My job has kept me away from the boards more than I would like. On this, my day off I would like to weigh in on some stuff here. First I would like to thank you for the list QLtV, I agree with you on some of it but I must say that Peter may have voiced it first, but the context shows that Lucy recognized Cair first in the movie. There is that very moving scene where Lucy is pushing everyone into position in front of their thrones and saying now imagine a roof and walls. It is only after she does this that Peter says “Cair Paravel.” Now I would like to make a list of my own for you to make my point about LWW setting the stage for the deviation in Peter's character in Prince Caspian.
1. In both movies, Peter is a jolly sight to keen on jumping into a fight over perceived disrespect. Verbal slug-fests and bully-like put-downs from the first movie escalate into fist-fights /sword fights and put-downs that are not just witty retorts in the second. He is trying to morph into a child’s view of what an adult male should be in both movies and instead just turns into a bully. With Peter’s behavior to Ed in the first movie makes the change in the first movie of him telling Aslan “It’s my fault really, I was too hard on him,” not only true but almost a needed apology.
2. The first movie showed Peter shying away from true bravery like helping save the Narnians or using his sword to protect his friends and siblings on the waterfall (a scene which was completely unnecessary just like the night raid). All the while, comments like “We’re not heroes” and “Aslan, we’re not who you think we are” are saying I am too afraid to face my destiny. In the second movie he becomes overly brave as if he is compensating for the lack there-of in the first and it has the same effect of more people getting hurt or losing faith in him.
3. As I have said before, having Aslan give him the title of Peter the Magnificent meant that God had just told Peter that he was all-that and a bag of chips and he took that to heart. Heaven forbid that anyone think that he was anything other than Magnificent.
4. The way that Aslan, the Deep Magic, the Deeper Magic from before the Dawn of Time, and even the true version of the Prophesy were down-graded actually set the stage for Peter’s unbelief (or if you would rather, the belief that Aslan was not going to help). The first movie made it so that from the start, the Children were Narnia’s saviors not Aslan’s sacrificial act and him coming to the Narnians’ aid when they were losing the war. It was all about the children, not Aslan. In the book, the children helped Aslan retake Narnia’s throne and ruled under Aslan’s grace; in the movie, the tables were turned. And Peter felt that he could do things without Aslan.
In all, the first movie sets the stage for the belligerence…. “’Hey, that’s a girl’s coat…’ ’I know…’” of the second. It set the stage for Peter’s arrogance and unbelief.
oh, good grief. Let me see how much of this list I disagree with and why.
1) His attitude in the first one was only towards Ed, and was not because of the disrespect issue that Ed had, though that was a big issue that needed to be dealt with. I believe that, in the LWW, not only did he have the war going on, he had his father out in it, which left him as the 'man of the house' so to speak. For those who would find fault in that: when my dad died, my mom said that my brother (who is 3 years younger than me) was now 'man of the house.' Peter has to deal with his responsibility, and is forced to mature very quickly, to fill the role that his father's absence left open.
2) I have to say that I did not like that Peter was not as brave and adventurous in the LWW, like he was in the book. That was the
one downer for me. He did pull his sword at the river scene, he just did not lunge at the wolf. Reasoning: he had
his sister on one side, telling him to listen to the wolf, and he had
a beaver on the other side telling him not to listen to the wolf. He was put in a tricky predicament.
3) I believe that Aslan giving them all the titles meant that they had to live up to them, which would put a lot of pressure on them,
ESPECIALLY PETER because of his title being 'the magnificent.' He had to live up to the title of 'Magnificent,' which does not necessarially mean that he was magnificent already, it meant that Peter was going to be magnificent, and that he had to live up to that title!!!
4)I disagree with you on everything you said in this point!!! I believe that it is very obvious that Aslan is on top. He is obviously under Aslan, and I do not see how you can honestly believe that 'The way that Aslan, the Deep Magic, the Deeper Magic from before the Dawn of Time, and even the true version of the Prophesy were down-graded actually set the stage for Peter’s unbelief.' I believe that they were
NOT downgraded at all! I also do not see how you can say that it 'set the stage for Peter's unbelief'!! I also disagree with this: 'It was all about the children, not Aslan. In the book, the children helped Aslan retake Narnia’s throne and ruled under Aslan’s grace; in the movie, the tables were turned. And Peter felt that he could do things without Aslan.' It was not all about the kids, I mean, yes, they were an important part, but how can you say that it looked like Aslan was there to help the kids onto the throne and rule above his grace?!? Aslan was there to help them onto the throne, yes, but he helped them onto the throne to rule under him and to help him overrule the witches reign.
Two more things before I stop my own angry rant.
One is this: On spareoomnet, there is an essay about each of the Pevensie's in the LWW. Here is the link for the one on Peter, but you may want to read the other essays first, cause you understand his better then.
http://www.spareoom.net/movie/peteranalysis.php
Two, yet again, I feel compelled to call some of you on your rudeness. My friend, RSS, has had to stop posting on this thread because she feels that some of you are being to rude and dont even look at where the other people are coming from. It really seems to me that several of you are under the impression that if rude enough, those of us who dissagree with you will succumb to your opinion. I do not know if you see what you are saying as rude, but a lot of it is, and it is getting bad enough that I may want to call in one of the mods to sort this out. I admit that there are times that I get into it and say some things that MAY have come across as rude, and I apologise for those because they were not my intent. I just really feel as if some of you are getting inconsiderate of others feelings and their right to their own opinion.
I always thought it was an obvious turning point....or meant to be, anyway. Of course I thought that the major turning point was after Edmund "killed" Jadis.
