Awhile back, I rewatched Prince Caspian -- look, I don't know why I do these things to myself, except that I love Edmund and ninja!Edmund makes me happy. Seriously, it's like a bunch of people realised that he' ( Read more... )

character: cor, fandom: narnia, character: aravis, character: edmund pevensie, fandom: fandom, genre: meta

Comments 10

moonspinner January 29 2011, 14:31:50 UTC

Fellow shipper here! I love them so hard. :D I think they were my first OTP ever.

ETA: 'Cos I actually have an OTP icon and I didn't have to wait for Disney's creeptastic movie to get one. :P

elizabeth_hoot January 30 2011, 00:29:00 UTC

THERE IS ANOTHER.

No, really, it's awesome that somebody else gets this. Cor is adorable and Aravis is adorable (also, they're kickass) and they're even better together. And if you're going to sum up a length Slap Slap Kiss Will They/Won't They courtship in a single sentence, that's the way to do it.

Also, I kind of love that, racist as just about every page might be, it ends with an interracial couple and cheerfully informs us that their biracial son is the BEST KING EVAR, without making a big deal out of any of these things. (Especially if Aravis really is descended from Tash.)

Also also, your icon is awesome. (Where did you find the picture? I've only found a handful of Cor or Aravis art at all.)

moonspinner January 30 2011, 10:33:04 UTC

And if you're going to sum up a length Slap Slap Kiss Will They/Won't They courtship in a single sentence, that's the way to do it.
I still remember shipping them so hard when I read the books for the first time (I was 12 going on 13 I think) and squealing with surprise and joy that they hooked up at the end. Funnily, Aravis’s role in the story is one of the things that makes the book not racist, at least to me. In fact compared to a lot of contemporary work *cough* Potter *cough*, The Horse and His Boy is actually very progressive. Which you can read as either a very good thing on Lewis’s part or very bad thing on the part of writers these days… (If the movie ever gets greenlighted, I am willing to bet good money that Aravis will be played by a White girl.)

elizabeth_hoot February 1 2011, 16:07:30 UTC

Hm, I don't know. I mean, if I give it points for progressive things and take away points for prejudiced things, the sheer awesome of Aravis might very well cancel out the casual racism. But I don't think it really works like that, so IMO HHB is both racist and progressive.

I may like HP more than you do (I have EPIC ISSUES with the last two, but it's like SW -- I can hate three quarters of the franchise and still love it), so I'm not sure if I see it as overall less progressive than Narnia. Some ways yes, some ways no.

Oh Lord, if Aravis is played by a white girl -- GAAAAAAAH. It wouldn't even make sense! But I can see it happening -- I can even say them taking the whole Arabian Night flavour out of it. Eurgh.

Thread 7

spritl February 12 2011, 14:35:25 UTC

I'm sorry but I cannot agree that THHB is racist. And I agree with the above that Rowling's Harry Potter is far more offensive in race matters than THHB. Sometimes I wonder if people who read the Narnia books and say, "Oh, it's totally racist!" but completely ignore what Rowling does with every not-White character in Harry Potter even understand what racism is. C. S. Lewis gave me Aravis to identify with. Rowling gave me Cho Chang. Who will I find sensitive and who will I find offensive to women of my race?

elizabeth_hoot February 12 2011, 19:59:09 UTC

I'm ... not sure I understand, exactly. I mean, I do think that the inevitable failure of interracial relationships in HP, and lack of nuance in the characterisation of POC, is racist. I'm not quite sure how that relates to the question of whether there's racism in Narnia, though. I completely agree that there are very progressive things in HHB -- but I don't think that cancels out the problematic trends that I see there, too.

spritl March 16 2011, 11:11:32 UTC

OK, it took me a while to get back to you. I wanted to make sure that I was calm enough and read enough of your journal to get some idea of your person, to know if you were even someone I should bother trying to educate. I want to believe that you did not mean to be offensive but you were. This is why ( ... )