MN Poll: Showing Digory's Mother

[puddleglum32]

Yes i voted before the end, because she is the whole reason digory has to stay with his aunt and uncle. If she wasnt sick then he would have never got to narnia.

[Lion's Emblem]

It's really a toss up for me, I can see it going either way. If she's included before the end or just at the end, both will work for me.

It might be interesting to see a scene with Digory and his mother before the end of the film, as a way to show his emotional relationship with her. I kind of want to see a scene like this where Digory walks into his mother's room, visiting her while she sleeps. There doesn't even need to be any dialogue, just his facial expressions could say it all. This could really amplify the scene between Digory and Aslan when Digory pleads for a cure for his mother and Aslan shares his sorrow. As a viewing audience, I feel that this sort of added scene will add to the emotional impact of the story (we don't really need it in the book because we can already feel it when we read about Digory and his life at home, the emotional connection is already there). An early scene with Digory's mother could also give the idea to the viewer of why Digory is desparate for "the fountain of youth", a cure for his mother. Not to mention adding "intensity" to the scene in the garden with the temptation of the White Witch.

Ultimately, it can work either way. If they are going to make changes, they need to reflect the original source material. And I agree fantasia_kitty, it would be an absolute disgrace if the filmmakers did not include her at all.

[coracle]

We want the audience to feel for Diggory during the whole story - to see what drives him.(except for the curiosity in the bell scene).
So we must see his mother is very ill - perhaps a brief scene where he is saying goodnight to her, and then being hurried out of the room by his aunt.

[GlimGlum]

i voted before the end as well because i am a great beliver in sticking by the book and she does apear before the end in the book. only for about a minuet but it still counts.

I just recently finished rereading The Magician's Nephew and kept a close eye out for Digory's Mother. It is near the end in the last chapter that she actually appears for the first time.

In the scene where Digory enters her bedroom with the silver apple it does mention that he sees her as he had many times before. To me, that information would be the strongest for showing her earlier in the movie.

But I still think that waiting until all have returned from Narnia and Digory goes in with the apple should be the first time the audience actually sees Mabel.

[puddleglum32]

Yes they should not let her speak to him until the one scene when he gives her the apple.

[Anfinwen]

I like the way Focus on the Family Radio Theater handled Dig's mother. Instead of Digory standing around the window waiting for Uncle Andrew and the witch to return, Aunt Letty has him take the food to his mother. Dig's mother doesn't want the food and has him put the tray on the nightstand. The dramatization uses the opportunity to show Dig's thoughts about the Land of Youth, and it's a nice bonding with Dig and his mother.

[Silver the Wanderer]

Everyone has such interesting points! I never really thought of this before. It's been a while since I last read MN, but I know that Mabel plays such an important role that I'd love to see her more than once. I think showing her before the ending would be a better way to convey Diggory's love for her. It's one thing to listen to him talk about her, but to see that interaction take place would really bring it all home. But all in all, I wouldn't mind either way as long as that message comes through.

[Elanor]

Frankly - I think it would be better if she wasn't show in it at all, and to me, I think that would likely be what they decide to do, but that's just a guess. If they could do it well, it would be nice if they showed her just a little bit, maybe only at the end, but if they really want to have us care about her, and to show how Digory does, than maybe they should show her more. Yeah, I have no clue.

[Jill]

PollyP Yes, the book is important despite the fact that movies are only adaptations of the book, I voted that we should see her more than once so that we can fully appreciate the heartache, the longing and the astonishment of the recovery.

Joy Gresham's story and that of Lewis' own mother were important in shaping the story I believe (I have MN on tape and the introduction is by Douglas Gresham he speaks about it all.)

[Valiant]

I think they need to show Diggory's mother as much as it is needed in order to establish that Diggory's character is affected by his mother (and her state of health.) Surely we need to see her at least once before they go to Narnia (at the beginning) and of course, at the end.

[waggawerewolf27]

I actually thought of a point on the relationship between Digory and his mother that I kind of wanted to bring up, and I hope you'll bear with me because it's slightly off-topic.

I don't know how many people have heard Doug Gresham talk about his mother Joy, and how she got cancer and almost died, but then it went into remission for a few years before she finally passed away in 1960. It's just the most incredibly powerful, happy, and sad story.

The Magician's Nephew, was published in 1955 prior to Joy going into remission in 1956. Whether Digory's sick and dying mother was inspired by Joy or not, I don't know....

I'm not doubting the genuineness or the emotional inspiration behind Magician's Nephew. However, dying mothers and absent fathers in the Victorian era, even more so than today, were nothing short of calamitous, when Dickensian working conditions, orphanages and boarding schools were the only alternatives to depending on the charity and good nature of relatives, if they existed.

I think for the story's own sake, to do a good film of it you really need to show Mabel during the film as well as at the end. Yes, it would be good to show Digory presenting the apple to Mabel, and a recovered Mabel afterwards. That is the payoff and the conclusion of Digory's inadvertent adventure with the rings. But it is also necessary to show Mabel being ill to understand Digory's grief. (La Boheme anyone?). We need to see Digory visiting his Mum to understand Aunt Letty shooing him away to give her a rest, to explain why Digory was crying, and why he wanted to get out of his own backyard, and to explain how Polly got to meet him.

We need to see Mabel to understand the conversation Aunt Letty has with the kind neighbour about 'only fruit from the Land of Youth wil revive her'. To understand why Digory feared what Jadis would do to his Mum, and to understand why having noted what happened in Narnia to the iron bar Jadis threw at Aslan, Digory would want to go after the Lion to get his help.

Yes, the Focus on the Family version of MN does do a good job by having Digory bring bedridden Mabel some lunch on a tray. The BBC version Mabel also reminds Digory that he has to be a good boy in Aunt Letty's place so as not make bad matters worse, so she does have some actual interaction with Digory in the story. These are radio versions, where there has to be dialogue. In a movie it is the actions that are important.

Apart from that, there is nothing more irritating than watching a movie where all the characters discuss at considerable length someone who is absent and never seen, but is not actually deceased. Not even present in the room but hiding behind a newspaper, like Uncle Harold in VDT. Nor a voice calling from downstairs, nor even a name on a ration card like Aunt Alberta in VDT.

[Eustace]

I would kind of like to be waiting till the end of the movie before I see her. It kinda of be supenseful and all the audience would be wondering what she looked like most of the time. It would be awesome like 3-2-1 Penguins and how we have never seen the grandmother's face.

[Pattertwigs Pal]

I voted at the end only. My first instinct is always to go with what the book does. . However, I won't be upset if they show her earlier on in the movie as long as it is well done and doesn't change the characters or the plot.

[PuddleCheep]

I think they should show her twice. I really like how Radio Theatre did it, with Digory checking up on his mother after returning with the Witch. I think the first appearance of her should be brief, about 20 seconds long. When Digory comes with the Apple, it should be a lot longer. Ohhh, I can't wait to see and hear that scene!!

[Anhun]

The Magician's Nephew, was published in 1955 prior to Joy going into remission in 1956. Whether Digory's sick and dying mother was inspired by Joy or not, I don't know, but the miracle of the silver apple healing his mother and then followed by the miracle of Joy's temporary remission in real life gives me goosebumps.

I know I've heard Doug talk about how powerful that part is for him in MN and I feel like this is probably one section of MN that the filmmakers will nail. At least I certainly hope so.

I always thought that Digory and Mabel were based on Lewis and his own mother. Lewis' mother died of cancer when he was about the same age as Digory. To me that made the ending scene very emotional, because it represented a sort of wish-fulfillment for Lewis, allowing him to imagine what his life would have been like if he hadn't lost his mother. After his mother's death, Lewis was sent away to a school run by a cruel, deranged headmaster who was apparently the inspiration for Uncle Andrew.

Also, Lewis finished writing MN in February of 1954, before Joy was diagnosed with cancer (in October of 1956).

[Evelyn]

I defently want to see her, but not a lot, so I voted just at the end. But I really don't care that much. One scene in the middle wouldn't be bad. They shouldn't leave her out, though.