I think Narnia film adaptions has potential to have great villains. Then it comes to, how will films portray them? Most importantly, why should we hope for our heroes to overcome him with help from Aslan?
Obviously, we'll see another version of the White Witch and Miraz in The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe and Prince Caspian. But I'm sure that new film adaptions will want to portray them differently than the BBC and Walden. Hey, the world is being re-imagined, so it's fine.
Let’s hope they don’t have the Green Mist in Voyage of the Dawn Treader, like Walden did! 
I know it’s almost traditional to have a villain but Voyage of the Dawn Treader doesn’t need one!
In The Silver Chair, Eustace and Jill think that the Lady of the Green Kirtle is a nice person. Puddleglum is actually suspicious of her! I think there's a way for the audience to wonder "Can we trust her?" or "There's something not right about that woman!"
In The Horse And His Boy, Prince Rabadash is childish, yes, but probably should not be too childish! I think they can have him visit Cair Paravel and be courteous and kind and gracious as he appeared to be. Then later, watch him reveal his true nature. I think that could make an interesting twist.
In The Last Battle, it's the whole thing about manipulation. Shift manipulates Puzzle, then he gets manipulated by Rishda and Ginger. Perhaps in a movie, the Calormenes could show up, and Rishda could say, "We come in peace! We do not intend to make war!" I think Shift, Rishda, and Ginger should be portrayed as subtle.
I think most importantly, it will come down to where we'll want our heroes to put their trust in Aslan even in the midst of evil that they encounter and we want good to prevail in the end.
So how should Narnia film adaptions portray the villains and what are ways we can hope for our heroes with help from Aslan to overcome them?
"And this is the marvel of marvels, that he called me beloved."
(Emeth, The Last Battle)
Topic starter
Posted : April 18, 2023 3:28 pm
You're really going all in on the villains topics today eh... Not sure I can keep up! 🤯 😉
For what it's worth I also find these list-based topics somewhat difficult to engage with, since if we are having to consider a broad topic (i.e. the concept of villainy in general) across a really wide focus (i.e all 7 books) it's hard to know where to start - and also hard to ensure a coherent conversation develops.
That said, I'll go away and try and think of anything interesting I can find to say about the nature of villainy in Narnia and it's portrayal in Narnia for you
Posted : April 18, 2023 3:42 pm
Courtenay liked
That’s fine. I think that’s what people like, just as much as the heroes. It's just as important that film adaptions do the villains justice as it is to do the heroes justice.
I was just reading a trivia on IMDB that Walden was originally going to have Miraz make an appearance as part of the hallucination, that Caspian's worst fear was being taunted by his uncle in VDT. Then of course, they didn't go that route.
The only two movies that the White Witch should be in are The Magician's Nephew and The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe. That's kind of the reason why I don't like the idea of Narnia being turned into a super-hero type movie, where they keep bringing back the old villain.
We want good to overcome evil. Yet of course, "saving the world to defeat the bad guy at the end" should not be like the main thing.
We want to Eustace and Jill to follow the signs, and when the Lady of the Green Kirtle sends them off the Giant Castle of Harfang, we want to be like, "Can we trust her?" The conflict is about following the signs and trusting Aslan, and the Lady of Green Kirtle tries to distract them.
When Digory encounters with Jadis at the Garden of Youth, we want him to resist those temptations. We want to make him realize what kind of woman she really is.
"And this is the marvel of marvels, that he called me beloved."
(Emeth, The Last Battle)
Topic starter
Posted : April 18, 2023 3:47 pm