Random Acts of Fandom: Prince Caspian

[joiedecombat]

I did say I'd natter more on this subject.

First I should note that I grew up with these books and have loved them for as long as I can remember, so I was predisposed to like the movies. It would take a really awful adaptation to alienate me, and the adaptations of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian are not awful, so I approve of them in general. But I do have a lot of fangirl nitpicks. Some of them are about silly minor details that don't mean anything, but some of them, at least in the case of Prince Caspian, are about broader characterization issues.

I should also mention that of all the protagonists of the various Narnia books, Peter is my favorite, so I'm more inclined to be nitpicky over his characterization than, say, Susan's.


I do have issues with Peter's characterization in Prince Caspian. The choice to make Caspian an adult instead of a kid was accompanied by a decision to include some alpha male dominance battle friction between him and Peter, which does make a certain amount of sense: Caspian has spent a bunch of time preparing to be king, and the Narnians have been accepting him as their king, and then Peter turns up and steps back into his role as High King and friction is only to be expected.

Especially given that the film makes more of the difficulty in adjusting to normal life after returning from Narnia the first time. I was very startled when the first we see of Peter in the new film is him having a fistfight with a bunch of other guys in the train station, but it actually makes a certain amount of sense: Peter misses Narnia, and he's still getting over being a kid instead of High King Peter the Magnificent.

But I wish that the movie had made it a bit less about Peter missing having the authority of High King and more about missing Narnia, because my understanding of Peter from the books has always been that he considers being High King to be about responsibility rather than power. Peter should never go on power trips.

And it doesn't help that, in the friction between Peter and Caspian in the movie, Peter tends to be the one in the wrong. The assault on King Miraz's castle which is inserted into the middle of the movie is Peter's idea and it's a bad call, and Peter is a bit of a jerk about it. If it weren't for William Moseley's ability to really sell how much the consequences of his bad calls hurt Peter, I might have ended up actually disliking him, and that would have been really sad. As it was, it kind of hurt to watch.

My biggest complaint about Peter's characterization in the movie comes from shortly after that inserted battle, when Peter blames their defeat on Caspian, because Peter in the books does not do that. When he makes a mistake or a bad call, he acknowledges it; he doesn't try to save face or shift blame. You see it in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, book and movie, when Lucy is proved right about the existence of Narnia, and you see it in the book of Prince Caspian when Lucy turns out to have been right about which direction they were supposed to go. So it was really jarring to have him turn on Caspian like that, whatever responsibility Caspian might have had for what happened.

Fortunately they did get past all that nonsense eventually, and Peter was much more himself in the second half or so of the film. One side effect of the movie making more of Peter's difficulty adjusting to normal life in England after LWW was that near the end of Prince Caspian, when Caspian sees Peter and Susan walking with Aslan, although you can't hear what they're talking about it was obvious (at least to me) that Aslan was telling them how they wouldn't be coming back again. And I started tearing up.

Moving on from that: the insertion of Caspian's little crush on Susan was even more random, but kind of cute. I have no complaints about Ben Barnes as Caspian, for all that he's considerably older than the character in the book; it made a reasonable amount of sense.

I was surprised to find Lucy a little bit annoying in a way I don't remember having reacted to the character before. It may have been a reaction to Peter's increased fallibility, since Lucy is pretty much Always Right... although since she's still too young to take part in the action scenes, she's got to have something to do. Likewise, Susan participating in combat up close and personal was a little weird, but it made sense that they wouldn't want both of the girls to be noncombatants, and again, Lucy couldn't very well do it.

Skandar Keynes continues to impress me as Edmund, which I think can't be an easy role to play. He did a great job in LWW, and though he didn't have as much to do in Prince Caspian, what he did, he did well. I especially liked his weighing in on the subject of 'did or didn't Lucy see Aslan?' with, essentially, 'I don't know about you guys, but I'm not going to be this much of an idiot a second time'. I hope whoever they get for Eustace for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is at least close to as good as Keynes; that's going to be a similarly difficult role.

More things I did really like: Reepicheep was badass, and I think was one of two points on which the movie actually improved a bit. In the book he's a bit of a comical figure, and the other characters keep edging carefully around how to keep him out of trouble without insulting him, but in the movie, he is hardcore. His first appearance and his initial interaction with Caspian, with Caspian going O_O '...I don't want to die, kthx,' is priceless. Eddie Izzard is, of course, fantastic as his voice.

The other thing that I really thought was done better in the movie was the scene in which Nikabrik and his cronies try to resurrect the White Witch. I loved that the Wer-Wolf's speech was mostly lifted directly from the book, and Tilda Swinton's brief appearance, and Peter charging in, and Edmund striking the last blow because, let's face it, he earned that.

The Telmarines being fairly obviously descended from Spanish pirates was also pretty cool.

Overall, I did enjoy it, despite little nitpicks like "would it have killed them to have Peter say 'It is my sword Rhindon. With it I killed the wolf.'?" I'm very much looking forward to seeing what they do with The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (especially since they won't be able to insert any big army vs. army battle scenes into it, haha).

On an unrelated note: God help me, I really kind of want to write an epic multi-chapter Avatar: The Last Airbender futurefic focused on Zuko and Sokka, with Zuko as Fire Lord and Sokka as a full-fledged member of the Order of the White Lotus, and a secret plot against Zuko by dissatisfied members of the Fire Nation's old guard and surviving Dai Li agents which Sokka ends up uncovering, and augh.

Comments

[joiedecombat.livejournal.com]

I re-read the whole novel the night after I saw the movie, so my memory is much refreshed, but I did remember enough that I knew the attack on the castle was new. And book!Caspian's comparatively young age is mentioned a few times; he actually sort of fanboys Peter a bit, which is kind of funny. (Fandom has corrupted me; watching the movie I couldn't help but think 'I bet the Peter/Caspian slash fandom is going to take off.' And it appears I was right.)

The scene at the end of the attack on the castle, with the Narnians at the gate, broke my heart. Fortunately I thought Moseley did a pretty good job of conveying that it was breaking his heart, too, or I'd have had problems with the stuff that came after. And the fight against Miraz worked very well, as you say.

Edmund was awesome, too. Haha, "So you're bravely refusing to fight a boy half your age?"

[fuckcarbonite.livejournal.com]

Oh god, me too. I was just like, 'ooooooooh and that's the sound of a million slash fangirls going at a rivalship like sharks who sense blood...' and I haven't even looked at the fandom yet. However, I'd be less averse to Peter/Caspian than I would be to Caspian/Susan. The entire time they were awkwardly flirting I was sitting there going, 'D: MY CHILDHOOD.'

Yeah. Like. I think they were trying to portray him as slightly more 'human' than he was in the books - Peter was always rather 'larger than life' and instead the movies were like, LOL LOOK MISTAKES, HE MAKES THEM. I liked it. But I still need to find my copy of the book to re-read it to see just how much I like it. Who knows, maybe on the read-through I'll be like, 'wait, what?'

Oh god. And when he stabbed the Witch I was just like, '... oh god let me fangirl you now.' He was always my favorite of the kids, and Keynes does such an excellent job of selling him and adslkjfaksdfh.

[joiedecombat.livejournal.com]

I totally didn't mind that the movie made Peter a bit more fallible, because he is kind of idealized in the books, and humanizing him some = ftw. I just mind that they did it by... kind of making him a bit of a jerk, and in a way that doesn't jive with his particular strengths in the books. But overall they didn't go so far with it that I can't forgive it. It's just kind of a nitpick because Peter's my favorite.

The Caspian/Susan thing didn't actually bug me, although I think it's because the first movie inured me to the OMG MY CHILDHOOD stuff. At least now I can say Peter is hot without feeling like a total pervert.

[rev-it-up.livejournal.com]

Well honestly, considering what time period his character's from, and all the shit he's gone through? I would almost expect him to be a bit of a jerk. Admittedly in the books, he's not, but then again the books also have enough characterization to fill a teaspoon, imho.

Also, I am sad that it doesn't look they'll be doing A Horse and His Boy. Totally my favorite book, right next to The Last Battle.

Oh, and an addendum (try saying that ten times fast, holycrap). Susan bowfighting in the middle of the battlefield? Made me roll my eyes. I've done archery for a lotta years and there is no way you can effectively fight off hoards of whatever-the-hell with a bow and a magically never-empty quiver. Like, horray for having the girl fight but for the love of god give her a sword like all the boys. ;-;

See, I was never a huge fan of the Lion, The Witch and the Warddrobe, so I haven't read it since I was like. Ten. So if there was 'OH MY GOD MY CHILDHOOD' stuff going on in the movie, it went over my head. I was content enough to watch the pretty.

I seriously thought that Peter was jailbait and left the theatre going, '... this is awkward.' because eeee he's so pretty. But I later found out he's only a little younger than me and thus was balance righted in the universe or something. XD

[joiedecombat.livejournal.com]

The books are pretty light on characterization, it's true, but I think that makes it a little more irritating when they go against what's there - seriously, Peter blaming the defeat at the castle on Caspian is kind of like Lucy being a cynic or Susan being bloodthirsty. Shouldn't happen. (On the other hand, Peter being in that fistfight in the beginning, as much as it startled me at first, made total sense once I understand what they were doing with the characterization.)

Melee archery never stops being silly. They did it in LOTR with Legolas, too, but at least he actually had alternate weapons. It's particularly ridiculous that it was Susan, who is, like, the bleeding heart soft touch of the series. Lucy in combat I could believe if she were a little older, because, you know, Queen Lucy the Valiant, but she's not there yet, so.

I've been wondering about The Horse and His Boy, because there's not really any very natural place to insert it. I'm guessing that if they do it, they'll go by the publication order and put it after Voyage of the Dawn Treader, because LWW and PC and VoDT make a fairly tidy trilogy. But I seem to recall hearing Anna Popplewell in an interview saying that she won't be in any more Narnia movies, and you can't really do HHB without Susan, so... I have no idea. I hope they do make it, it's one of my favorites, too.

I think I need a Peter icon.

[fuckcarbonite.livejournal.com]

A good point. I hadn't thought of it that way!

Well, and Legolas was also More Than A Fifteen Year Old Human Girl. While still silly, I could suspend my belief better because he was a supernatural critter, I guess. Susan is a soft touch, yes, but I also think she wouldn't have trouble stepping up to defend her family if it was in danger. At least that's how I always saw her?

Susan was quite a bit older in HHB, though. They could probably find a lookalike in her mid to late twenties and just be like, 'hay look, Susan!'

Mmm, Peter icons. I approve of this endeavor. :D

[joiedecombat.livejournal.com]

No argument on Susan defending her family. I just, I don't know, found it kind of funny. Not so much when she was buying time for Lucy, but in the actual all-out battle scene, you know.

They could totally get a lookalike for her - like, the woman who played her at the end of LWW, or something. I know all of the books have been optioned, so hopefully we'll get a movie; I suspect that how VoTD does will help determine what else out of the series does or doesn't get made.

It occurs to me belatedly that Caspian being an adult already makes the end of The Silver Chair, in which he and Eustace and Jill all go beat the crap out of Jill and Eustace's classmates, a little sketchy. I wonder how they'll handle that.

Yes, I am just sort of randomly nattering at this point. Aheh. Sorry.

[infinitepryde.livejournal.com]

The Caspian/Susan thing admittedly made sense to me --

-- stop looking at me like that! --

-- because they were clearly trying to set up the lipstick-and-nylons bit. They missed any opportunity to do that in the first movie; they had their other main chance to do it now ... so if they're retaining that later, and they wanted to lay groundwork, they had to display Susan having an interest of some sort in boys now.

Once we knew we had a not-a-kid Caspian, I was kind of wincing in advance, but they handled it much better than I was expecting.

Peter's brief descent into blame-everything brathood surprised me, though, and the fight scene -- combine that with my usual problems telling people apart, and I was very confused for a good bit of the movie, because I was firmly convinced it was Edmund who'd gotten into the fight. Fortunately, evilbeej cleared that up for me later...

[joiedecombat.livejournal.com]

You're right, it does make sense when you put it that way, especially given that they sort of softpedaled the fact that Susan, especially in Prince Caspian, seems to like the idea of Narnia more than she likes being in the reality of it... I was kind of surprised that instead of using the opening to set some of that up, they had her snubbing that poor nerd instead. I suppose they wanted to keep her likeable, but it will make where she ends up later in the series come out of left field. Unless they do something weird with it in adaptation. No telling.

I also totally thought it was Edmund who had gotten into that fistfight until it was practically over, because really, who expects that of Peter? But that bit at least made sense to me once I understood what they were doing. Some of the other stuff, not so much.

[jac1nto83.livejournal.com]

I'll check that out!