https://www.thelionscall.com/community/the-walden-media-films/ The Lion's Call Discussion Board en-US Wed, 22 Apr 2026 20:15:43 +0000 wpForo 60 https://www.thelionscall.com/community/the-walden-media-films/buried-talent-or-strategy-vdt/ Mon, 16 Nov 2020 20:44:57 +0000 “We lords made a pact to find the source of the mist and destroy it.” Pardon my asking, Bern, but um, what are you doing here? You made a pact to destroy the mist and stayed behind? They didn’t come back and you still stayed behind? (To be fair, perhaps he couldn’t go at that point because, you know, prison. But the fact that he’s in prison at all is never explained.) If you stayed to be “home base” or something, I could maybe buy that, but you don’t tell us anything, so I’m left to guess at a few scenarios.

And then later he brings out the (random, magical, Golden Age *holds in those questions for another day*) sword, all grubbied up because he’d... hidden it in a cave? Pardon my asking, Bern, but what possessed you to do that? The mist couldn’t have taken it away (since it didn’t do that to the others), so what were you trying to protect it from? And since you hid it, clearly this was before jail, so how long did you sit on that? Just like your staying behind, you don’t explain why you hid it, so pardon me for think of not-so-great scenarios.

Because the first thing that popped into my head upon this viewing when he brought out the sword was, “You’re useless. You buried your one talent and reproduced it like you did a good job.” (That being a reference to the parable of the talents.)
He made a pact... and didn’t follow through. He had a magical sword... and hid it.

The only positive way to spin it that I can see is this: The lords made a pact, and made it public. Bern, whether because he was to set up a base of operations or something as simple as illness or injury, stayed behind. The six never returned, but the mist continued to do so. The people get antsy waiting and assume (correctly) that the lords had failed. Bern takes an educated guess about where this is going and hides the sword so nobody can sell/destroy/toss it into the ocean. They seize him as the remaining man of this failed quest and lock him up, whether because they blame him or think he’s crazy or need to do something to feel better (why they don’t kill him or “feed him to the mist”, who knows?). And then when Caspian does free him and he brings out the sword, it turns out he made the smart decision, and now Caspian can carry on the quest. (Though why doesn’t Bern go with, what with the pact and no stated reasons, as in the book, for his staying put?)

Thoughts?]]> The Walden Media Films Ariel_of_Narnia https://www.thelionscall.com/community/the-walden-media-films/buried-talent-or-strategy-vdt/ https://www.thelionscall.com/community/the-walden-media-films/of-lies-and-legacies-vdt/ Mon, 16 Nov 2020 20:21:28 +0000 I’ve always known that temptation was a theme. I mean, it’s pretty obvious: Lucy is tempted by the beauty spell, Edmund by power (both by the green mist’s conjuration of Jadis and by the power of gold), Caspian by “wanting what was taken instead of what was given” (that wasn’t all that developed) and also gold, Eustace by — yeah, have you noticed that all three boys like them some gold? Anyway.
On this go-‘round, I noticed that another theme is present in three of them: legacy. Lucy wants to be beautiful like Susan (specifically, /be/ Susan, since she sees Susan’s reflection and dreams of being Susan herself), Edmund wants to be king on his own like Peter and Caspian (the fact that he goes through same character arc as Peter in PC, not to mention that Jadis shouldn’t even be that kind of problem any more, is a rant of annoyance for another day), and Caspian desperately wants to be like his father (guess we’ll have to assume that Caspian IX was pretty swell). The temptations these three face are all tied to these legacies they want to be — not merely live up to or emulate, but be.

Not only do they resist temptation (Lucy burns the spell, Edmund tosses the gold shell and turns his back on Jadis, Caspian walks away from Deathwater and promises “to be a better king”), but they learn to come into their own. Lucy accepts that she’s not Susan nor is she meant to be. Edmund gets over his inferiority complex and works on doing his part in the role he’s given (he submits to Caspian’s leadership and states at the end that the family needs him and Lucy, in contrast to the beginning in which he’d said that he and Lucy didn’t matter). Caspian lets go of his dad, basically, realizing that everything he needs to be a good king has already been given to him.

So those are those observations. How well they were executed is not something I’m gonna talk about right now.


Eeeexcept for one thing.
Edmund and Lucy come into their own... but at the climax, they take up Peter and Susan’s gifts. There are two ways of interpreting this, one negative and one positive.

I think that, from the way the movie was structured, it was a mistake to do that. Lucy tells Gael that “when you grow up, you should be just like you”... and later grabs Susan’s bow instead of using her gift (honestly, though, dagger against a sea serpent wouldn’t be all that smart) or any other bow. Edmund lets go of his past status (we can assume he no longer resents that Caspian has Rhindon, and he’s even left behind the Golden Age sword because “it wasn’t mine to keep”), and yet accepts Rhindon when it’s offered instead of insisting (as he did in the beginning) that Caspian keep it as Peter had intended. Edmund never had a special sword before and doesn’t need one now, so what’s up with this? If Edmund and Lucy have finally accepted coming into their own, why use their siblings’ gifts?

My dad’s interpretation is that, now that Edmund and Lucy have finally gotten over themselves, they’ve, in one sense, now earned the right to take up their siblings’ mantle and, in another sense, use them purely as “tools, not toys” (ie: as necessary weapons, not status symbols). On top of that, maybe the offer of Rhindon says something about Caspian: the first time, he offered to let Edmund hold it; the second time, he gives Edmund his best sword to use in battle.

What do you think? Does the use of Peter and Susan’s gifts by Edmund and Lucy weaken the character development or indicate the strength of that development?]]> The Walden Media Films Ariel_of_Narnia https://www.thelionscall.com/community/the-walden-media-films/of-lies-and-legacies-vdt/ https://www.thelionscall.com/community/the-walden-media-films/showing-the-lww-to-a-woman-who-never-saw-it/ Sun, 23 Feb 2020 06:39:34 +0000 The Walden Media Films knightofnarnia https://www.thelionscall.com/community/the-walden-media-films/showing-the-lww-to-a-woman-who-never-saw-it/ https://www.thelionscall.com/community/the-walden-media-films/edmunds-torch/ Fri, 20 Mar 2015 19:45:06 +0000 again left it behind.
We thought it would be funny if Caspian kept it safe somewhere in the hope of giving it to Eustace if and when he came back so he could return it to Edmund, and then they used the torch in SC, bringing it to the Parliament of Owls, and on the journey north, and finally used it in the Sunlit Lands...and then Eustace forgot to bring it back...
...and then in LB they still have kept in hope of returning it someday, and it's in the tower or something so that Tirian gives it to Eustace, and the torch is finally returned to Edmund. In Aslan's country.
Just a weird little thought. :P :roll:]]> The Walden Media Films hobbit_of_narnia https://www.thelionscall.com/community/the-walden-media-films/edmunds-torch/ https://www.thelionscall.com/community/the-walden-media-films/the-last-battle-in-film/ Sat, 10 May 2014 21:23:12 +0000 The Walden Media Films Crusader https://www.thelionscall.com/community/the-walden-media-films/the-last-battle-in-film/ https://www.thelionscall.com/community/the-walden-media-films/the-actors-the-director-and-the-heart-of-the-films/ Sun, 22 Sep 2013 12:25:58 +0000 Andrew had a clear vision for the films, and his vision was directly in line with C.S. Lewis' books. Though there were things mentioned that may not have shown up in the original books, the general story follows the Lewis books. The only thing missing from his vision would be the wonderful actors to bring it to life.
When a story is this well loved, everyone has their own idea of who should play their favorite character. But, ultimately, it is up to the director to see that his vision is portrayed in the film. The actors who brought our favorite characters to life are both competent and talented. They were able to bring both passion and depth to the characters, and make these movies into wonderful depictions of the story we love!
The heart behind these books and films is evident. And ultimately, we all must be true to the heart of the book, and to do that, we must embrace the child in all our hearts. And I believe that's what all the people involved in the films did. And that is why we all love them so much, because they bring us back to our childhood, to the days when our imaginations could take us anywhere, and they make us think: maybe those days of high adventure aren't so far gone after all!]]> The Walden Media Films liseegirl https://www.thelionscall.com/community/the-walden-media-films/the-actors-the-director-and-the-heart-of-the-films/ https://www.thelionscall.com/community/the-walden-media-films/favourite-aspects-of-the-walden-films/ Thu, 29 Aug 2013 09:29:46 +0000 The Walden Media Films Ajnos Gamgee https://www.thelionscall.com/community/the-walden-media-films/favourite-aspects-of-the-walden-films/