Hey Netflix, Here's How to Do NARNIA Right
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 เม.ย. 2021
- Patreon: / houstoncoley
Twitter: / artwithinpod
Listen to my podcast: artwithin.substack.com
Letterboxd: letterboxd.com/artwithin
Substack Blog: houstonproductions1.substack....
TeePublic Merch: tee.pub/lic/zLbhv4Ep35M
This is my review/critique/analysis of the film and not an upload of the film in its entirety. The clips used are heavily edited and most of them narrated over top of, showing only amounts that are necessary for me to be able to make my points about the film. My review is for purposes of commentary and criticism and is considered Fair Use by both TH-cam and Federal Copyright Law. My usage of the clips does not legally require the copyright holder's permission and I have every legal right to upload the heavily edited content. For further proof and information on Fair Use, please refer to: www.copyright.gov/legislation/... and additionally • CIS Fair Use Legal Exp...
Thank you for taking the time to verify the clips to see that my usage does not violate copyright.
....... - บันเทิง
I'll confess, as soon as I started editing this video I felt like I was too harsh on Prince Caspian. The continuity between the first two movies is pretty solid, save for the grimdark lore and convoluted royalty subplots. Voyage of The Dawn Treader though? Oof, man. It's rough. Anyway - which Narnia movie is your favorite, and which book would you like to see adapted in the future? Animated or live-action? I wanna hear all the ideas.
The fam over on Patreon got to see this video 2 weeks early! Go check out the Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/user?u=1017531
I always have a soft spot for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader because that was my favorite book when I was a kid. When Reepicheep leave at the end, that's the first time I remember crying while reading a book.
I haven't seen these movies in years, but I remember being pretty disappointed about Prince Caspian. They ignored much of what was in the book in favor of new material, and the stuff that was adapted from existing material missed the tone of the original completely. I think aging Caspian up to make him more of an adult to generate conflict between him and Peter was a mistake.
Voyage of the Dawn Treader is my favorite book, but it almost felt like they converted it into a video game plot (collect the seven swords) instead of doing anything substantial with it. That one is admittedly a series of vignettes with each chapter being more or less its own separate story, so it's harder to adapt.
The BBC miniseries were pretty cheesy, but I feel like they captured the tone of the stories better than anything else so far.
My favorite movie is the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe but, sometimes it's Prince Caspian. I would love to see all of the books that haven't been adapted yet. The Magician's Nephew, The Horse and His Boy and The Last Battle.
I liked all 3 movies. Just wish the Dawn Treader had a bigger budget and less green.
I want to see The Horse and His Boy. Fifth book in the series and my personal favorite.
The Horse and His Boy is highly underrated, imo. Such a great story! I've always wanted to see more of those "in between" stories that took place between the books
I agree! At this point, those "in between" stories interest me more than the Pevensie stories. (Although I still love those very much too.)
I would love to see that story on screen
Honestly I don't really care about the entire series, if they adapt The Horse and His Boy like a Never Ending Story movie, I swear that will be the shape of water of the decade
Pd: now that I think about it, Guillermo del Toro should totally direct this.
It’s my favorite of the book series!
Facts
That idea that Aslan isn't an allegory for Jesus but is actually Jesus is absolutely fascinating to me. That just changes my whole perspective on the series.
Maybe I should reread these books.
I mean, yes and no... he isn’t strictly allegory because he’s the Narnian incarnation yet, the Narnia books remain fiction themselves whose foremost goal is to produce re-enchantment through the imagination. I’d lean into the term “theme” rather than allegory. And while there are certainly profound theological explorations, I don’t think they’re the main point. Re-enchantment with the real world through imaginative content that thematically resembles reality is the main point I think...
@@zachleetch8138 except when Aslan tells the kids they need to learn about him in their world "There I have another name". Aslan in the story is literally Jesus.
@@DemonFireRain yes, this is true within the imaginative framework of the text. Within the fiction, Aslan is irreducible to allegory, but rather, is literal Christ incarnate for Narnia. However, you miss my point that this dynamic in the text is itself a typological reference to the historical Christ, albeit, transposed into an imaginative key. In other words, Aslan is nothing short of Christ to the characters in the story. However, to us readers, Aslan is not God, but is a imaginative allegory that helps us think about God.
@@zachleetch8138 okay you're right, fair play.
Narnia is very precious to me growing up and as a Christian it grew on me immensely when I found out that Aslan is Jesus, everything in the books and the movies began to make more sense and I think it has a beautiful way of introducing Jesus especially to young kids with Aslan always having great purpose in everything he does. It gives someone a sense of wonder and the perspective of choice and choosing to be good never gets old. Netflix better not screw this up.
I like how the core concept of the series is simply; if all-powerful Creator, therefor Multiverse. If Multiverse, therefor Multiverse Jesus.
Exactly.
Yup, The Mighty Creator of All
"Wait, you're saying there's a multi-verse?" -Spiderman
@@ellugerdelacruz2555 Yeah There is with different Alternate Realites.
@@Ponakalaranjit456
Looks like Narnia was more meta than we thought.
Lewis would be proud that Houston got his take on allegory and mythology right. Calling Narnia allegory cheapens it immensely...
I'm pretty sure C.S. Lewis has some criticism of alagory.
@@brickercustom I haven't heard about that but his friend tolkien said that
@@christaacree9759 I was wondering if it was actually the the case. Thanks
@@brickercustom no problem I know kinda useless/full nerdy info like that
@@christaacree9759 Hey, that why I watch videos like this.
"Do not recite the deep magic to me, witch! I was there when it was written"
My favorite movie opening of all time is still the opening of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The moment when the train is traveling through the meadows and that music hits all those perfect notes as the beautiful title card appears.. I tear up every time.
I grew up on the movies and the actors who played the characters, so to see someone else play Lucy or someone else voice Aslan would feel so wrong to me. I'm all for giving things chances, but I can't see this series hitting the mark. I really, really hope it does, but anytime GoT is mentioned with Tolkien or Lewis, I get cautious.
Spectacular video, Houston. I'm loving the topics you've been talking about lately.
I also love the opening and the music, so awesome! 😀
High King Peter is one of the coolest fantasy heroes ever. His helm in the Disney films is awesome.
I fear the PC crowd will make him into a bumbling but likable fool - al.la. Shrek. They will stress Susan as the powerful queen. Lucy is the far sighted 'typical' female and Edmond as the selfish 'typical' male resentful of female 'empowerment'.
Of course Reepicheep is always a favorite but also I think one of the most underrated characters is Puddleglum the Marshwiggle.
I think it would be better if they made a Narnia show similar to what they did with A Series of Unfortunate Events, it should have a more optimistic tone than that show, but I think A Series of Unfortunate Events was good at jumping into the absurdity of its world. It was a real-ish world, but it was also merging different time periods in its aesthetics.
That's a great comparison. The fact that ASOUE was done so well, even just in the aesthetics and tone, gives me a lot of hope!
They should re-film the ending scenes of the first movie now that the actors are the right age.
that'd be so sick!!
Great video, Houston. You get Narnia.
My favorite Narnia Quote is when Lucy asks if Aslan is safe and Mr. Beaver tells her "He's not safe, but he is good."
So, I'm not particularly confident in the direction Netflix is taking, but I think the Christian influence is vital.
Let me try to explain as a Christian. In Lewis' vision for the other worlds, they often play out like a literal interpretation of Genesis through to Revelation. God exists in a void of emptiness, He speaks Creation into being, Creation rebels, introducing evil, God takes on a mortal form to save Creation through Resurrection, later a false god appears, and God steps in to save those who believed, and Creation ends.
It's a lot more nuanced than that, but that's the basics. Also nothing happens by accident, it's all preordained. The White Witch is the evil that conquered a Fallen Creation, to set up the stakes of Sin. Aslan/God allows these children to witness this evil, and even allows Edmund to give in to temptation to work on the childrens' faith, to teach them (and by extension the audience), a decipherable way to understand the importance attributes of Christianity. But it's up to the children to accept or deny what they learned.
For example, and spoiler alert!
Susan stopped believing (didn't get saved), so she never enters the wonders of Aslan's realm (heaven). And the lion wasn't random either. In Christian Iconography, God is often depicted as a Lion and a Lamb. Many other parallels reside in the books. Reepicheep is like Enoch from Genesis, who was so faithful to God that, instead of dying like everyone cursed with Sin, was called by God to live with him in Heaven.
Long Story short, C. S. Lewis justified his multiverse to abide by the rules established in the Bible to help teach kids some the most important lessons and themes of the Bible. The kids only visit the important benchmarks of Narnia's history to enlighten them about the crucial aspects of the Christian faith.
In that way it's kind of like the Magic School Bus, media that's very purpose is to make the aspects of their world more digestible for children, whether it be faith or science.
Also it explores the premise about God's Omnipresence; if infinite universes exist, and it is possible for God to exist in just one of those universes, then, by being Omnipresent, He exists is EVERY universe simultaneously.
No
@@sanai97 Why did you say no?
@@taqresu5865 idk why that dude said no, but that was a wonderful explanation brother and I really appreciate it!
@@AndrewHenderson23 Thanks. What confuses me more is that I didn't really get a reply. If someone disagrees and follows it with an argument or explanation, there can at least be a conversation. Just saying "no" with not further context does nothing.
See thats what always turned me off from the Narnia books. See, I am pagan, and to me, the books especially the later books, always felt, for lack of a better term, preachy. There is stuff I enjoy, don't get me wrong. I love the fact that instead of using what would become the standard fantasy creatures (elves, dwarves, orcs, etc), he used more greco roman creatures like Satyrs, centaurs, minotaurs, et cetera. But the whole "Jesus lion" shit is really grading on me, and feels like those bad christian movies, except here there are good things, so it becomes hard to read to get past so I can enjoy the other aspects. Now, I wouldn't omit it entirely. But I can only hope the netflix series does a Prince of Egypt. See, I can enjoy Prince of Egypt, even though I am not Abherhamic, because its trying to tell a good story in creative way, with dramatic characters, stunning visuals, et cetera, without coming off as preachy.
My absolute favorite has always been the Silver chair. It teaches me it's never too late to do the right thing.
The BBC adaptation had Tom Baker as Puddleglum which automatically made it my favorite of the adaptations.
I dream with a good adaptation of The Magician's Nephew, I don't know why but that's my favorite narnia book, maybe because the adventure is a lot smaller scale and personal.
Magician’s Nephew is one of my favorites too! The idea of seeing the creation story in such an abstract, musical, expressive way has always been intriguing to me. Seems like something best achieved with animation for sure.
The only book I've read from the Narnia series is The Magician's Nephew, and I love it so much. I'll have to read the whole series at some point. I really hope they start the netflix adaptation off with The Magician's Nephew rather than with The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.
The “Wood Between The Worlds” is very well written!
Same... I also expect Digory's uncle to look like old Digory in Disney adaptation of TLTWATW 😂😂😂
Gotta say my favorite book is The Horse and His Boy. Those Focus on the Family Radio Theater dramatized audiobooks were my CHILDHOOD.
Horse and His Boy is my fave too. Legitimately crazy good story
focus on the family adaptations of Narnia books are amazing! David Suchet was a great voice actor for aslan. gentle where he needed to be, fierce where he needed. Stephen Thorne, though a great actor, was not the best voice actor for Aslan in the bbc long form radio adaptation. Thorne couldn't do gentle Aslan, and gentility is as much part of Aslan's character as being a fierce lion.
This is SO spot on! I wrote my undergrad dissertation on the theology of Narnia, and particularly the way in which Lewis (through Aslan), recreates the Christian experience of believing in God. Studying the series in depth, and recognising it as suppositional rather than allegorical, really reframed the way I read the series, so love that you touched on that.
I watched the movies again during lockdown, and honestly, I think they hold up in a lot of ways. I agree with you that the casting is spot on, and I hadn't thought about the fact that the strength of the first one is staying away from the lore, but I think you're right. Also, Harry Gregson-Williams' score is truly magical. I read one analysis that noted that the greatest strength of the films is also its biggest weakness: It gives way more nuance and complexity to the kids than the novels, which does wonders for their characterisation, but in doing so, loses the central significance of Aslan.
The Magician's Nephew was always a favourite of the novels, so excited to see that on screen, but more than anything, if Netflix do want to expand on the lore, I would LOVE to see more of the golden age of Narnia. The glimpses you see of Susan and Edmund in The Horse and His Boy excite me re: the potential of that era, and I think having them as adults would allow for that more mature aspect, if Netflix really want that.
Sorry for the long comment, your video just got me excited about Narnia again!
The Horse and His Boy has always been my favourite book of the Narnia series. I feel like it doesn't get enough credit
I love The Horse and His Boy! It’s one of my favorite books. I’ve always liked how joyful it is. Especially Shasta (Cor) finding his real family - a jolly, affectionate father and energetic, cheeky brother. 😊
Narnia is indeed hella strange, but I love it for it. And even though I'm a big world-building nerd, reading Narnia felt so immersive, that I didn't mind the wacky, sometimes non-sensible, worldbuilding.
I think the way Netflix should do it is maybe with 6 episode series for the "core" books in the series, and then maybe have films (and maybe even shorts) alongside for other characters, so The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is a series, but then The Horse and His Boy is a film, and maybe if they want a smaller story, have a 20-40 minute short their story, maybe in an anthology series.
Just a thought, and to give you some engagement.
They should get Studio Gibli to animate, that'd be something
YES! I'd actually pay and not leech off my friend's Netflixs accounts to watch it.
Trystn waller what about cartoon saloon, I think they could make a very good lion, the witch and the wardrobe.
@@calumarter I don't know them but I'll take your word for it! A serious(ish) animated version would be so awesome in my opinion, especially after watching the videos on this channel with their amazing artwork 😁
Yesss
If they did do it animated they probably use the same studio as son of Zeus and castlevania which in my opinion would be interesting to see
Even though it isn’t incredibly faithful to the book, I like the Prince Caspian movie. The book is by far the weakest in the series so I honestly don’t care much that they diverged so much. I think that movie’s plot works much better than books. The Dawn Treader movie is trash though, which is a shame since it’s one of the best books
Thank you, and hello Jay! Nice to see you here! 😍👋
@@debzykvids Hey! Nice to see you! Didn’t know you watched this channel
@Jay Sutter Completely agree with everything you just said
I actually love Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I guess a lot of people didn't but I think they were both excellent movies. :D
Someone’s gotta put a PNG eyepatch on Aslan after the nick fury comparison
I think my favorite quote would be:
"FOR NARNIA AND FOR ASLAN !!!" 🦁
My favorite is The Silver Chair! I love when Puddleglum stands up to the witch and everything he says about Aslan's world being better than her world even if it's not real. I also found Jill to be a very relatable protagonist.
The Focus on the Family Audio Dramas are FIRE. Definitely a good Narnia fix until we get some more content!
I totally agree! As a kid my parents bought the focus on the family audiobooks and we'd listen to them on car rides. Now I'm going back and listening to them again and they're still fire! They played a huge role in making Narnia my favorite series.
The Narnia audiobooks as a whole are fascinating- including the FotF Audio dramas, there are three adaptions of the books into an audio formula, and each of them sorta does a different take on the characters. The unabridged sticks fairly close to canon, but the other two mess with the dialogue in fairly interesting ways that change up how the characters feel and their overall personalities, albeit in mild ways.
I literally squealed when you name dropped "The Woods Between Worlds", I would love to see how Netflix interprets the Magician's Nephew and how (spoiler alert) Narnia is created. I would also personally like to see something similar to the "Jolly Holliday" Sequence when you step into Narnia; live-action Humans with pastel-paint like drawing style for the inhabitants and world of Narnia.
I never realized until now how bizarre Narnia could be, but that what's fun about the books, movies and BBC TV series (which, by the way, uses hand-drawn animation for some of the mythological creatures of Narnia)
I hope it all works out for you guys. Me? I wrote off the Netflix live action ATLA remake.
Same for me, as both an ATLA and Narnia fan. xD
@@debzykvids is it so hard for them to work with the OG crew?
@@katherinealvarez9216 I really don't know, but I personally think Netflix's diversity quotas and demands for a darker, adult tone are to blame - which is what I worry could happen with Narnia too, unless the Lewis Estate get involved to moderate the creative decisions in development.
The horse and his boy is my favorite book, I've always wanted to see a good adaptation.
Your discussion on allegory is _so_ spot on! I think Lewis would agree.
When I tell people I'm writing my thesis on Narnia, I usually hear something like "Oh, yeah. Wasn't the lion supposed to be Jesus?". Gotta say, it's super refreshing to hear a more nuanced discussion on the whole thing. Really appreciate your work here. 👍
My favorite book will always be The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I just love the mystery and the feeling of traveling through uncharted waters and lands. All the different adventures they go on in this one book would make it perfect for a series.
Engagement?! Well sir, you're not gonna get any of that outta me! No way! Not today!
I am loving 2 things here:
The insight about the effect of POV characters guiding the audience through their eyes into the rules of a particular story and its rules and world-building
And that weird cupcake microphone
Looks like a mushroom in a latte.
My favorite adaptation is the BBC one. The Special effects don't hold up of course and they are a bit uneven as to the quality of the acting but even with a limited budget they managed to make Narnia feel as magical and wonderful as the books while the Walden movies felt a bit flat.
My favorite scene in the books is in The Last Battle despite the book as a whole coming in 6th. It's when Aslan explains that helping others and doing good is the important thing, not what religion you follow.
My favorite book is The Horse and His Boy. The four main characters are all really interesting and fun to spend time with. They are all flawed in different ways and we see them learn and grow as people. The story is exciting and fast paced. It was really great to see a little of Susan, Edmund, and Lucy as adults. I wish that we had gotten more of that.
The Horse and His Boy is actually the first Narnia book I read! So it is a definite stand out to me. I had watched the three movies before it though and randomly we had a book drive at school where someone gave away just that one book. Since then, I've read the others (currently reading The Last Battle now) and I have to say, the Magician's nephew surprised me the most! I thoroughly enjoyed that one.
Another great video, right when I was looking for something to watch while building LEGO. I have to say- you made Narnia sound a lot cooler than I ever thought it was. I think we were shown the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe film at school when I was quite young, and I thought it was FINE but didn't get much from it. Since then, I've just written it off as quaint English fantasy. But the stuff you described sounds rad. Maybe I'll have to pick up some audiobook versions...
To be fair, I’m a big fan of quaint English fantasy! But it’s always blown my mind with how many deep sci-fi concepts are intertwined here too.
I think part of growing up in England is going through a phase of rejecting all the traditional things that your parents and grandparents like. Nowadays, I think I can appreciate the quaint a lot more than I used to.
C.S Lewis talked about the spirituality of alien life at length with Arthur C. Clarke. In fact if you read Clarke's books like the "Rendezvous with Rama", "City in the Stars" they deal with alien civilizations with gods so advanced that it actually is beyond our brains and minds to understand. Also, the various Narnia books are allegories for various parts of the Old and New Testaments , "The Magician's Nephew"--> Genesis, "The Horse and his Boy"--> Exodus, "The Last Battle"--> Book of Revelations.
Netflix needs to keep the serious tone of the books and not dumb them down or make it to "Disney-like" and fluffy.
I would do 4 seasons based on the first 4 books and then 3 movies based on Horse and His Boy, Magician's Nephew, and Last Battle.
I grew up with Narnia. I love all the different stories how every story feels different. I think Magician's Nephew is my favorite and I'd love to see it on screen.
Making the real world live action and then Narnia animated would be sooooooooooo sick
I never read them as a kid, the book cover with the unicorn with blood on it's horn always skived me out. Yes I know it was the cover of the last book now.
The lion the witch and the wardrobe is one of my favorite movies of all time, even now that I'm *technically* an adult, and I absolutely think it's a perfect adaptation (the first one) so I'm really nervous for the Netflix adaptation, but I guess I'll be *cautiously optimistic*. :)
Also, I think the reason The Horse and His Boy is not as popular is because of the fairly racist stereotypes present in some of the Caloremen characters.
Also also, I love the marvel connections😂 Good video!
It's funny that for me what I remember the most of narnia is the old BBC TV series it still has alot of charm
Man you nailed this. Appreciate the time and thought out into this and how accurate and well spoken it is.
The only book I managed to read as a kid was The Magician’s Nephew and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I’ve always been fascinated by creation stories and myths in general, so reading the book after having watched The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe gave me a lot more insight to the world of Narnia. I do honestly want to read the whole series someday, but it has been hard to make the choice between picking up a book or picking up the tv remote to watch something.
SO SO excited. Haven’t even watched but I’m glad you’re talking about it because you’re one of about two youtubers I’d trust to talk about it.
I LOVE the idea of it being all animated! After seeing some of the stuff Netflix has put out recently in terms of animation, I think it would actually be a perfect way to tell the story and really be able to capture the world🥰
love to see some Last Battle appreciation! definitely my favorite of the chronicles.
I haven't read the books personally but I do have the complete set that plan to read someday, as for my favorite line from the movies t's not word for word but when Peter says to Susan that the Beaver said he knows what happened to Mr. Thomson or whatever his name was and Susan's reaction
"He's a Beaver! He shouldn't be saying anything at all!"
Lol that line gets me every time I might go rewatch all 3 films now tat I'm reminiscing.
As a Christian, this is one of the best things I have loved about Narnia. Aslan is the Narnian form of Jesus and he talks to the humans about how they need to know him in their own world. This is why Narnia is always so special to me. I am also LDS and a little known thought in our expanded theology is that we are by far not the only people out there. We believe that there are worlds without number out there that are all God’s children and Jesus’s atonement applies to them too. You can see why this would then connect with me on an even deeper level, as when I read this as a child I was just thinking “yep, this is a fictional manifestation of this doctrine” that at the time I didn’t know other mainstream Christians including Lewis didn’t necessarily believe.
Excellent points! I've always felt that the inclination to realism was a drawback in the earlier film adaptations. The wildness and joy of Narnia is one of its best features. The Horse and His Boy is my favourite of the Chronicles. I've thought about how it could be adapted quite a bit. I even tried to make a claymation version when I was in high school (The part I finished is on my channel.) and I'd like to write a stage play version since it's public domain in Canada.
They should start from the very beginning with the magicians nephew, that’s my favourite book and explains everything, the creation of narnia and what led to Jadis becoming the white witch, always wanted to see a film adaptation! Speaking of Jadis, my favourite quote is one of hers, her speech to Aslan just before sacrificing him on the stone table; “Did you really think that by doing all of this you would save the human traitor? As agreed in our pact, I will kill you instead of him, so that the deep magic from the dawn of time will be appeased! But… when you are dead, what is to stop me from killing him too? Understand Aslan that you have given me Narnia, forever!... Understand that you have lost your own life and you have not saved his!”. She says it slightly differently in the film but that’s how she says it in the book.
Thae Magicians Nephew is a great story of world building and how accidental it can be either by magic or random chemistry.
This was a really cool video and you’re one of the first TH-camrs I’ve seen to talk about Narnia in this way 😯
I absolutely loved the way you gave your opinion without spoilers! I’m in the process of reading the books and I was scared to watch this in fear of having the books spoiled! You said just enough to get me more excited about reading it without ruining it!
Idk what to say because I've barely woken up, but this video slaps and so do all your videos, so: engagement. Eat that, algorithm.
Loved this - and my favorites as a kid were The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe + The Horse and His Boy! I have stronger memories of the former, but I always thought the latter was an underappreciated gem.
I think I'd have liked Last Battle a lot more if it weren't for Susan's ending. There was a lot about that that didn't sit right with me then and it's sat less right with age... but I think new adaptations have an opportunity to do something really interesting with that, maybe challenge or complicate it. So many writers (including Neil Gaiman!) have taken a swing at problematizing it and it'll be cool to see how modern film / TV can do it.
Loved this video and the refreshing points you made. I agree with how one of the most defining characteristics of the series is its mixed-time & mixed-character sequence (as opposed to focus on a fixed set of characters in chronological time such as the 'Harry Potter' series). It made each book so independently unique, yet they all feel united at the same time with Aslan being the centre of it all. My personal favourite was 'The Silver Chair'. Eustace and Jill's story was like a great 'spin-off' of the Pevensie's, but equally as interesting and thrilling, and ever so slightly darker, making the perfect transition into the final book.
My favourite is probably The Magician's Nephew. Really nice video Houston. You have one of the best understandings of Narnia I have heard.
This is fantastic! Well done Houston!
I personally would like to see what peter,susan, edmund, and lucy did as their time as kings and queens, horse and his boy gives us a glimpse but i have always wondered what else
Hi, I just found your channel from Letterboxd (from your review for The Mitchells vs. The Machines - great movie!). This is a fantastic video! Really well organized with lots of great details, it is clear that you put a lot of thought into your videos. Based on your video, I am definitely going to reread the Narnia series this summer for the first time since I was a young kid. I will surely be watching through more of your past videos this next week!
Hey, just found your channel, and I absolutely love the commentary! Awesome work, man!
Magician's Nephew is my favourite. Loved the set up for Lion Witch and the Wardrobe
Why aren’t there more views on this video? There’s too little for what is exactly what I’ve been thinking for years yet have been unable to articulate until I discovered this video. You reached into my brain and expressed perfectly what I’ve tried yet failed to explain about these books ever since I read them in 4th grade.
Goodness I hope that Netflix does the books justice, and your animated world idea is intriguing and I like it. Gotta be a 2D animation too, like in the style of Book of Kells or other stylized otherworldly animation.
Great video, once again! I had only read from Magicians Nephew through to Dawn Treader when I was younger (fantasy was never really “my thing”). But after hearing your description of the last book, I may have to revisit the series sometime soon!
Yes! Love this take on the series! I'm just hopeful they do Horse And His Boy justice, that's always been my favourite.
The silver chair is by far my favorite book in the series!
The Last Battle is freaking awesome and I can’t immediately think of a more satisfying ending. Great video dude!
I really don’t understand haters of the last battle. The ending was so unexpected and creative!
My favorite book is the silver chair because of Eustace and Jill and how they both come to the conclusion of how going from our world to Narnia works as well as the theme of the silver chair. And i love the arguments and dialog. And how evil the lady of the green is.
Love the return of Houston
The Magician’s Nephew was my favorite book. I owned the boxed collection as a child with the gilded covers and occasional illustrations, but I read the Magician’s Nephew all the time. The other books slip from my memory, but the Magician’s Nephew was such a key part of my childhood. I was so fascinated by the Woods between worlds, and it still influenced a core concept in my own writings.
Kind of wonder how they'll tackle the Susan problem. Like I get what C.S. Lewis was going for with the whole "no longer a friend of Narnia" thing. Most people misinterpret that statement in different ways; I always felt that it was because Susan was crudely trying to act "older" in much the same way some juveniles would picture "being an adult is." She was so obsessed with getting older that she lost sight of Narnia. While there was always a chance she could return to Narnia once she learned the follies of her ways. But...there is no empathy given by her. Her siblings basically go "Yeah, our silly sister cares for nylons, lipstick, and invitations now. Anyway, let's PAR-TAY!"
I understand Lewis felt that it would take a more elaborate method of getting Susan to Aslan's Country like a mature novel, but couldn't he have at least had Aslan or someone else assure the Pevensies that their sister would come to believe again" instead of just writing her off and not even appear once in the book? Never mind how she both saw Aslan come back from the dead but also how she admitted that deep down she always believed. It was a near 180 if you choose to ignore those moments.
Ultimately the problem of Susan to me is Lewis treating the character with little grace amounting to her siblings talking trash about her behind her back. Not to mention that because she was still alive, she would likely have to identify the bodies of her loved ones killed in the train wreck.
I love the background. It looks so cool
Hi, so I stumbled across this video of yours, and just wanted to let you know how great your interpretation is. I totally think you really get it. Very refreshing. I think Netflix should hire you as a consultant if they do endeavor to make this series. Cheers.
Wow. Amazing examination of Aslan 🔥
Voyage of the Don Treader and silver chair are my two favorite Narnia stories. I like Eustice Scrub's story. He turns out awesome.
1. The Last Battle
2. The Silver Chair
3. The Horse and His Boy
4. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
5. Prince Caspian
6. The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
7. The Magicians Nephew
But I've always loved them all. For a long time, I wanted to adapt the books themselves using the audiobook and its voice acting already but I just don't have the artistic talent to draw out what I imagine it to look like.
Horse and his boy is my favorite as well!!
The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe was definitely my favorite out of the three films. My favorite book is probably the Magicians Nephew, but the Last Battle is also really good.
Haven’t read them in a decade but from what I remember of them my favs best to worst are:
1. Voyage of Dawn Treader
2. Lion Witch Wardrobe
3. Magicians Nephew
4. Prince Caspian
5. The Horse and his Boy
6. Silver Chair
7. Last Battle
Voyage is the most fun, LWW is iconic. MN is so creative, Prince C is good. Don’t remember HB and SC as much but I do remember that the Last Battle was such a pathetic battle, it was like 15 dogs vs 50 men, not very epic imo
"the enemy kingdom"
The ones that start out as pirates are actually the Telmarines, and from Caspian X on to the end, they are converts, and even before that they have been somewhat close to Archenland.
The "enemy kingdom" as such is Calormen, and they are a kind of outcast from the Telmarines.
If you look at the Tash video or videos in Into the Wardrobe, there is a suggestion on how they became outcasts too.
I think my favorite book was The Horse and His Boy, but I love all the books so I’m just gonna say something I like about each (this is long, sorry, I think my best comment was on The Last Battle, tho):
The Magician’s Nephew: A very good origin story I must say. It’s kinda sad how some elements that are in this book are just never mentioned again. That’s fine ofc because I love how the rest of the series turned out, but we could’ve gotten a series where some kids travel to different worlds through little puddles using rings they got from a sketchy uncle man. The Pevensies? Lucy found some old rings in a closet somewhere and boom. You get to pick where you go next. But seriously, loved what actually happened, just thinking of what could have been.
The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe: always wondered what edmund’s gift would have been. Though I guess it’s part of the story that he didn’t.
The Horse and His Boy: I really like how CS Lewis included at least one story not based in Narnia. I also liked Bree and Aravis quite a lot.
Prince Caspian: so I don’t think I actually read this one because it was never in the library, so I can’t say anything about it yet. I’ll read it some day.
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader: I practically hated Eustace my guy, but I think he became my favorite character after that turn around. Something about really annoying kids suddenly not annoying makes them my favorite character for some reason
The Silver Chair: Puddleglum kept giving me Snufkin vibes and maybe that made me like him a lot more. He was a funny guy. Made the book.
The Last Battle: first off, because of the pictures in the book, King Tirian reminded me of Philza Minecraft in a way. I feel a little bad for King Tirian, but also I find this amusing. He’s this last kind of Narnia trying to save his kingdom and ultimately failing on his own, then being like “alright I know what comes next, I’m ready to be overshadowed by the children from the other world.” And he does all this preparing to save Narnia when Narnia is ready to end. And kind of ends up being almost useless but trying his best in the story. (Not saying he isn’t useful in the story, just saying that from his stance, he’s in this great position of power, then he’s suddenly overshadowed by literally every other king and queen of Narnia in his own story, and he’s kinda just like, “ok i’ll just go along with this” and I find that humorous). And because of how my mind processed all this while reading the book, I cant help but imagine King Tirian in the modern day as this young man (like 27-34) who’s trying to make enough money to keep his apartment, and keeps getting calls from his mom about how to do the laundry properly.
Idk, my favorite book is, I thing, the horse and the boy. In there, it seems that Lewis is having writing it. Besides, it puts the focus on someome that lives in that crazy world. Oh, and I love the arabic inspirations
Bueno, ya voy terminando el vídeo pero tengo que escribirlo. Me encantó tu análisis! Me esperaba un vídeo quizá más simple pero como te digo; me encantó ese punto cinefilo, es más, dan ganas de ir a leérselo como tal en los libros aunque lo empecé en inglés lo abandone un poco y retome las películas con amigos. En fin geniaaaal, lo que complementaste y sin dar tan fuertes spoilers de lo que pueda contener libros como futuras películas.
Gracias Sofia!!
My favorite Narnia book is probably Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I love the episodic structure and all the fun people they encounter on each island. I also just love sailing adventures! It’s a tough choice though because I am fascinated by the Charn chapters in Magician’s Nephew and I think both Magician’s Nephew and The Last Battle have a wonderful depiction of what it looks like when you close off your mind to belief.
Really solid video, but I'm completely thrilled that you've pointed out that the Chronicles actually aren't an allegory. I've been grumbling under my breath about that for years, and it's gratifying to hear someone else say it (maybe there are a lot of people saying it, but I've never encountered them).
In my opinion, the first movie worked best because of the three, the story stuck the most closely to the original. The next two had two many deviations from the books, deviations which tried too hard to make the films like any other fantasy film. Prince Caspian is one of my favourite of the book series, but the film was stripped of everything that story was about: especially, having faith in something despite not being able to see it, in this case, the promise that help would come to Caspian if he didn't give up,; and that Aslan was there guiding them though the children couldn't see him. As for the Dawn Treader, it felt rather hollow compared to the book; they felt the need to add a villain, mixed up the storyline, and completely emptied it of all the beautiful marvels Lewis invented at the World's End, I mean, that was always one of the most magical things I ever read, and it just wasn't there in the film.
In short, the film companies keep talking down to the audience, and shy away from anything which speaks of Jesus; Lewis never does that.
Totally agree!
For shear innocence and charm, I'd have to say my favorite book is the first one. How touching when Lucy first meets Mr. Tumnus, duplicitous though he is.
My favorite book in the series is hands down, The Horse and His Boy.
Voyage of the Dawntreader and Silver Chair are my favorite Narnia stories. I like Eustace Scrubb. He turns out really cool!
THE SILVER CHAIR, that is such a great book, it would be great movie to be done, and the Horse and his boy, so nice...
i grew up watching the lion the witch and the wardrobe, and i have to say i would not want narnia to be an animated show, if they just did what the first movie did (actually being faithful to the books and keeping that wonder) then i would be down 100%
I have fond memories of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, so it is my favorite of the series. I always loved Maugrim the wolf, for some reason (I remember his introduction so well when it was read to me by my mother). Evil wolves are cool and I adored how the Walden film gave him more scenes. I'd love to see a spin-off that covers Maugrim's story someday. He seemed mysterious to me, despite having only two scenes in the book.
Ah, I'm so glad you mentioned the Wood Between the Worlds...... Those pools fascinated me as a child...... Still one of my all-time favorite elements in any of the major fantasy franchises!
I'm actually more curious to see what Netflix does with the non-Pevensie books in the series. I always had a soft spot for the Eeyore-like Puddleglum in "The Silver Chair" so I hope they do our little friend justice! In general, I *really* hope Netflix gets this right...... These books finally deserve a worthy screen adaptation!
One more random thought...... I've always really loved when series bring all the characters back together in the end, à la "Endgame". I must have first read "The Last Battle" around 2003 when - of all things to bring up - "Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over" was released, because I can clearly remember making the connection between all the Narnia friends returning and Juni Cortez summoning all the "Spy Kids" characters back together at the end of that film and realizing for the first time that "bringing the gang all together" generally makes for a genuinely satisfying conclusion for most any series. 🤗
I looove the Last Battle. I confess i only got the interest to read the books after listening to the full Radio Drama versions.
I'd love to see Narnia as a musical movie though. It will perfectly capture the emotional tone of the stories, at least the balance of joy and epicness, if done right.
Very good analysis, good points.
Yo, how come I haven't found you before?
Hight quality, super asthetic background and at the same time it just felt like we had a good talk about narnia, you and me. Very cool. More :)
Completely agree with all of this, also YES to it being animated! I think such a whimsical, wacky world really needs a more artistic and flexible medium. I adore the first live action movie but some of the other books are much harder to adapt, I still have no idea how they could even attempt the ending of the last book. That being said, I wish I could be cautiously optimistic but... nothing about Netflix's track record gives me hope. Just look at what they did to Winx Club- doesn't matter who's working on it when the higher-ups just want a low-cost copy of another successful property.
I allways thought that the lack of lore was on purpose. That way the mystery and the imagination meet and the reader can make a Narnia of his own.