@courtenay 

The mistakes in grammar wouldn’t bother me that much coming from a beaver.  Mr. Beaver is a gentle hard working talking animal so I don’t think grammar really matters that much to him nor is it the most important thing.  If he were an English professor in Narnia it would matter more. I think it is more important to have a congenial decent manner, which the humble Beavers did have.  Actually, it was kind of interesting that talking Beavers were the ones that introduced Aslan to the Pevensies and not Kings or Queens, which the Pevensies would become later in the story. 

Posted by: @narnian78

@courtenay 

The mistakes in grammar wouldn’t bother me that much coming from a beaver.  Mr. Beaver is a gentle hard working talking animal so I don’t think grammar really matters that much to him nor is it the most important thing.  If he were an English professor in Narnia it would matter more.

My point there was simply that the one time C.S. Lewis draws attention to Mr Beaver's "bad grammar", it ISN'T an example of bad grammar by most ordinary English speakers' standards — it's something that only an absolute pedant would pick at. And Lewis presumably only does it there because what such pedants insist is the correct form ("It isn't She") sounds so stilted and awkward that it wouldn't come across as a natural and normal thing for Mr Beaver to say.

(Why he pulls Mr Beaver up on that, but not on "that's what I brought you here for" (which he says shortly after quoting the "Wrong will be right..." prophecy) — ending a sentence with a preposition, which is another of those gratuitous rules invented by scholars who were trying to apply Latin grammatical rules to modern English — is entirely beyond me. )

I think it is more important to have a congenial decent manner, which the humble Beavers did have.  Actually, it was kind of interesting that talking Beavers were the ones that introduced Aslan to the Pevensies and not Kings or Queens, which the Pevensies would become later in the story. 

Well, there weren't any Kings or Queens in Narnia at the time, which is what the Pevensies were called there for, but I get what you mean. Lewis (rather like Tolkien, but in different ways) does have a fair bit of emphasis on the humble, simple, unassuming, good-hearted characters being more truly honourable and worthy than the proud, haughty, exalted ones. It's a very Christian message, of course.

And getting back to the way Mr Beaver actually speaks in the book, as I was saying, there are a few lines of his that do sound a little bit like a rural dialect ("That I will", and so on), but Lewis never goes all-out with actually writing his dialogue in non-standard English, the way he later did for Frank the Cabby and the other working-class Londoners we meet in The Magician's Nephew — or indeed like what Frances Hodgson Burnett does with her "broad Yorkshire" speaking characters in The Secret Garden. And regardless of that, Lewis most definitely doesn't portray Mr Beaver as anything like the Walden movie, in which he comes across as a total ocker. (That's a word from my own native dialect there, since it's the best term I can think of for the purpose. )

But this is all going even further off the topic of how Aslan should be introduced in the next film version of LWW... maybe we need yet another topic of "How should the Beavers be portrayed?" 

And to sum up my feelings on Aslan's first appearance in any future adaptation: yes, we DO need to know beforehand that he is a lion; we definitely need to have the lines about "Then he isn't safe?"... "'Course he isn't safe. But he's good"; and having him step out of a tent was a totally silly idea in the Walden version. Hopefully the next attempt, whenever it comes out, will give us much more of a sense that he is someone utterly awe-inspiring, as he needs to be for the entire series to work as it should.

@courtenay 

Does ocker mean the same thing as boor?  I never heard of the word ocker before because I live here in the U. S.  I have heard of boor, but the word, which is used to describe a rude uneducated person, is not used very often today.  Why would Lewis use someone like that to introduce Aslan would be beyond me.  I think the filmmakers could have given Mr. Beaver more thought and made him more like C. S. Lewis created him.  Oh, well. 🙂

Posted by: @narnian78

@courtenay 

Does ocker mean the same thing as boor?  I never heard of the word ockerbefore because I live here in the U. S.  I have heard of boor, but the word, which is used to describe a rude uneducated person, is not used very often today.  

Yes, exactly. "Boor" isn't used in Australia, but "ocker" definitely is, to describe a really rough and uncultured person. (Implicitly male. I have occasionally heard the word "ockerina" for the female equivalent, as a clever pun on the musical instrument! ) In short, the sort of person who would pepper his sentences with "bloomin'" — plus other words that wouldn't be suitable for a kids' film — and refer to the King above all Kings as "the top geezer". 

(Honestly, if no-one minds me adding this, that line reminds me too much of a very silly joke that's far too long to tell in full and parts of it wouldn't be appropriate here, but it involves a trainee minister who has a bit too much to drink to fortify his nerves before giving his first sermon in church. Among the pointers he receives afterwards in a long letter of advice from the senior minister is: "We do not refer to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit as 'Daddy, Junior and the Spook'." ) 

Why would Lewis use someone like that to introduce Aslan would be beyond me.  I think the filmmakers could have given Mr. Beaver more thought and made him more like C. S. Lewis created him.  Oh, well. 🙂

It's beyond me too, but I guess it just goes to show that the Walden filmmakers really didn't have a clear sense of who Aslan is meant to be and how he ought to be presented. As you say, oh well... I just hope Greta Gerwig will do a better job.