Wardrobe: Too Ornate?

Gymfan15

Gymfan15

New member
My sister pointed this out the other day while watching the trailer, and I think she has a point.

If you look at the wardrobe in the trailer, its a beautiful peice of work; lovely carving, clearly the work of a professional.

However..isn't the Professor supposed to the be one who makes the wardrobe? I doubt that even he, in all his literary wisdom, could make such a fine peice of art with no training at all.
 
I didn't know he made the wardrobe! Wow. Yeah it is a little too ornate I'd say. Lots of pictures and stuff on it. Who do they think Digory Kirk is? Micheal Angelo? (Or whomever that guy was that painted the sisteen chapel. I'm sure I spelled that wrong.) :D
 
I'm not 100% sure...its been a while since I read the book. I was always under the impression that he made it himself though.
 
From: "The Magician's Nephew", first pub. 1955, Fontana, 7th imp. 1982, p.171.
" For when Digory was quite middle-aged...and the Ketterley's old house belonged to him, there was a great storm..which blew the tree down. He couldn't bear to have it simply chopped up for firewood, so he had part of the timber made into a wardrobe, which he put in his big house in the country."

This passage from the final page of MN refers to the apple tree under which Digory buried the magic rings.
 
i can see how you guys think that the wardrobe is to ornate, and i agree that if the proffessor made that it would be abit unbelievable, but i think that they could have made the wardrobe even more elaborate and im glad they didnt, its still quite bare if u consider how easily it could be filled with very elaborate carvings.
 
Rosy's passage says he had it made, and I think he would have had an ornate one made -- out of love for Narnia, and also it was the style of his era.
 
Maybe it is a tad bit more ornate and mysterious looking than it should be- if it had really looked like that, I imagine Lucy would have been a lot more eager to look inside, as would everyone else. (And a lot more willing to imagine that there is a magical world inside it...)
But I'm not complaining- it looks gorgeous and as a door to get into Narnia, couldn't look more appropriate. All about the eye candy- when it doesn't stray too far from the realm of canon! :) ('Sides, WETA's eye-candy is just too good...) :D
 
I didn't even think about the fact that the professor couldn't have made the wardrobe like that without training. lol. Yeah, I don't think he could've made it without the proper training, but there's lots about him we don't know; I could picture him with that skill, though. Either way, the wardrobe I think is perfect the way it is. ^_^
 
The wardrobe is not merely a place to put things. It is, for him, a monument of sorts. While the tree lived it was a living part of Narnia like himself. When it died, he let his memories live on in the carvings which, no doubt, he crudely sketched on the back of an envelope or whatnot.
 
Well, two things. Yes, the professor had it made, not necessarily by himself. So, it could be ornate. And, to be honest, it's not that big a deal, really. Lots of things in movies are put their to achieve the movie's purpose: to entertain the audience. Lots of stuff in movies doesn't make sense, or it just way out of place, but it looks good, so they do it.
 
As has been said the wardrobe was made from the tree brought back from Narnia. On the last page of the Magician Nephew it says that after the tree was blown down by a strong wind, the professor HAD the tree made into a wardrobe. Each of the carvings on the wardrobe represents some part of the Narnian creation story that Diggory (the professor) had witnessed when he was there with Polly and Aslan. It seems to indicate that he had someone make the wardrobe, but I am sure he created the design for each of its intricate carvings.
 
In the LWW, the wardrobe was described differently, and if you see illustrations of the wardrobe in the book, it doesn't resemble the Disney version in the least...as it had a little glass window to see through it. But I think the way the way Disney designed the wardrobe was even better than the one described in the book...I liked the carvings and the ornateness of it.
 
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