for narnia and the north

I love the Narnia movie beyond all reason. The actors all make me completely and unreasonably happy, the set and prop work is impeccable. I hate hate hate hate the White Witch's costuming, but the one thing about the film that bothered me more than any other was the heavy emphasis on the battle. For one thing, my god could it be any more cliche? With the sound-suck and the heartbeat and the shining sword and the "to the death." Gack. Seen that just a thousand times before.

But the lack of focus on battles is also one of the things that I most appreciate about Lewis' writing. Sure, they're there, but they never really seem to matter that much. The climax is always personal, not martial. LWW's main battle is merely summarized, within the space of a page. "Prince Caspian" has a single combat, undertaken to prevent open combat, and a nonviolent rout. "Dawn Treader," my favorite, has no battles at all. Even in "Horse and His Boy," where Rabadash's invading army is key, the climax is Shasta's attempt to warn Archenland and personal journey towards self-knowledge and maturity and courage. The fight itself is of no real textual importance, just "this happened".

( This is the bit where I gripe about modern fantasy. )

Also, gacked from chaos_pockets,

Gmail Account: from.dawn.of.time
Password: deepermagic

Contains all seven Chronicles of Narnia as well a Gaiman's short story "The Problem of Susan".