Prince Caspian, the narnian Faerie Queene

[Gilby's Angel]

I've lost count of the number of times I've watched PC. Whenever it comes on TV, I watch it. I use it--along with LWW--during the school year to discuss careers in CG with students. I haven't tired of it yet. If anything, my appreciation and respect for it continue to grow. While it may not be a great movie, it is significantly better than 'good.' How do I support this statement? Even after so many viewings, periodically something new will pop up and speak to me; some scene or phrase gives me pause and makes me think. Here's the latest:

Peter is in the lead when the children and Trumpkin are on their way to cross the river. Peter comes to a dead end and says, "I'm not lost."
Trumpkin responds, "No, you're just going the wrong way."

AHA!!!!
The entire plot of the movie is laid out in those two lines. And, suddenly it popped into my mind...The Faerie Queene and Redcrosse!!
While it may not be the perfect analogy, there's something there...Movie Peter gets in over his head because he wants to serve Aslan through his own strength. He is still immature in his understanding which is why he needed to return to Narnia for the second time. But, by the end of the movie, Peter realizes that what he longed for and what he missed most was not his kingship but his relationship with Aslan. Spenser's

"For there is nothing lost, that may be found, if sought"

sums up Movie Peter for me.

How influenced might Lewis have been by The Faerie Queene when he wrote PC?
Might this poem have been the basis for Adamson's decision to make Peter the focus of the story in adapting PC?
Or, am I waaaaay off base here?
Just wondering....

[PhelanVelvel]

I've never read it, but from what I've gleaned from summaries, it does seem possible. It has the whole myths being used for christian allegory thing going, as well as the bit about the lion protecting the girl Una. An illustration of it reminded me of Aslan and Lucy. I bet Lewis would have read it at some point. A more refined analysis than that you won't get from me, as I haven't read it.

[fantasia]

I also have never read The Fairie Queen (looks interesting!), but I did want to ask about your comparison. Most of the examples you cited were of movie Peter who was a very different character than book Peter. Movie Peter wasn't really written by Lewis, do you have some examples of book Peter that would fit your theory on Lewis? Or are you just suggesting the whole story in general rather than the character?
As to Adamson, I heard a lot of interviews on why he chose to adapt Peter the way he did, but he never once mentioned being inspired by this poem. Rather, he did it because he felt it was the way a king would act if they were transformed back into a nobody kid.

[The Rose-Tree Dryad]

You'd be right in guessing that Lewis was a fan of The Faerie Queene, Gilby's Angel. In The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis: Family Letters, 1905-1931, we see that he wrote this about it in a letter to a friend:

I have at last come to the end of the Faerie Queene: and though I say "at last", I almost wish he had lived to write six books more as he had hoped to do — so much have I enjoyed it.

If Prince Caspian and The Faerie Queene are thematically similar, then I would say that there's a very good chance that it was an influence on Lewis when he wrote the book. Lewis knew the latter well; from what I've read on the internet, he even taught a lecture on it when he was at Cambridge.

As for what Adamson was influenced by when he adapted the book to film... I really have no idea. It would be an interesting question to ask him!

[PhelanVelvel]

You'd be right in guessing that Lewis was a fan of The Faerie Queene, Gilby's Angel. In The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis: Family Letters, 1905-1931, we see that he wrote this about it in a letter to a friend:

I have at last come to the end of the Faerie Queene: and though I say "at last", I almost wish he had lived to write six books more as he had hoped to do — so much have I enjoyed it.

If Prince Caspian and The Faerie Queene are thematically similar, then I would say that there's a very good chance that it was an influence on Lewis when he wrote the book. Lewis knew the latter well; from what I've read on the internet, he even taught a lecture on it when he was at Cambridge.

As for what Adamson was influenced by when he adapted the book to film... I really have no idea. It would be an interesting question to ask him!

I figured as much. Even just based on the summaries, I could see similarities and where Lewis could have gotten inspiration.