Welcome to Tumnus’s Book Shelf where we review any and all books related to Narnia and CS Lewis! For this weeks review, we will be looking at CS Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian !

Book Title: The Chronicles of Narnia:Prince Caspian.

Author: CS Lewis
Illustrator: Pauline Baynes
Publisher(US): HarperCollins
ISBN-10: 0064471055
ISBN-13:978-0064471053

Summary of the book:

Some Possible Spoilers.( Please Highlight to read)

It has been nearly a year since the Pevensie’s first adventure in the land of Narnia. The four children are waiting at a train station to go back to school when all of a sudden they feel themselves being pulled away. Moments later the children vanish and find themselves on a mysterious island.

While investigating the ruins and other items located on it, they discover that they are back at Cair Paravel in the land of Narnia, and that over 100 years have passed in that world. The children rescue a dwarf named Trumpkin, who serves Prince Caspian.

After proving to Trumpkin that they are the four Pevensies, he tells them what as been going on in Narnia. The land has fallen under control of the Telmarines. The current ruler, King Miraz usurped the throne by murdering his brother and exiling seven lords who would have supported the young Prince Caspian. Miraz pretends to raise the young prince as his own.

Caspian loves the old tales of Narnia that his nurse tells him. One day he tells Miraz these tales. Miraz demands to know who told him such things. Caspian, out of fear of his uncle, says that it was the nurse who is then removed of her duties. Miraz hates any and everything to do with Old Narnia, and has removed any mention of it from their history.

Miraz hires a new tutor for Caspian, one Dr. Cornelius who is half dwarf, half human. In secret Cornelius tells Caspian more about Narnia and about Caspian’s true heritage as the rightful heir to the throne.

Then late one night he helps Caspian escape as Miraz and his wife have had a son of their own. This means they no longer have any need for Caspian as an heir and would kill him.

Cornelius gives him a gift: The horn of Queen Susan, which was given to her by father Christmas in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. The horn can summon help from any where. Caspian escapes by horse into the forest. He falls off and is found by Trumpkin and another dwarf Nikabrik, and Trufflehunter the badger.

After much persuasion they agree to help him. They take him to meet other Old Narnians, which include Reepicheep the mouse, who are fighting for their freedom. After holding a council with them they all agree to head for Aslan’s How, where the remains of the Stone Table on which Aslan was killed still remain.

Once at the How, Caspian decides it is time to sound the horn. Trumpkin goes to Cair Paravel to see if any help has come. This is then the point where the four children enter the story. They leave the island and head for Aslan’s How.

The children get lost as the land has changed in the hundred Narnian years since they were there. Lucy sees Aslan and insists that they should go to where she sees him. No one believes her , except for Edmund, who insists that they listen to her. As everyone else is against her they decide to go the opposite direction.

They discover they are heading in the direction of Miraz’s troops. They double back and Lucy sees Aslan again. This time they agree to listen to her. Slowly the other children begin to see him. Finally the dwarf does too. Aslan sends the boys and the dwarf to Aslan’s How to help Caspian as there is a new threat to him in his own council.

Nikabrik has brought with him some evil companions, a were-wolf, and a Hag, who wish to bring The White Witch Jadis back from the dead. Caspian refuses. Nikabrik, the Hag and the were-wolf attack him. Peter, Edmund and Trumpkin help Caspian defeat the traitors.

After holding council with Caspian, Peter then makes a plan to duel with Miraz. SpoilersTwo scheming lords convince Miraz to agree. After a very long duel, Peter wins. Miraz is killed by the two lords and a battle breaks out.End of Spoilers.

The battle is won by the Old Narnians.Spoilers Aslan reveals that the Telmarinians are in fact from our world. He gives them all the choice to stay or return to Earth. This is important as only a Son of Adam could rule Narnia and as Caspian is Telmarinian, he is a Son of Adam.End of Spoilers

Spoilers Some of the Telmarinians return to our world.End of Spoilers Aslan crowns Caspian the king of Narnia. Caspian then knights Reepicheep, Trufflehunter and Trumpkin. Aslan sends Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy back to our world.

Spoilers However, before he does, he reveals something sad to Peter and Susan. They are too old. They can never return to Narnia.End of Spoilers

The children then find themselves back at the train station, exactly as they left it and head off to school.

Review.

What Lewis did so well with The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, he does even better with Prince Caspian. Though sequels were hardly his intention, the books follow the same path as any sequel: it’s better then the original. It has to be. The first book is just about building your universe and setting up your characters. A sequel, is more freeing as you can explore your characters even more and enrich your world.

One way to explore the characters more is through growth and change. In the case of Prince Caspian that means examining how different Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy are from their first journey to Narnia. It is the fact that these characters actually grow and change that makes the books so unique. How often in a series of children’s books will you find that you have gone through 100 books (with at least five of them being a Christmas/winter story) only to see that the main lead is still 13 years old?

Such things frustrate children as they read such books. Such frustration does not exist in Prince Caspian. The story is set a year later it stands to reason the children would be a year older and they have indeed been changed by going to Narnia the first time. Lucy is now far more stronger and confident. She is willing to actually do things by and for herself. Edmund is no longer a treacherous problem child who harasses Lucy, but rather a kind, gentle and compassionate older brother who is willing to believe her.

Susan and Peter are very much reduced to mere supporting roles next to their siblings. Peter is now a mentor figure, almost like a surrogate Professor Kirke, who examines all things logically. Susan is even more maternal then she was in the first book. This is because the two are getting older and becoming adults, which means in turn that they have to have more adult roles.Spoilers So much so that at the end of the book they are told they can never return to Narnia. This revelation is heart breaking to them and later is one of the many linchpins in Susan’s downfall.End of Spoilers. Lewis is willing in his fantasy series to confront the fact that children grow up.

SpoilersChange is confronted further as the children have to come to grips with Narnia’s different time stream from Earth’s. 100 years have passed since they were there last. Cair Paravel is now in ruins and the peninsula it was on has become an island due to erosion. This also means all of their old friends like Tumnus and Mr. and Mrs. Beaver are all dead. They also have to face that their beloved country has fallen under dark times due to it’s current ruler.End of Spoilers

Because of these dark times they are summoned. Lewis uses his literary history extraordinarily well once again. Lewis makes a comparison in the books to the children from our world returning to Narnia being similar to how many in England believe King Arthur will return to England. A fitting comparison as according to the legends Arthur would return from Avalon in an hour of greatest need, and in deed Narnia is in one of it’s times of greatest need. It is in these dark times that Lewis to an extent explores a nations apostasy or lack of faith. Many in Narnia do not believe or know of Aslan or the four children this leads to Narnia’s downfall. Among the few are Caspian.

Aside from the challenges and changes the children must face there are several new characters the reader encounters in this book. First of all is Caspian. He is very much similar to such Biblical figures as David and King Josiah: a young man with a great destiny who leads his people back to their true faith. He also fits into the literary mode of the young King Arthur in TH White’s The Sword and The Stone, in which the young boy is destined to rule. His heritage and rightful claim to a throne that is filled by a usurper make him a bit like JRR Tolkien’s character of Aragorn in Lord of the Rings.

His uncle Miraz in contrast is like the Biblical kings Saul, and Ahab who lead the nation into apostasy and do not follow the true faith. Miraz is also a figure much like that of Claudius in Shakespeare’s Hamlet as he kills his brother to take the throne.

We also meet Reepicheep the mouse, a character whose bravery is greater then his height. His relationship to Aslan is an indirect reference to Aesop’s fable of the lion and the mouse. However this time it is reversed. After the mice had attempted to free Aslan after his death on the Stone Table they were granted the ability to speak. They are now fiercely loyal to him, Reepicheep most of all. Then in return for their loyalty to Aslan, he restores Reepicheep’s tail when it’s lost in battle. The parallels with the fable lie not just in the lion and mouse helping each other, but also in the message that even those who are very small can help one who is great.

In this book children learn that life is change .We all must grow up. We also must try to hold on to the things we believe in and hold dearly as we grow. They can also learn that even those who are very small can make a big difference.

As always Lewis’s narrations are witty and ironic and always addressing the reader as tough we are on the journey with the children. Admittedly though, most of Caspian’s story is told through a flash back .it shall be interesting to see how that can be pulled off in the film.

Prince Caspian is not only a good sequel , it’s also a good book in it’s own right, chalked full of powerful messages and an even richer literary history. For fans of Narnia, and CS Lewis in reading these books there is only one way to go: “ Further up and further in.”

Five out of Five shields

order the book from Amazon.com

0 people like this post.

Like 

In 2005, a conference was held at Belmont University that brought together many C.S. Lewis scholars. A book has been edited together by Amy H. Sturgis that collects that event. Now we can all experience the event through the chapters of this compilation of essays.

This volume provides a broad sample of the research presented at the “Past Watchful Dragons: Fantasy and Faith in the World of C.S. Lewis” international conference held at Belmont University on November 3-5, 2005. The contributing scholars reflect a truly interdisciplinary discussion representing the fields of literature, theology, history, and popular culture. The assembled essays offer insights on the messages of C.S. Lewis’s fiction and nonfiction, the dramatic adaptations of his work, the influence of his faith, and his relevance to related fantasy literature and authors from J.R.R. Tolkien to J.K. Rowling. These diverse contributions combine to offer a better understanding and appreciation of the life and legacy of C.S. Lewis.

Praise for Past Watchful Dragons

It is no small achievement to gather twelve essays with authority and grace (ten on Lewis and one each on Tolkien and J.K. Rowling). Lewis enthusiasts with Puddleglum personalities, who expect at least one bad egg in a dozen, will be pleasantly surprised.

—Robert Trexler, Editor of The Bulletin of the New York C.S. Lewis Society

This is no dry collection, but a continuation in kind of the vibrant conversations that went on between C.S. Lewis and his like-minded friends in smoky Oxford pubs and book-lined college rooms.

—Colin Duriez, Author of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis: The Gift of Friendship

A welcome collection of reflections on C.S. Lewis by both seasoned and fresh voices on a wide range of topics topped off with two provocative explorations into Tolkien and Rowling.

—Christopher Mitchell, Director, Marion E. Wade Center, Wheaton College

Contents and Abstracts

Part I: Introductory Words

1. Preface
By Darrell Gwaltney

Introductory words about the Past Watchful Dragons conference.

2. Introduction
By Amy H. Sturgis

Introductory words about the contents of the book.

Part II: Keynote Speaker

3. Contribution related to keynote talk: “Apologetics in the Shadowlands: The Problem of Pain and Narnia”
By Bruce Edwards

Edwards explores the relationship between The Chronicles of Narnia and The Problem of Pain, and considers how these works by Lewis together form an awareness of humanity’s plight in a fallen world, an “Apologetics for the Shadowlands.”

Part III: The Chronicles of Narnia

4. Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve: Lewisian Perspectives on the Human in The Chronicles of Narnia
By Donald T. Williams

It is a critical commonplace that in That Hideous Strength Lewis gives readers a fictional incarnation of the argument he made against reductionism and for a fully biblical concept of what is human in The Abolition of Man. What has been less fully realized is that The Chronicles of Narnia relate to Abolition in precisely the same way. Talking Beasts, much like the hnau of The Space Trilogy, form foils which allow Lewis to set off the essential characteristics of human nature. Williams shows that Abolition constitutes a most useful grid for interpreting The Chronicles, that the conception of human nature incarnated there is informed by a richly biblical anthropology, and that, together with The Abolition of Man, they offer an apologia for a biblical view of human nature that still provides good traction against contemporary forms of reductionism.

5. “Let the Villains Be Soundly Killed at the End of the Book”: C. S. Lewis’s Conception of Justice in The Chronicles of Narnia
By Marek Oziewicz

One of the most fundamental assumptions of Tolkien’s famous essay “On Fairy-Stories” is that fairy-stories, or mythopoeic fantasy as some critics would call the genre now, quench human spiritual thirsts. Among those, of paramount importance for a person’s spiritual well-being is human yearning for justice. Although Tolkien did not make it explicit, it is clear in his writings that he was aware of a conflict between people’s customary sense of justice, applied to and expected of them in ordinary human relations, and the legal sense of justice, imposed on them as citizens by the state. More outspoken in this respect, Lewis addressed the problem of justice in many of his essays and repeatedly criticized modern state’s conception of justice as degrading to human dignity. If Lewis and Tolkien thus demonstrated their allegiance to mythic or more traditional concepts of justice, it is nowhere as clear as in fantasy works they wrote. While all of their works reveal a specific conception of myth-derived justice, which Oziewicz calls a compensational one, Oziewicz argues that this concept is one of the many reasons for the lasting appeal of The Chronicles. Compensational justice is more satisfying to human spirit than any legal type of justice known in our world. Although it operates by the principle of “getting what one deserves,” compensational justice is not revenge, nor is it driven by the logic of vengeance. Contrary to faceless legal justice that depersonalizes human relations, it builds and fosters them by making characters face the hurts they caused others, understand the resulting pain, and learn not repeat their mistakes. Oziewicz demonstrates how compensational justice as “textualized” by Lewis involves a whole set of assumptions concerning guilt, crime, compensation and giving others their due. Most importantly, however, he argues that Lewis presents his conception of justice not as a utopian construct, but as a practical ideal to be sought and realized in actual life.

Part IV: Adaptations

6. “Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle”: Aslan’s Sacrifice in Adaptations of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
By Hugh H. Davis

As Walden Media prepared to release its adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, its early media machine’s emphasis focused on the novel’s final battle, with clips in its trailer of massive armies locked in combat. Early merchandise announcements, likewise, focused on centaur and ogre figures, suggesting significant attention on this battle and its warriors, despite the fact that this war lasts a mere few pages in Lewis’ text. While this conflict between the White Witch’s minions and Aslan’s supporters has narrative importance, allegorically, the more important sequence should be Aslan’s sacrifice in place of Edmund. Aslan’s murder at the hands of the White Witch and her hordes—the crucifixion of this Christ-figure—is the true “glorious battle” of LWW, providing readers with a fantastic/symbolic version of that mighty conflict celebrated in Christian tradition during Holy Week, with the hollow “Triumph of the Witch” (the title of Lewis’ fourteenth chapter) representing in truth the “triumph of the victim,” as sung of in a hymn by Fortunatus . It is on this event of “a magic deeper still” whereupon Lewis sets his supposal, with this lion’s sacrifice and resurrection the pivotal point in the novel upon which all other action relies. Davis considers how attempts to dramatize the novel have presented Aslan’s sacrifice in adaptations of the initial Chronicle of Narnia, considering the transformation of the text into audio drama and into both animated and live-action televised versions while also considering how it presents a story lasting as “eternal ages run”.

7. Sometimes A Film May Say Best What’s to be Said
By Greg Wright

Both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien voiced serious misgivings about the art of cinema. While Lewis speculated on the obsession with “sheer excitement” in film, and contrasted that with the “hushing spell of imagination” possible in literature, Tolkien went so far as to offer the opinion that the visual arts “outrun the mind,” even “overthrow it.” How, then, do we account for the current enthusiasm among fantasy fans for filmed versions of Middle-earth and Narnia? We might argue that today’s fanbase is woefully out of touch with the love of literature which inspired Tolkien and Lewis; but we might also argue that the Oxford dons were poorly suited to be critics of cinema. First, Tolkien and Lewis were both devoted to literature and steeped themselves in its history, its consumption and its production. Quite simply, they loved words. And while they both were inspired by visual art-Lewis finding most of his creative impetus in concrete visual imagery and Tolkien interpreting his own worlds through drawings and sketches-they could hardly have been described as lovers of film. According to Lewis’ own suggestions regarding criticism, then, the two were simultaneously eminently qualified as critics of literature and roundly disqualified as critics of the cinema. Second, the art of cinema could hardly have been described as mature in the 1930s. While the jury is still out on the ultimate role that film will play in our culture, there can be little doubt that Lewis and Tolkien would have a very different opinion of cinema in 2005 than they would have when their seminal fantasy works were initially published.

Part V: Lewis and Literature

8. Surprised, but Not by Joy: Political Comment in Out of the Silent Planet
By Karen Wright Hayes

George Orwell’s often-anthologized essay “Shooting an Elephant,” originally published in 1936, contains the line, “And my whole life, every white man’s life in the East, was one long struggle not to be laughed at.” Orwell experienced first hand the conflict of being a thinking human being acting as part of a colonial power, and made capital of it. C.S. Lewis published in 1938 the story of another attempted English colonization: Out of the Silent Planet. In chapters 19 and 20, Lewis offers a satirical comment on England’s interaction with “native” cultures, as Weston (”the great physicist”) attempts to communicate with — but more properly to intimidate—the creatures of Malacandra. Lewis’s hero Ransom looks on with minimal reaction but is eventually drawn in to translate for Weston and Oyarsa in a juxtaposition of ideas that rivals another Orwell classic — “Politics and the English Language”– for pointed comment on the relationship between power and words. Lewis, however, makes his anti-colonialist comment in fiction, a form which often slips past the “watchful dragons” of pro-British, pro-Western sentiment, resulting in the assumption by many that he was either a supporter of Empire or oblivious to its existence.

9. The Four Loves of Dorian Gray
By Ernelle Fife

Abstract: Although C. S. Lewis’s works of fiction, particularly his Chronicles of Narnia, are slowly finding a niche in academia, his works of literary criticism seem to be ignored, replaced by more theoretical stances. And his overtly Christian works rarely, if ever, are incorporated into literature courses. However, much can be gained by using Lewis’s non-fictional works as a lens to re-examine canonical texts. Fife proposes that using The Four Loves in teaching Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray highlights the underlying morality of the novel. In his The Four Loves, Lewis distinguishes between Need-Love and Gift-Love. Both he concedes are necessary for human existence. Lewis believes that all human love can be categorized as one of four types: affection, friendship, eros, charity. Any type can be a Need-love or a Gift-love, and any type can be corrupted if we attempt to make that love into a Gift-love with the beloved as the object. What is really interesting in Lewis’s argument is that it is not pride or self-love that is the corrupting factor. Self-centeredness or self-indulgence may prevent one from loving anyone at all, but only “[A] faithful and genuinely self-sacrificing passion will speak to us with what seems the voice of God”. Where the danger lies, and what I contend to be the moral of Oscar Wilde’s Picture of Dorian Gray, is when the object of a healthy and necessary Need-love is mistaken for or substituted for what should be the object of Gift-love, God. Wilde’s novel incorporates all four types of love, and each is present as both Need-love and Gift-love. The novel’s inner morality centers upon all the characters creating sinful loves by altering a perfectly healthy and morally sound Need-love into a Gift-love, and thus, destroying both the love and the beloved.

10. A Cat Sat On A Mat: C.S. Lewis In A World Without Wonder
By Rev. Daniel L. Scott, Jr. and Austin Cagle

C.S. Lewis makes it very clear where he believes the extreme democratization of education has led. In his satirical essay on education, “Screwtape Proposes a Toast,” he uses his unique genre of “diabolical ventriloquism” to explain the specific effects of democratic education that brought about the destruction of education in significant way in Great Britain and a catastrophic way in the United States. Lewis directly opposed this extreme democratization which was introduced to schools in the U.S. by the highly esteemed John Dewey. Dewey’s system is littered with problems. Not the least of which is the propensity of the system to encourage mediocrity and discourage the brighter students to assert themselves; that would be highly undemocratic. Lewis believes that education must base its philosophy on a few very key truths. First, man is created in the image of God. Belief in God permits the possibility of absolute truth and an absolute aesthetic. These are necessary for making any judgment of value in knowledge and beauty, which is the point of education. Second, God gives different abilities to different people. To require that all children be treated the same in school is as foolish as requiring all children to be treated the same in sports. Children have differing abilities naturally. It is necessary to separate the gifted and the hardworking from the average or lazy sportsmen. The professional leagues in the U.S. would have a hard time drawing spectators to the arena if they decided to make their recruiting, coaching, and drafting a more “democratic process.” Third, the beginning of and inspiration for education is wonder. Plato writes, “Philosophy begins in wonder.” And Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel furthers that to, “Wonder is the root of knowledge.” Lewis makes it clear that he values the reinstallation of wonder into people. His fantasy stories provide a means to the beginning of education. Lewis used his faith and his fantasy to combat the extreme democratization of education that is pushed with more vigor today than in his own lifetime. It’s time we listen.

Part VI: C.S. Lewis and Faith

11. C.S. Lewis on Vocation: The Integration of Faith and Occupation
By Devin Brown

As an Oxford don in his early thirties, a secular scholar well-established in what he thought was to be his life’s work, C.S. Lewis could not have known he was about to receive a call to a vocation he had never envisioned—to become the foremost Christian writer and thinker of his day. Brown looks at Lewis’s own vocation and at what he said about vocation in his apologetic and his imaginative works. An examination of the calling of C.S. Lewis can provide key insights into what true vocation is. Lewis never stopped teaching English literature at a prestigious university as his full-time job, never attended seminary, and never went into what some might call “full-time” Christian ministry. Instead he wrote Christian fiction that was marketed by commercial publishing companies, spoke about his faith on the BBC, and created philosophical and apologetic materials intended to be understood by everyone. In short, Lewis responded to his own personal calling by remaining right where he was in the secular world and by adding his unique voice, his own Christian witness, to the conversation in ways that particularly suited his abilities, his opportunities, and his inclinations. Relatively little attention has been given to Lewis’s views on vocation; paradoxically, he had a good deal to say on this topic. His observations hold special relevance for a professional and an academic audience because he was both himself.

12. “It All Began with a Picture”: The Poetic Preaching of C.S. Lewis
By Gregory M. Anderson

Great preaching is not normally considered great art. Yet, C.S. Lewis, a reluctant preacher, pushed preaching to the highest levels of artistic and aesthetic discourse. Lewis was known for his rational defense of the faith but also for his imaginative and creative works. In his preaching, the propositional and the pictorial dimensions of discourse came together. Few have communicated statement and story, proposition and picture, as well as Lewis. In addition, there was a strong ethical strain that enhanced the logical and emotional arguments. The logos, pathos, and ethos of his presentation reveal a master rhetorician at work. What has come to be called apologetics comes to us from rhetoric, long before it came to be viewed as philosophy or theology. Understanding the rhetoric of Lewis will help us understand his ability to communicate across cultures and intellectual fashions. Anderson rehearses Lewis’s views of rhetoric, particularly on the poetic vs. rhetoric debate. His perspective will be examined in the light of ancient rhetoric, as well as the later notions of Fenelon, and Kenneth Burke. Lewis’s theoretical insights are compared to his practice, using his “Weight of Glory” sermon as a case study. A close reading of the context and the text of his most famous sermon demonstrates how Lewis combined romantic, rational, and relational reasons to clinch his case for Christ.

Part VII: Related Authors

13. Storming the Gates of Barad-Dur: J.R.R. Tolkien, Christian Resistance, and the Imagination
By Harry L. Reeder, IV

One of the clearest refrains of contemporary academic criticism is heard in the word resistance. From confrontation to subversion, this word is one which occurs time and time again in the last thirty to forty years in the different theoretical approaches to texts. Whether it be in radical deconstruction, Marxism, or cultural criticism, resistance is in vogue. And yet, what is the Christian academic critique to do with these theories of resistance that are themselves so resistant to Christian ideology? What are the Christian intellectuals to do in an arena that is subversive to the very foundations of our faith? Retreating is not an option we are ideologically given. Nor can we simply advocate a return to the “glory years” of Enlightenment philosophy or medieval scholasticism. Resistance is a choice the Christian also has: resistance and subversion. I will define these terms more clearly later, but at the time I would like to say that we have, in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, an excellent example of Christian resistance, an excellent example of the Christian’s ability to reclaim truth from pagan world views. Tolkien’s religious resistance is not only seen in his fictional work; it begins in his critical work. Through an examination of Tolkien’s ideology as resistant in his Beowulf essay, “The Monsters and the Critics”, and then through a critical application of those principles to The Silmarillion, Reeder makes several invigorating conclusions about the Christian use of the imagination in our own postmodern context. Tolkien’s work, both fictional and critical, is invaluable in creating a literary ideology of Christian imaginative resistance that does not result in a simple metaphoric rendering of Christianity, but rather one that is insightful, intellectual, literate, and inclusive.

14. The Elfin Mystique: Fantasy and Feminism in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Series
By Kathryn N. McDaniel

Readers often criticize fantasy writers for the imperfections found in their fantasy worlds that seem to undermine their ideal, and idealistic, quality. C.S. Lewis and J.K. Rowling have both experienced criticism for pandering to gender stereotypes or reinforcing the subordinate position of women in society. Because Lewis emphasized faith and spiritual values found in worlds beyond our own, such a critique strikes less at the heart of his message than it does for Rowling, who has created an unabashed liberal fantasy world that exists, so it appears, in the here and now. Scholars and fans alike have wondered about Rowling’s feminist credentials: does she advocate liberty, equality, and dignity for all but women? The answer to this question can be found in an unusual place: through her depiction of the seemingly content, though terribly oppressed, domestic drudges that inhabit her magical world, the house-elves. The house-elves’ supposed happiness with their subordinated position also seems to create a fault-line in Rowling’s liberal fantasy: are they natural slaves who should not gain liberation? If we use second-wave feminism to understand the house-elves’ attitude, Rowling’s message is revealed as consistent, if more complex than her critics have acknowledged. Like mid-twentieth-century house-wives, the house-elves are bound by the invisible chains of culture and tradition to a role of domestic servitude. The conditions of this bondage, as feminists like Simone de Beauvoir and Betty Friedan explained in their pivotal works, offer security in place of freedom and make the oppressed complicit in their subjugation. Instead of the Feminine Mystique, the house-elves are bound by an “Elfin Mystique” that prevents most of them from embracing liberation. Demonstrating that emancipation is not always perceived as unequivocally good, even by those who would be freed, Rowling displays a subtle understanding of the problem of liberation that confirms her liberal (and feminist) message and keeps in tact the integrity of her magical world.

0 people like this post.

Like 

Comic-Con 2007, complete with all of the exclusive news and footage descriptions – the first look any audience has received from the next exciting chapter in the fantasy adventure series!

Richard Taylor, from Weta Workshop was the first to take the stage, carrying two swords (Glenstorm and Edmund swords) – the Centaur sword was nearly as tall as him!

He introduced the panel which included Mark Johnson (producer), Howard Berger (creature effects), Isis Mussenden (costume designer) and Dean Wright (visual FX supervisor). They all flew 24 hours from across the globe to be at Comic-Con to give an enthusiastic audience their first look at the action-packed film.

Andrew Adamson (director) was then introduced via satellite with a few minor technical difficulties. A gorgeous new conceptual look at King Miraz’s castle appeared in the background (the same image graced the Narnia goody bags that were seen throughout the con). Andrew amusingly passed the time by attempting to communicate by “signing” with the audience. Once his sound was corrected he greeted the fans and asked the panel of behind-the-scenes artists “What are you doing there? We need you for shooting!”

Currently on day 106 of shooting, he said he was glad that they were able to share a little more, a little earlier in the process than their last appearance at Comic-Con in 2005 for “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.”

He discussed the difficulty in adapting Caspian vs. the first film due to its non-linear, less cinematic structure of the story.  As an example, he said they’ve expanded upon Lewis’ text like “Caspian…made many sorties…” by embellishing the battles.

Andrew then announced that the audience would be seeing a pre-viz (an animated storyboard) of one of those expanded scenes – an exciting raid on Miraz’s castle.  The footage is described from memory, but here are some of the highlights…

The footage starts with a gryphon flying through the air, carrying what looked like Edmund in its talons.  The air is foggy, probably providing some much needed cover for this daring raid.  The camera swoops dramatically, following Edmund and the gryphon as they descend into the castle walls.

The shot widens to reveal more gryphons carrying what looked like Susan, Peter and others as well.  This was very cool and unique to see the characters working in tandem with the gryphons for an aerial invasion!  There is a quick cut to a battle line of Narnian creatures advancing slowly on the castle – perhaps the Pevensies must get in first to neutralize Telmarine guards and allow these troops to penetrate the castle from the ground?

The gryphon carrying Edmond noiselessly approaches upon a castle turret, with Edmond slicing a Telmarine guard in mid-air.  He the signals to the others using his flashlight!  Another gryphon with Susan in its grip flies into the courtyard, and Susan reaches into her quiver and in a spectacular mid-flight shot sends an arrow through another Telmarine guard.

Reepicheep and his band of courageous mice enter the courtyard through a gutter.

Reepicheep takes out a Telmarine guard.

At this point, the mission is still being undertaken stealthily.  The Pevensies and their cohorts have yet to alert the larger Telmarine forces to their presence.

The sequence ended with much applause from the audience.  Even in its rough, conceptual form this promises to be a suspenseful and spectacular action set piece, very creative in its execution.

Andrew then took the opportunity to discuss the story and how the film is shaping up in comparison to “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.”  He said that King Miraz and the Telmarines have taken over Narnia, and the Pevensies return to a much more savage place then what they remembered.  The film promises to be bigger, grittier and more epic in its scope than the first film.  This was reflected in the footage glimpsed from the next video – the tone is definitely darker and moodier than the first film.  It really feels dangerous – like the stakes have been raised significantly for our heroes.

The next piece of footage was a behind the scenes look at the filming of “Prince Caspian,” and it included the very first looks at characters in costume and finished scenes from the movie!

It starts with behind the scenes footage of various craftsmen (Richard Taylor wielding an axe in his workshop) and a room filled with conceptual drawings of Dwarfs.

Andrew Adamson narrates the footage.  Here are some of the nuggets he offered, along with descriptions of the shots in the film – like the pre-viz they came fast and furious, so here’s the best guess of everything we saw.

• “Prince Caspian” brings the four Pevensies back to the world of Narnia.  Thirteen hundred years have passed and the world they knew no longer exists.
• Footage – Pevensies on the beach in their school uniforms.
• Footage – Overhead view of the Cair Paravel ruins.
• Footage – Peter sword fighting in a courtyard at night.
• The character of Caspian features into the next three stories.
• Concept art – Trufflehunter
• Concept art – Reepicheep (this garnered some hearty applause from the audience)
• In “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” the action was a button on the end of the film where in “Prince Caspian” the action is more inherent to the story.  There are battles throughout the film.
• Footage – The Pevensies with Trumpkin (he looks perfect!) in a boat.  Looked like they were traveling up river.
• Footage – Overview shot of a big skirmish in the Castle courtyard (very dark tone)
• Footage – Though his back is to the camera, it looks like Peter is fighting Miraz.  Miraz is decked out in spectacular bronzed armor with an intimidating battle face plate.
• Andrew said he always wanted the battle to include different fighting styles for the various creatures.  In “Caspian” we’re now able to see how fauns fight differently from minotaurs, and centaurs and gryphons…
• Pre-Viz Footage – a faun running along a balcony ledge, jumping from the railing to the wall and slashing through soldiers in mid-air.  This gave an example of what Andrew is looking to do with various fighting styles – it was fluid, fierce and acrobatic.  Very cool stuff!!
• Pre-Viz Footage – gryphons lift up Dwarfs (as though they were arming themselves with weapons!) and dive vertically down the face of a cliff.
• Footage – Pevensies climbing down a deep gorge.
• Footage – Susan fights a Telmarine with one arm, while hooking another soldier around the neck with her bow.  It appears she’s become a much more accomplished warrior!
• Footage – medium shot of Miraz in full bronze battle armor.  Looks awesome!!
• Footage – Peter does an impressive running horse mount,
• Footage – a column of charging Telmarines on horseback.
• Footage – a beautiful wide shot of soldiers running towards the Bridge of Beruna.
• Footage – a quick shot of an enraged Miraz without his helmet/face plate, revealing our first look at Sergio Castellitto in character.
• Footage – Peter Dinklage as Trumpkin in shackles.
• Footage – Peter fighting a creature (a hag?)
• Footage – final shot of the Pevensies in Aslan’s How, standing solemnly before the stone table.

After the footage came the big surprise of the panel – our first introduction to Caspian himself, Ben Barnes!  The satellite camera pulled back to reveal Ben Barnes, who looked overjoyed (despite the fact that it was the middle of the night for Andrew and Ben!) to be a part of this special unveiling for the fans.

Richard Taylor then led a Q&A.  Here are some additional bits of news and information revealed from the panel discussion.

• Dean Wright – biggest challenge is creating a performance that is emotional.  He’s currently working on the gryphons for the castle raid.
• Ben Barnes – finds it challenging interacting with Reepicheep.
• Mark Johnson – as long as the fans keep embracing the films, the plan is to make all seven.  They finish “Caspian” in three weeks and start shooting “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” at the end of January/beginning of February.
• Andrew Adamson – said he couldn’t imagine not being involved in the remaining films, though this is his last turn at the director’s chair.
• Andrew Adamson – in response to a question about whether there will be a consistent look and feel throughout the films, Andrew said that they will maintain continuity by looking to the books, but bearing in mind that each of the books are completely different stories.
• Howard Berger – very excited about taking the design of two species further in particular – the Dwarfs and the Satyrs (where he was able to break the human form).
• Andrew Adamson – told a story about shooting a scene with Anna and Will where Aslan tells their characters that they won’t come back to Narnia.  This was a very emotional sequence since it reflected the fact this is the last time Anna and Will be a part of the films.
• Isis Mussenden – everyone on set has formed a strong family bond especially Georgie, Skandar, Anna and Will who are brothers and sisters now.
• Dean Wright – there are two huge epic battles that he’s working on, including the castle raid, new creatures (which he couldn’t reveal), and a river god who comes to life and helps turn the table on the Telmarines.
• Richard Taylor – took his family to Prague and his son met Ben Barnes as Prince Caspian in full costume.  Ben treated his son as though he were in the presence of royalty, creating a fun and wonderful illusion for him.
• Mark Johnson – it was easy to get everyone back who worked on the first film because of the great atmosphere and camaraderie.  The big challenge has been that each Narnia story is vastly different from the preceding and following stories.  He said that “Caspian” is darker and contains more action but is still connected thematically and though it is very much its own film, it is still very much a part “of the quilt that C.S. Lewis wove so beautifully.”
• Howard Berger – brought the head of a Satyr (named Tyrus).  It looked much different than the satyrs of the first film.  The horns were curvier, the face looked more animalistic and it had an “old-soul” feel to it.  He did a servo demonstration, showing the remote-controlled movement of the eyebrows and mouth.  Howard also mentioned that his experience this time was even more enriching because he was able to create more detail and variation within each specie.  The creatures in the first film were designed with the age of 30 in mind, but for “Caspian” there will be ranges and different degrees in age, gender, body size, etc.
• Isis Mussenden & Richard Taylor – the scope is 4 times the size of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.”  300,000 pieces of armor were created.

At this point in the presentation a Telmarine soldier took the stage in full battle armor.  Isis and Richard went on to explain the look of the Telmarine.  The Telmarines descended from pirates and their look was meant to reflect a barbaric race, with Mediterranean, Tibetan, first century Spanish and fourth century Greek influences.

Richard said that they built over two and a half thousand swords, but that the most beautiful piece that he constructed was Miraz’s armor.  The rich bronze armor incorporates the different cultural influences mentioned above, and it is also emblazoned with pictographs of Telmarine history.

Howard Berger ended the panel with a special treat for a select few fans – he tossed two types of crew t-shirts into the crowd.  One had a low-tech hand-drawn stick figure of Prince Caspian, while the other had a photo of a 70s style centaur – very funny stuff!

That’s it!  The presentation revealed a lot of cool information, and definitely served to wet the appetite for more – a delicious hors d’oeuvre to hold us over for the main course next May!!

0 people like this post.

Like 

Ben Barnes Narnia Blog:

Barnes: Hi, I’m Ben Barnes and I am Prince Caspian and welcome to Narnia.com. I was a massive Narnia fan as a kid. I found my old copy of Prince Caspian when I auditioned for the movie and to find out that I was actually going to be in it was a dream come true. As far as playing the title role, you have to play every moment as truth and hope that those moments translate into something that the audience can really become involved in and really get behind Caspian. I think Andrew’s imagination is just entirely limitless. And whatever your ideas about a particular moment of a scene in general, his will top it. I think Prince Caspian is going to be huge. It’s going to be really epic.

Thanks to AnvardArises and Trevor for the Blog update and Pictures.

0 people like this post.

Like 

Our friends at ComingSoon.net had the chance to interview costume designer Isis Mussenden after the Prince Caspian Comic-Con presentation. They recently put it up on their site with an MP3, but they gave us permission to post a transcript of the interview as well. Listen to the MP3 at ComingSoon.net

CS: We’ll ask you the same question, following with Narnia, the first one, what was your task to make it bigger or better or darker or grittier?

Isis Mussenden: Well the script has already done the task for me, because it was bigger, darker, and yeah, it was just so much more massive to start with, the script. So we already had our work cut out for us right from the beginning. Now, to make it better is always our goal, you know, from movie to movie whether it’s a sequence of movies that you always, you know like this, a franchise or not, you always try to take those lessons and make them better and better.

CS: How do you and Howard work closely together as he’s designing the creatures?

Isis Mussenden: Yes we do, but normally, Howard and I have a lot more connection than we did on this one. On this one because we decided very early on that the creatures would have no clothing on. And we didn’t really have any clothing on them in the first one, but we did have bits of fabric, like Mr. Tumnus’ scarf and all that, but we really wanted them to feel like they were renegade, they were down to the bare, they were out hiding in the forest. So in taking that, Andrew and I worked on the concept that what would they have on? What kind of armor? And when we started to break down the armor they had from before, so that we kept the motifs and we kept the armor bits and pieces, what we were going to do was erode it and change it and we were going to see what people do when they have nothing else, no other resources, but what you had before. And then transform it so that they had some kind of protection and some kind of armor.

Now with the dwarfs we worked extremely closely because obviously dwarfs are human form. So Nikabrik and Trumpkin, Howard and his team really designed amazing makeup for them, and he was right, we have two actors this time and that makes a huge difference, and they look fantastic. It’s a red dwarf and a black dwarf, but they’re both on the good side this time, so we worked very closely together on the design for the dwarfs.

CS: Is there something, like one of the show pieces that you’re most excited about?

Isis Mussenden: You know it’s very interesting because I’ve been asked this question because on the first one, Tilda was like the big thing, you know with the witch, you know, she was kind of the show piece, and so I don’t really have a show piece this time, but there’s two things I’m really proud of this time and one is the Telmarine army, because I’ve never done an army before. And let me tell you, it’s a task. We manufactured every single thing they wear, from their shoes to the armor. We had four armorists in Prague working the leatherwork. Thousands and thousands actually almost up to a million studs were put onto the brigandines, but it was a real task. We built a 330 strong army and that doesn’t even sound like that much, but I have to tell you that is a lot of pieces, it was over 3000 pieces.

CS: Yeah, that sounds like a lot.

Isis Mussenden: It was massive, and there were days I felt like on this big whirlwind for months and months, just going, just keeping alive, just keeping ahead of it, and then translating all my armorists who spoke Czech only. Not one of them spoke English, so aimless hours of translation and trying to get this across, and just working hard to get it exactly the way we wanted. And then to age it all, age every single piece so they look like they’d been in a hundred battles.

CS: How did you do that?

Isis Mussenden: With a team of about 15 people working four and a half months aging. As the things were made, they would come in and they would age it and they would age it by rusting it and painting in like sun… There’s a cross belt that holds the sword and we did a whole sun, like the sun had been on and so the cross belt was dark, and it was aged out, you know, bleached out on the side and it was just an enormous undertaking. But I love it, I love the way it looks. We have three different types of armor that we had to make. We made metal, very light-weight metal armor. I’m talking about the helmets and the masks and the gauntlets and the grieves and the corselets. And then we had to do stunts’ armor which is flexible, so it had to look the same, but it’s made out of a plasticine. But these armorist and sculptors that helped me work on this stuff in Prague, they have such antiquity there, they’re used to making things look really old because of course the city is 1100 years old or something. So these guys came in and they could patina, just to match just exactly the way the armor looked. You can’t tell the difference between the plastic stuff and the metal, it’s pretty phenomenal. So we’re very proud of that and I think that it’s a unique look. It’s a look that doesn’t exist anywhere in history but it’s all taken from historic bits and pieces that I worked on with the Metropolitan Museum. I worked with that in New York, with the curator from there. We worked with lots of research on the bits and pieces and then we made it our own.

CS: You know, when an audience sees the film like Narnia, do you think they realize how much work and how much effort and energy goes into everything?

Isis Mussenden: Absolutely not. Absolutely not, you can’t possibly… People come to my work, and I have a 10,000 square foot work space, where we have dyers, agers, screen printers, every pair of pants was screened. We have this laugh because there this certain person we know that always talks statistics and we kind of think it’s hilarious and so that’s why we went and counted everything. And last we my team goes “We’re gonna get you the numbers this time.” And they don’t even understand that for the four kids, just for their four outfits, which everything is hand made, we make seven of each of them.

CS: Each individual outfit?

Isis Mussenden: Each individual outfit, every single piece.

CS: Why seven?

Isis Mussenden: Well we have a stunt rider and a stunt coordinator, and wear and tear, and growth for the two younger ones who are still growing. We just finished two last pieces for Edmund and Lucy because they’ve already grown. Georgie’s grown four inches since we started.

CS: What can you tell us about their pieces, what’s your favorite among those?

Isis Mussenden: I love the girls’ Narnia pieces; the first pieces they wear are really quite beautiful. We’ve built in Susan’s daffodil motif that she’s always had, right into her dress this time just layered on, and it’s based on this beautiful fashion piece that’s out of this exhibition in Tokyo. I love combining that whole medieval look with whatever I want. I mean, I have the best job in the world, I just get to make it up. Nobody can say ‘oh that’s not the right period.’ It’s Narnia, it doesn’t matter. [laughs]

CS: Do you start to a concept for some of the wardrobe when you read the script or when you read the book? Do you start to think about it then or do you wait to work with the director?

Isis Mussenden: No, I definitely start by reading the script or the book. I felt that the Prince Caspian book was quite uninspiring for me so unfortunately, as opposed to the first one which I used as a Bible. On this one it was very uninspiring, so the script was so much better. It’s very interesting, it really moves and it’s a lot of fun. And then from there, I start with pallet, and that was one of the big things for the Telmarine civilian wear, and all the Telmarines I needed to come up with a pallet. We’ve traveled all over Europe researching, I’ve gotten the paintings of El Greco are where I took the pallet for the Telmarines because they were brutal and they were beautiful and they were acidic and they were harsh. And so using those paintings, literally, that’s where I pull all the colors from, for all the clothing for all the Telmarines. And eventually it’ll show. On an individual, will people know that? No. But it will read on a full at the end the day. So I just start with pallet and then I just do endless research from anywhere; from fine art, from magazines, from sculpture, from nature pictures. I was just at the zoo last week collecting things thinking about Dawn Treader and you know, taking pictures of these amazing stripes on these animals or these incredible birds. I mean nature is beyond inspiring because of the colors and the textile design. And I work a lot in textile design, I have a fabulous textile artist, Sarah Shepherd, who’s out of New Zealand, who did the first movie and has done this one with me, and she’s incredibly talented and we’re always working off making… like any… We don’t buy fabrics with patterns; we make the patterns on the fabric. We will design them, we will screen them, and then we will screen the entire piece of fabric and then make the costume. In our Prague experience we’ve had two really great things. One was the armorists, as I said before, but the second thing was we found these incredible embroiderers. And so we have some beautiful embroidery work and motif work on these; in the girls’ costumes definitely, and a lot of the Telmar stuff. Everything was touched and you know, I have a great team.

CS: Will you be working on the third film?

Isis Mussenden: Hopefully. We’re in negotiations; I think we’ll be doing it. It’s just another year of my life. [laughs] It’s so hard, but it’s so fantastic though. We don’t know where we’re going to do it is the problem. And I have a seven year old, and I’ve got to get him in school. But he’s lived an amazing life already; a year in New Zealand and a year in Europe. It’s pretty incredible.

CS: I’ve always wondered, in a movie like this, what happens to all these pieces?

Isis Mussenden: You know what we do? Disney holds them for exhibition. The first one we did a lot of exhibition they had Disney World, and it was Christmas time and they did the malls, this whole series of malls, and they did this whole Narnia/Santa Claus picture thing. And so they do hold them for exhibition. We didn’t have that much stuff on the first one, there just really wasn’t as much as you’d think. On this one we have a whole army along with all the other stuff, so we’ll hold stuff for exhibitions, plus Dawn Treader takes place not long after. So I would probably use some of the stuff for that, like I said, extras 1000 strong so I can definitely use some of that stuff.

CS: Oh, that’s good.

Isis Mussenden: Yeah, wouldn’t you think? [laughs] Dawn Treader’s a lot smaller than this one. Not in the scope, but at least in the costumes.

CS: Thank you so much!

0 people like this post.

Like 

Our friends at ComingSoon.net had the chance to interview Narnia producer Mark Johnson after the Prince Caspian Comic-Con presentation. They recently put it up on their site with an MP3, but they gave us permission to post a transcript of the interview as well. Listen to the MP3 at ComingSoon.net

CS: Howard, what did you do in this that will compare with James’ character?

Howard Berger: Oh yes, Mr. McAvoy, the great Jimmy Mac. Actually, it’s one of the first characters that we did on this show, which was Trumpkin the Dwarf, who is played by Peter Dinklage. And to me he’s our Tumnus. There’s just something about Peter Dinklage. I say he has dreamy eyes, and he does; they’re very expressive. And he is the James McAvoy of this film, I feel. He’s like the heart, you know. And we were able to redevelop the dwarfs for this film. On the first film I just wasn’t really happy with what we ended up with, and same with the performers – they were just little people that we had pulled from Thailand, and India, and they weren’t actors, they were just little. And this time, we really talked about it with Andrew, and said we really should cast dwarf actors. Peter Dinklage, who’s probably the best there is – and then we got Warwick [Davis] to play Nikabrik, so we really got to develop some beautiful makeups. Tami Lane, who co-won the Oscar with me, does Peter Dinklage’s makeup, and then Sara Rubano handles Nikabrik – Warwick’s makeup. They’re just really beautiful makeups.

It’s interesting – you look at Peter Dinklage, and it looks minimal, but he’s got a full gelatin nose on, and these big ears and all hair where we shaved Peter’s head entirely, which was great. And then Warwick has a really big, big makeup: a full gelatin face makeup and ears and a lot of hair work. It’s just really nice to be able to revisit characters like that, especially ones that I just felt were not so great in the first film and now they’re really outstanding. I think those two characters are really the heart and soul of this film.

CS: How difficult was the casting process for finding the dwarfs?

Howard Berger: I think it was relatively difficult. Andrew really didn’t have a lot of choice.

CS: I was just going to say, I can’t imagine that there was a lot.

Howard Berger: Yeah, there’s not.

Dean Wright: That are high quality actors.

Howard Berger: High quality, exactly. At first they thought, well, we can go to theatre, and see who we can find. But Peter Dinklage was always the first idea. And we were designing – prior to Peter getting cast – around Peter’s looks. And then it just worked out perfectly. Hoping and praying … they had Peter, then they didn’t, then they did, then they didn’t. Then they finally got him at the eleventh hour.

CS: Oh, why?

Dean Wright: Deal-making. I mean we were going back and forth … are we going to end up going the “hobbit route”, and casting a full-size actor, doing the makeup and then having to scale them down? We didn’t want to do that because this movie is going to be big enough as it is with visual effects. If Howard can do it, it’s great.

Howard Berger: And there’s so much interaction between the kids and Trumpkin; I mean, he’s in so many scenes. But Peter just brings so much to the table. And it’s cool for Peter too. The thing is, on the first film, Tami and myself and my crew became so close with James, and on this one it’s the same thing. We’ve really become so close. I mean, they spend practically the entire day with us. We start at three in the morning and then they go home when we go home.

Dean Wright: Peter’s great too – he’s very funny.

CS: Caspian is set 100 years or 80 years later…

Dean Wright: It’s actually 1300 years.

CS: Oh, 1300. So that obviously has a whole different look and feel…

Dean Wright: It’s dramatically different, actually. It’s much more wild, and I think the whole theme of this film has a much grittier tone to it, and it’s reflected in both the production design, and the character design, and ultimately it will impact all the visual effects. Basically the kids went back to London, they’ve been there for a year, and as they get sucked back to Narnia this time, they’re expecting to find the same place that they left. Cair Paravel – they stumble upon it (the ruins of it) and it’s been destroyed in a battle. Plants and vines have overgrown it all, and it’s like, what happened, what went wrong? It’s through the course of the story that they find out after they left, the Telmarines came in and wiped out all the Narnians, and they feel very responsible for that, even though it wasn’t by their choice. They have to then help Prince Caspian and the remaining ragtag-bag of Narnian refugees (slash underground resistance movement) to help take back Narnia for the creatures, and bring peace to the land.

CS: So it’s less of a fantasy world, and more of a medieval kind of…

Dean Wright: Yeah, it is. And in the way of castles and all that, they definitely looked to a sort of Spanish influence, and Isis (the costume designer) looked at it greatly for all the costume and armour. And I know in terms of the characters too, Howard spent a lot of time with his gang, and his partner Greg Nicotero spent a lot of time designing the characters and giving a lot more variance to the types of characters, making them different ages. For us it makes a lot more work because we have to then replicate that times fifty, which means we have to keep creating more and more different types to make it all look correct.

CS: Particularly because of the spiritual overtones that were emphasized in the first film – how much does that, if at all, impact the practical design of characters or the work that you do? Or is it a matter of literally creating a character?

Howard Berger: When we designed some of the Narnians – I haven’t taken any of that into consideration really…

Dean Wright: I think it’s all about the book, right?

Howard Berger: Yeah, it is, and that book is what the source material is. And on the first film it was the source material, and trying to come up with things that Andrew imagined them to be when he was a child – that was really it. This is kind of the same way. Andrew’s a great, great source of inspiration and information and direction.

Dean Wright: But he does let you go off and he’ll give you a chance to go create something different…

Howard Berger: He’s not controlling. He’s a perfect director, to tell you the truth, just because he trusts. And once he trusts you – because on the first film we didn’t know each other, and there was a certain amount of holding the reins; of course you should – on this one he’s let the reins go a little bit more, and that’s where we came up with the dwarfs and the satyrs and all that stuff, and we revisited everything.

Dean Wright: I really like the design you’re doing on the satyrs, too. On the last film it became a budgetary issue in that Andrew had wanted the satyrs to be fully CG in the first film, and several weeks before we started shooting, all of a sudden we’re like – we can’t afford that, we can’t do that, and … Howard, design something!

Howard Berger: So we banged out a bunch of satyrs. But they were makeups, and we just never had enough time to really think it out, you know, and this time we did, and came up with some pretty nice conceptual artwork. I think once it’s all together, it’s going to look really fantastic.

Dean Wright: And the goal is to have the creatures that are humanoid look like humanoid, and the ones that aren’t, not. And whether it’s a werewolf or a satyr, they shouldn’t look like a human, and so Howard’s done an amazing job for the upper half, and then we have to put the bottom half there!

Howard Berger: And that’s what’s so cool! When I saw The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe for the first time – which is when we saw it at the Director’s Guild – when I saw Mr. Tumnus for the very first time with legs, I took this big, deep gasp, because it was so awesome to finally see him done – I’d been so used to seeing James walk around in green pants for months and months and I just let out this big sigh. And I remember one of my kids elbowed me, like, “Dad, shhhh!” But it was so awesome, and it just pulled me into it, and this is going to be the same thing. And as we see footage – because Andrew likes to cut things and show the crew just to get them really enthusiastic – we’ve seen stuff, it’s pretty spectacular, and it’s just really, really exciting.

Dean Wright: And he’s definitely upped the bar for all of us, for visual effects. We’re starting out thinking we have 1500 shots. The last film we started at 800 and it grew tremendously. This one we’re starting at 1500, so I don’t know where we’re going to end up. The time is not as long. We’re still shooting, and we have to deliver the film in April for a May release. And we’ve got at least two and three units shooting simultaneously right now, and now we’ve got a miniature unit starting next week, and that’s being done down in New Zealand. So we’ll have crews shooting all over the Czech Republic, another team working basically the opposite ends of the clock … so we’re working 24 hours a day really, so I’ve got to be monitoring that stuff as well as the stuff that we’re shooting. And then before you know it, we’ll have hundreds of shots in the works.

We’ve already started to turn stuff over to the facilities. We’re using a whole new group of companies. We’re based in London this time, because they wanted the film to be considered a British film, so we’ve booked the work at some of the best companies in London, and also we’re working with WETA Digital this time. So between the demands of creating a whole new set of creatures that we have to bring to life, that Howard’s helped us with in terms of creating some looks, and we’ve gone to the companies – like Reepicheep, the mice, and Trufflehunter who’s the badger. There are new beavers and wolves and all that for this film.

And then we’ve got much more environment work. We’ve got this castle. It’s a huge set that we built, an enormous set in Prague, the back lot of Barrandov Studios, but still it’s just the courtyard. And then we’ve got towers, and towers, and towers that go all around it and we’re about to start shooting in a few weeks – I don’t know if you saw the little clip we did, but in this castle raid, gryphons are back, and this time they help carry the kids into battle, and so they swoop in and fly in and around the castle. And so we’ve got sets that’ll just be like one tower, or a couple of towers, or just the back lot set itself, and we’ve got to expand and make it bigger and bigger and make it feel just as real. And so that’s why we’ve gone to the gang at Weta, and Alex Funke and his miniature team that did all the work on Lord of the Rings, because they did just fantastic miniature work and they’re going to help bring it to life.

Howard Berger: And regarding all of that, there’s a lot of miniature work that’s being done for this one, way more than the first one.

Dean Wright: We only did a little bit of the river crossing stuff, some of the extensions and the big cracking stuff, but this there’s hundreds and hundreds of shots of the castle. And then when you get to the battle, it’s again a big effort. It’s probably going to be, at the end of the day, probably 1600 to 1800 shots in the mail. It may hit 2000, but the studio won’t want that! (Don’t tell them I said that! [laughter]) These are all complex shots. We’ve got shots where we’ve got Isis’s army that she’s wardrobed – but there’s 200 of them, we’ve got to be 5000 or 8000 or whatever. We’ve got Howard’s 100 plus creatures which take eight hours to get ready – six hours between the time they go through you, and wardrobe, and everything. And then we shoot with them for another eight hours, so they have sixteen hour days a lot of times.

Howard Berger: I was looking at stuff from the night raid and I just remember seeing all the creatures running with their green legs and I just went, oh man, Dean’s going to have to animate all those legs. That’s hundreds of legs.

Dean Wright: Fortunately I have about 1000 of my closest friends that are going to help. [laughs]

Howard Berger: That’s right, sitting there at home. Your kids are doing it too. They’re like… [mechanical noises].

Dean Wright: Exactly. In fact my kids are going to learn to rotoscope.

Howard Berger: They should. Every child should know how to rotoscope!

0 people like this post.

Like 

Our friends at ComingSoon.net had the chance to interview Narnia producer Mark Johnson after the Prince Caspian Comic-Con presentation. They recently put it up on their site with an MP3, but they gave us permission to post a transcript of the interview as well. Listen to the MP3 at ComingSoon.net

CS: Making a follow-up of Narnia, you obviously have the books to work with, but also there are heightened expectations now that the first film was such a success. What do you do to meet those expectations? Follow up by making it bigger, better, or different, or do you have more money?

Mark Johnson: The assumption is that you’ve got to be bigger; you know, the first one was really successful and I just heard myself in this film piece we did, say, “Oh, it’s got to be bigger and better than the last one.” It’s got to be as good, certainly; you don’t want to make a movie that’s not as satisfying, but I think “bigger” is probably wrong. I don’t know if an audience expects the effects to be, you know, more of them or more complicated. But it’s like anything else, you still have to make a good movie. And so people have said, “Were you intimidated about the fact that you got to make another one after the first one worked so well?” What I’m intimidated by is with every movie you’ve just got to make a good movie with compelling characters, and the spectre of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe wasn’t really so much over my shoulder. It’s great we’re a piece of that and you want to make sure that some of the information feeds from that, so that people who enjoyed that movie can enjoy this in a different way. At the same time, you have to assume your audience has never seen that movie and this movie’s got to work completely on its own.

CS: Also, the first film had a certain tone to it, and this movie (because of the book) is going to be darker and grittier, and not maybe as fantastical?

Mark Johnson: I think that’s true. This is a little bit darker. It’s a little bit more adult – it involves some tricky stuff; some things that Caspian discovers about himself and about his uncle, and so it is by definition a little bit darker. And then I think Andrew wanted to test himself. I think that he did a somewhat traditional telling of the last one and I think he wanted to explore a little bit more, and so he used the fact that it was a little darker as a jumping off place.

CS: What are you most excited about for the fans?

Mark Johnson: I think this is really satisfying as a sort of an old … in the Romantic sense – and I don’t mean in “romance” – but just movie-going. It’s just really cool. There’s a lot of action. It has lots of thrills to it. I think the last one was really charming, and sort of magical, and I think this one is a little bit more in your face. We’re still telling a Narnia story so it’s not like we’re doing something more adult just to be adult, but I think the trick is embracing this book and still making it a part of not just the Chronicles, but the mythology of Narnia, and respecting all of that – because it’s all interconnected, and all of the characters have precedence in the other books.

CS: What do you mean by “more in your face”?

Mark Johnson: It’s more action, it’s more immediate. It’s less lyrical. So it’s just more … “This is what’s happened – I’ve got to do something about this – how do we do it – I didn’t do it right – how do we straighten it?” I think that in this one, the characters have crises and conflicts. In the last one it sort of evolved itself into what they had to do. This one is where they really end up questioning themselves.

CS: How challenging was it to bring in all the new characters?

Mark Johnson: Well, we have a new set. You know, we haven’t even seen the character who’s probably going to be the most memorable, who is Reepicheep, who’s this two foot tall mouse. We don’t even know who is doing his voice yet. But it’s a great character. And the challenge is… Reepicheep is a very honorable character who is offended when anybody says “Oh what a dear little creature” because as far as he’s concerned he’s six feet tall and as noble and as sort of heroic as anyone else. So I think you’ve got to be careful that you don’t play him, the character, for laughs, but that what he ends up doing is very funny.

CS: Isis [Mussenden] had mentioned that she felt that the script was more inspiring than the book – it sounded like maybe it was a little more fast-paced. Did you feel the same way, that there were some differences there?

Mark Johnson: Yeah, I do, I think the book was hard to do. A third of the book takes place in flashbacks and we just realized that couldn’t happen in the movie, so we restructured it. Not that I want to say we improved upon it – we didn’t – but for a movie I think it’s slightly different. I think I’m going to find the movie a little bit more satisfying than the book. And you know, obviously there are seven books – you can’t like them all the exact same amount and some are better than others.

CS: Do you think fans of the book are going to be happy with the movie?

Mark Johnson: I think so, because it’s not like we’ve done a terrible injustice to it. With “Lion, the Witch” we didn’t tamper with it that much. But the whole frozen waterfall sequence doesn’t exist in the book. It’s so funny because we had people coming up to us and saying, “Oh, thank God you kept that in there” – you know it wasn’t there [laughter]. I’ve done a number of movies based on books and some of them we made big changes. I did this movie called The Notebook, and we changed it a lot. My Dog Skip and even The Natural, we were criticized for changing the ending. I don’t think any of them were as faithful to the source material as “Lion, the Witch”, and same thing with “Caspian.”

CS: Since this is a series, do you guys find yourselves looking ahead all the time – and I’m assuming that they did that with the Harry Potter series. Are you guys always like, “Okay, what about the kids?”

Mark Johnson: Well here’s the crazy thing. I’ve been on the set of Caspian and we’ve shot for 105, 106 days – I’ve maybe missed 15 – but I just missed some because I went to Malta and Spain to scout locations with Michael Apted for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, so I’m a little schizophrenic right now. It’s like, which characters? And I’m talking to William Moseley and Anna Popplewell who play Peter and Susan, and they’re not in the next one. And so I’m starting to talk to them about it and say, “Oh that’s right, you’re not there”. It’s almost like I’m teasing them: “Oh, and you don’t get to be in it”. Yeah, you’re aware of it and there are certain things that you want to do … I was desperate because I so loved Mr. Tumnus in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Andrew and I talked about it. Was there any way in the world to put him in Prince Caspian? And you can’t! It’s 1300 years later in Narnia and there’s no way to say, “Oh, he’s still alive”. So then we thought, could his great great great grandson …? And no! Not really, and so in that sense you’re aware of the whole fabric of the seven books.

CS: So how do you feel about Michael Apted directing the third film?

Mark Johnson: Oh, I’m really excited about him. I’ve been a fan of his for a while. And I think if you look at his strengths, they’re very different from Andrew’s strengths, and I think that’ll work for it. I think one of the best things that happened to the Harry Potter movies is they switched directors. Alfonso Cuaron and Mike Newells were very different, and each one in its way was even better. And it’s not even so much a quality – I guess there’s a quality of things – but I just think they got better, they benefited from it.

CS: When a director comes in knowing they’re only going to do one of the series, do they ever work together to “pass the torch”?

Mark Johnson: Well I think Andrew and Michael Apted are working really well together. I think Andrew is relieved … it’s so funny, he just read the first draft of the script (because he co-wrote the first two) and he said, “Oh, I was so depressed because there’s so much work to do,” and then he said, “And then I realized – oh, that’s right, I’m not writing it, I don’t have to worry!” So he can just give notes and walk away; he doesn’t have to worry about the solutions.

CS: So is Michael Apted helping with the writing?

Mark Johnson: No, he’s not writing. But Chris Markus and Stephen McFeely who wrote with Andrew on the first two are writing this one, without Andrew.

CS: And you are looking ahead at seven films?

Mark Johnson: As long as the audience still loves them. You know, listen – this next one is the second, and in many ways from a commercial standpoint it’s the more important of the two, because this one will say, “Is the franchise is alive and well?” If the audience doesn’t like this one then we may be in trouble doing all of them. That’s why the intention is to do all seven of them – whether or not we do will depend on the audience.

CS: It’s different in that it’s not like a Harry Potter kind of thing where each book is another year and you’re following the same characters in the same situations – this is like jumping centuries, millennia, different characters…

Mark Johnson: And at some point we’ll do The Magician’s Nephew, and the kids aren’t even in it, and there are a couple of shared characters but not many. And The Horse and His Boy is altogether different.

CS: It makes it a very problematical kind of franchise, because the only thing linking it, really, is the universe.

Mark Johnson: Right. The only character who is in all seven – and I may be wrong, but I think I’m right about it – is Aslan. And in The Magician’s Nephew, Aslan sings Narnia into life, and the uncle who is in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, whose house they go to stay at, is the young boy in that one, and they’re all tied together. The wardrobe is made from wood that was brought back from The Magician’s Nephew.

CS: How many times have you read the series?

Mark Johnson: Not as many as I should have. Seriously! And somebody asked me the other day, “Which characters are in The Silver Chair?” And I stumbled a little bit because I’d forgotten. So it’s not like I’m a fanatic. I talk to people all the time who tell me that the series changed their lives – but that wasn’t the case; I mean I loved the books, but there are a bunch of other books I loved at the same time too.

CS: How hard is it for you that you’re working on the second film, but you’re already kind of working on the third one as well?

Mark Johnson: It’s difficult. Between The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian I did three other movies, and one of them’s a movie that opens next month called The Hunting Party, with Richard Gere and Terrence Howard and Jesse Eisenberg. So it’s really good to get away and exercise muscles you’d forgotten you have.

0 people like this post.

Like 

ComingSoon.net got a chance to talk to The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian producer Mark Johnson, creature supervisor Howard Berger, visual effects supervisor Dean Wright and costume designer Isis Mussenden at the San Diego Comic-Con this weekend and you can listen to the audio interviews by going to ComingSoon.net via the links below!

Producer Mark Johnson

Creature Supervisor Howard Berger/Visual Effects Supervisor Dean Wright

Costume Designer Isis Mussenden

0 people like this post.

Like 

News has just come out of Comic-Con 2007 that all seven of the Chronicles of Narnia will be filmed. They also added that from Prince Caspian onward, all of the films will be released in May of the following year.

This is very exciting news, and I’m probably the most excited I’ve been, as I now know that I’ll be seeing The Last Battle on the big screen. It’s my personal favorite of the series, and if they get it right, it’s going to be visual effects intensive (not that the rest of the films are not, it’s just got some elements that will need to be poured over to appear completely realistic).

They did not, however, announce the order of release for the films. Currently, they’ve been releasing the films in the original order of the release of the books. That’s a fantastic way to do it, and I’m glad they chose to do it in that way. If they opt to film the next six films as two trilogies of stories, then The Magician’s Nephew might come before The Horse and His Boy.

I’d actually rather have it continue the traditional release pattern set by C.S. Lewis when the books were released, and have The Horse and His Boy come before The Magician’s Nephew. Then we’ll have the two bookends to the Narnia story come one right after the other.

What are your thoughts? Excited? Concerned? Share them on our forum!

From MTV.com:

And, according to director Andrew Adamson and producer Mark Johnson, they’ll be doing it again every year for the next decade.

“As long as you keep embracing these movies, we’ll make all seven,” Johnson told an appreciative audience. “We start the end of January on “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.’ Our goal is to give you [a new] one every May starting [next year].”

The announcement came after a computer pre-visualization which showed the Pevensie children storming King Miraz’s castle alongside Prince Caspian, flying onto the topmost turrets in the talons of giant griffins.

Griffins, yes – but not Gryffindors. Comparing his work on “Narnia” to that OTHER long running fantasy series, Adamson insisted that future “Narnia” films will be both more consistent and more faithfully inclusive to the source than “Harry Potter.”

“‘Harry Potter’ is a different [animal],” he said via satellite from Prague. “C.S Lewis wrote more efficiently [than J.K. Rowling]. We have a chance to embellish, [not exclude].”

0 people like this post.

Like 

ComingSoon.net reports on the Narnia Panel:

The Disney panel began with The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Richard Taylor of Weta came out first and introduced some of the other crew members. These included the costume designer, creature designer, and others. Via satellite from Prague was director Andrew Adamson.

They kicked things off by showing a pre-viz animatic from the new movie. It showed one of the children from the first movie being picked up and flown to a Telmarine castle on an island by a griffin. After disabling a guard, the other Pevensie children arrive with other griffins and storm the castle. They are aided by mice who sneak in (despite interference by a cat).

The second clip was a sizzle reel where they showed some new footage, behind the scenes clips, and other goodies. They emphasized how much more action-packed this second film is, and that was very apparent from the clips. We saw a lot of battles and action. Also shown were the new dwarf character, Trumpkin played by Peter Dinklage, and the sword fighting mouse, Reepicheep. Lots more at ComingSoon.net including a picture of a Telmarine soldier!

From IESB: Here is some of the juicy tid bits we heard!

- The film is almost done shooting and will be ready for release next May.
- Expect Caspian to be much darker, more gritty and action packed!!
- Unlike Narnia 1, the creatures will have a wide range of ages, sex, and body type in each species
- Caspian’s Dwarves Nikabrik and Trumpkin will be played by Warwick Davis and Peter Dinklage.
- Andrew Adamson will NOT be returning as director for future installments
- The Voyage of the Dawn Trader will begin shooting in Jan-Feb of 08 for a release date of May 09.
- There will be a new Narnia EVERY May for the Next 6 years as they are making ALL books into movies.

Look for our full report from the show floor, coming soon. We’ve got three people that were in attendance of this presentation, and they promised to write about it.

0 people like this post.

Like