Changing & Rearranging SC

[The Rose-Tree Dryad]

I've had an idea in my head for a few days and didn't want to be insensitive because so many people have experienced this, but it really ties in with the current discussion about Jill's past. What if Jill's parents were in the process of separating, and that was why they sent her to boarding school? Divorce used to be more of a rare thing, and I can easily see the bullies finding out and really tormenting her with it. That would really tie in with Jill's trust issues, or problems with authority, or obedience as fantasia_kitty suggested in the SC Theme topic.

That's a very intriguing thought, Anfinwen! Based on what we see in the book, it seems like it might be the most likely explanation. (There is no obvious struggle with the concept of death, for instance, but it does seem quite apparent to me that she is really struggling with having anyone to turn to, and that would certainly imply that she's estranged from her parents one way or another.)

From a movie-making perspective, going through a divorce is something that a lot of kids can unfortunately relate with nowadays. I can imagine the filmmakers possibly taking Jill's story in that direction in order to make her emotions more accessible to the audience. On the other hand, though, I get the sense that at Experiment House, a lot of the kids may have come from broken or unorthodox homes, so I'm not sure if her parents being separated would account for the bullying. (And the bullies seem to bully everybody who isn't currying favor.)

I think it might be best dealt with if the filmmakers left Jill's backstory as very ambiguous... if I were writing the script, I think it would set it up in such a way that you couldn't quite tell whether or not Jill was wrestling with the death of her parents, their splitting up, or just simply being disinterested in their little girl and sending her away to a boarding school so they didn't have to think about her. One reason I think the filmmakers might go in this direction is because more people may be able to relate to her feelings of abandonment if they don't know exactly what those feelings stem from.

[waggawerewolf27]

On the other hand, though, I get the sense that at Experiment House, a lot of the kids may have come from broken or unorthodox homes, so I'm not sure if her parents being separated would account for the bullying. (And the bullies seem to bully everybody who isn't currying favor.)

The bullying might have gone on anyway, for a myriad of reasons, not only dysfunctional family backgrounds. Lack of discipline and boundary setting by means of enforcing set school rules, seems to be the main factor at Experiment House, and also lack of tolerance for anyone who is deemed as "different" from the bullies, plus a liking of having power over other children. Not only those brave enough to defy them, but also over their "hangers on". The Experiment House bullies, too, can be tinpot dictators in their own lunch time, mimicking the people they see in the news. Or on TV if they had access to it.

And in communities world wide, at whatever level of society, especially where it was still considered a man's right to beat his wife whenever she annoyed him in any way, domestic violence, defined as controlling and mistreating other family members by using against them verbal, physical, and other forms of abuse, could also be a reason for bullying when children go to school. Including in boarding schools like Experiment House. The point about the 1940's and 1950's when Jill and Spivvins were there, was that so much that you might consider as "unorthodox" or "dysfunctional" was not at all unusual, but was often swept under the carpet, for fear of the press and "what the neighbours thought", even when marriages remained intact. I suspect that Experiment House is just another microcosm of wartime and postwar society, bullying and all. And that it was also a relevant backdrop to enable Jill to meet Eustace, whose character and family life we already know about.

From a movie-making perspective, going through a divorce is something that a lot of kids can unfortunately relate with nowadays. I can imagine the filmmakers possibly taking Jill's story in that direction in order to make her emotions more accessible to the audience.

That is a fair point. On the other hand, when divorce and family breakdown is so frequent, there is a danger that mentioning Jill's parents in such a scenario, might merely be so commonplace that the audience lose interest. I like your idea of keeping her background a bit vague, also the suggestion that in some way or another she is estranged from her parents. On the other hand, since Spivvins, a minor character, is already mentioned in the book, I wouldn't mind if Eustace's keeping his secret involved a recent family breakdown or loss of some sort, thus provoking the bullies to torment Eustace, instead.

[Eustace]

The bullying might have gone on anyway, for a myriad of reasons, not only dysfunctional family backgrounds. Lack of discipline and boundary setting by means of enforcing set school rules, seems to be the main factor at Experiment House, and also lack of tolerance for anyone who is deemed as "different" from the bullies, plus a liking of having power over other children. Not only those brave enough to defy them, but also over their "hangers on". The Experiment House bullies, too, can be tinpot dictators in their own lunch time, mimicking the people they see in the news. Or on TV if they had access to it.

I think you make a pretty fair point about bullying. Also, I think because the filmmakers may want to make the audience really connect with Jill, they might want to do some scenes showing the bullying mentioned in the book rather than just having the characters mention it. This plus making her family a sore part (either not really in the picture or estranged in someway) may connect the audience to Jill right off the bat.

[The Rose-Tree Dryad]

So a couple of posts have got me thinking...

The Pevensies may be no more than a memory in Silver Chair, but they were most likely at the party at the end of that book, when Jill wore her Narnian Costume.

Okay, so I know during VDT I made all sorts of false predictions, but, from the way that William was talking and from his confidence in the insider knowledge, it made me wonder if he might be involved himself...

Is it possible they might include the Pevensies/Friends of Narnia in an epilogue in The Silver Chair? While Will Moseley said that his character doesn't show up again until The Last Battle, he does seem awfully close to production for someone who technically isn't involved... and he and Anna Popplewell were pretty mum and coy about their cameos in VDT, if I remember correctly.

I've said before that I think there's an argument to be made for threading the remaining four films together with Friends of Narnia scenes in England, where stories about Narnia are shared until the events of The Last Battle. I also am quick to say that scenes like those could come across as hokey or disrupt the flow of the story, though. I think they could be very good additions if done well, but if I had my druthers, they wouldn't be in the films and each of the upcoming movies would be able to stand on its own feet as a standalone story. That said, I can certainly understand why Hollywood may feel the need to create some sort of overarching narrative linking the last four films together.

One thing I can imagine them doing in SC is having an epilogue at the end where Eustace and Jill are walking up to a house (the Kilns?!) at dusk and Jill is saying, "Come on, Scrubb, what's with all the cloak and daggers? Why won't you tell me what this is about? And why'd you tell me to wear my dress from Narnia?" And then he grins and says, "There are some people you really ought to meet..." and they enter the house and there are the Friends of Narnia seated around a glowing hearth. (A circle of Christian friends by a good fire, anyone?) A lot of fans of the Walden trilogy would go crazy to see the original Pevensies again, and if they plan on including Friends of Narnia scenes in MN and HHB, starting in SC might be a good idea.

Thoughts?

[waggawerewolf27]

I'd agree with you more, Rose-Tree Dryad, if I hadn't been inclined to think the meeting might have been also Susan's homecoming party and that fancy dress had been just a way of making the occasion more fun. Susan could, should and would have had a ball at such an occasion however she dressed, herself, if she had just arrived home from America, the home of Hollywood, film stars, screen heroes, Gone with the Wind, Dorothy from Wizard of Oz and "cowboys and Indians". Ruby slippers for Susan, anyone?

Yes, the Kilns would be a good location for a party or a social get together, though C.S.Lewis' favourite pub might also be a good place. The Village pub or community hall is usually UK's answer to celebrations where Buckingham Palace or some other grand place is unavailable.

Not only the Friends of Narnia could link any remaining films together, as you suggest, but Susan's gradual and eventual absence from Last Battle would be less of a problem, judging by her reactions to the party. But a lot depends on which film of the series can be made next. If it is HHB, then definitely she has to show up at the party, and possibly Edmund as well.

That Friends of Narnia link might also help keep Jill and Eustace in the public eye if HHB is made before LB.

[The Rose-Tree Dryad]

Yes, the Kilns would be a good location for a party or a social get together, though C.S.Lewis' favourite pub might also be a good place.

Maybe they could use that for another Friends of Narnia scene in a subsequent film, if they go that route! That would be neat.

Thanks to The Silver Chair reading group, I've been thinking about the blind poet and his tale of The Horse and His Boy at the feast during Jill and Eustace's brief stay at Cair Paravel. It's the sort of character and detail that I had always expected would be cut, or simply be part of the backdrop of a scene, but then it occurred to me: wouldn't it be a bad idea to cut or downplay this one preceding mention of the events of HHB, considering that HHB is already enough of an outlier in the series? And yet you wouldn't want to spoil the story, either....

One thought that came to my mind is that they could cut the part where Jill is falling asleep in her room before Glimfeather shows up (which I would kind of hate; I like that scene), and instead have her enjoying herself at the feast just as the blind poet begins his tale, and then Eustace drags her off into some alcove and tells her that Glimfeather is back and they've got to go while everyone is distracted. I can imagine them bickering as usual and Jill being cross and saying "But I wanted to hear the story!"—perhaps leaving the audience wondering about the story as well, and subsequently delighted when they find that the blind poet's tale is meant to become a film.

It would probably be a quicker exit for Jill and Eustace and thus save screen time, although it would also be difficult for the two guests of honor to sneak off unbeknownst to their hosts... but perhaps the blind poet is a truly enthralling storyteller!

[waggawerewolf27]

Thanks to the Silver Chair reading group, I've been thinking about the blind poet and his tale of The Horse and His Boy at the feast during Jill and Eustace's brief stay at Cair Paravel. It's the sort of character and detail that I had always expected would be cut, or simply be part of the backdrop of a scene, but then it occurred to me: wouldn't it be a bad idea to cut or downplay this one preceding mention of the events of HHB, considering that HHB is already enough of an outlier in the series? And yet you wouldn't want to spoil the story, either....

Doesn't the spoiler effect depend chiefly on how much of the tale is told, and from which point of view? We don't know much about what happened during the Pevensie tetrarchy. Queen Susan's tale of romance with Rabadash, or some other unnamed suitor, and, maybe a somewhat less impressed Edmund's efforts to dissuade her from leaving Cair Paravel to visit that suitor, or just a part of any of it could be told without mentioning Shasta or Aravis or any sort of detail of the story in a poem. What about King Peter's marvellous displays to entertain yon perfidiously cruel suitor with ill-intent? Or how he left to fight giants whilst Susan dithered over her expedition to Tashbaan, leaving gallant Edmund to sort it all out?

On the other hand, we might get some information about Rilian, the missing prince. Maybe the poet might correlate the sadness of losing Caspian's Queen plus the disappearance of their son, with the sadness of other missing royalty, such as the missing twin from Archenland, whose disappearance broke King Lune's Queen's heart? Or how, when these misadventures did end well, then perhaps the romantic hope that the missing prince might also turn up alive, after so many years?

[The Rose-Tree Dryad]

I had a crazy thought just now... I was thinking about how the filmmakers might find it a challenge to keep the audience emotionally involved in the scene with Caspian's resurrection, since a) it's been several years since VDT, and Ben Barnes may not even reprise the role, and b) Caspian is barely in the story.

So, because wild speculation is my specialty: what if they tried to swap out Puddleglum for Caspian in that scene? Have Puddleglum die somehow? Off the cuff, that does seem like something Hollywood might do. "They're weeping over their friend Puddleglum that the audience loves just as much, and he gets to join in on the beating of the bullies at Experiment House. He doesn't show up in the later books anyway, so it's a fine idea to go ahead and kill him off and send him to Aslan's Country." However, it would make a total mess of the last few chapters of the book: what would happen with old Caspian, how would Puddleglum die instead, et cetera.

Needless to say, I would hate it. And thankfully I think it's quite unlikely, especially with Magee on board, but he's not the only one involved with telling this story and you never know. (I'm still learning to trust again after VDT. )

To end this post on a saner note, here's one other idea: old Caspian could resemble a grandfather figure that cared for Jill until he died, and that's why the vision of death at the stream is painful for her. Near the beginning of the film you could show Jill looking at a picture or a locket of her late grandfather, and have her briefly reference him when talking to Eustace at Experiment House—perhaps explaining how she came to live at the school.