Why Magician’s Nephew next?
When asked about why they are choosing to do The Magician’s Nephew instead of The Silver Chair, the reasons are actually very practical. While this might be upsetting from a storytelling point of view, they do have some pretty valid research about the series, and it points to everything that I was thinking that it would be.
Flaherty says: It’s a creative decision in terms of what story we felt has the best opportunity to draw the largest audience. The box office has pretty closely followed the sales pattern of the books. Prince Caspian sells about half of the books of Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, and it did about half of the box office. Caspian sells about a third more books than Dawn Treader, and it did about a third more box office. That pattern continues to decline with Silver Chair being the weakest book in the series in terms of consumer demand.
This also means that The Magician’s Nephew, The Horse and His Boy and The Last Battle each sell more than The Silver Chair.
In fact, according to Flaherty’s numbers (which HarperCollins provides), The Magician’s Nephew falls right behind The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in sales. He also says that they’re following Lewis’ lead, with regard to telling the origin story after showing the world. It is far more interesting that way. I applaud them for recognizing that the origin of a magical wardrobe and lamp-post is far more interesting if you’ve already witnessed the magical properties of them.
The Narnia Police on the Dawn Treader
Flaherty mentions that they appreciate the comments from Narnia fans that are sticklers to the books. They do understand the audience, and as I understand it, they always try to make a better film each time out. Here’s what Flaherty said about the themes in the film:
There’s agreement that we are getting things right thematically. In terms of Reepicheep with that Aslan-size hole in his heart, getting that right. In terms of Eustace talking about no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t do it myself, the idea that redemption is something that has to be given; it can’t be earned. For the most part people have agreed that we’ve done a good job with those themes.
The short un-dragoning
Eustace’s un-dragoning has been a big topic of discussion. When I was on the set in September of 2009, I heard that the un-dragoning would not appear in the film. The reason was that it doesn’t technically even happen in the book. When I say that to people, they tend to look at me like “I read it, and you read it, so you must be crazy.” However, when you really look at it closely, it all happens by way of a story by Eustace to Edmund.
Flaherty acknowledges the disappointment that people felt about it, though, saying: We wanted to show it, but what we ended up doing was reinforcing that message when Eustace says later, “No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t do it myself. And then he came towards me. It was a good hurt.” Visually, I was pleased with it. But yes, there was a response where people wanted to see lion paw firmly placed in dragon flesh and ripping it off. That was a common disappointment.
The Tie goes to C.S. Lewis
When it comes to the dialogue of Aslan in the films, they’ve come to terms with what they are doing. This part is going to make a lot of purists very happy, because they are listening, and this shows that they are. Here’s what Flaherty said about Aslan’s dialogue in the films, with regard to Prince Caspian and then his lines in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
With all the Aslan parts, particularly the dialogue, there’s always a very spirited and healthy discussion, and generally any time there’s a discussion, the tie goes to C. S. Lewis. So we always come to the agreement, “Listen, let’s not think that we can reinterpret this and do a better job than Lewis. If we disagree about this, if people think there are different ways to say this, let’s just make sure we preserve what Lewis said.” That’s a mistake we made with Prince Caspian, where we changed Aslan’s dialogue with Lucy. [In the book, Lucy says: “You’re bigger, Aslan.” Aslan replies: “That’s because you are older, little one.” Lucy: “Not because you are?” Aslan: “I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.” In the film, Aslan says to Lucy: “Every year you grow, so shall I,” which carries quite a different meaning.] We didn’t get that one right. We learned our lesson from that. And so as we were trying to figure out the dialogue with this one, we decided that we would just go back to verbatim what we had in the book.
Now, when it comes to that dialogue in Prince Caspian, I don’t want to cause a stir or another debate. I’m already on record as believing that Aslan appears to the individual in a varying size based on the faith of the one that sees him. That’s just how I read it, even in the book. “I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.” To me that means, while he doesn’t grow, as God doesn’t grow, she will see him bigger, as we see God’s role in our lives bigger as we grow in faith. In fact, others I’ve spoken to feel the same way that I do, and read it the same way. Now, the film version can be taken a very different way from even that. But it can also be taken the same way.
Anyway, that’s my perspective.