Lilygloves, I think you are right that the Calormenes were brought up to hate Narnia. In LB Emeth says he has been brought up to dislike Aslan and Narnia and to serve Tash and Calormen. And then came Aslan's response that 'anythng that is good Aslan takes for himself whilst anything bad belongs to Tash.' I think that somewhere in Romans there is a passage which says something similar about people who have not been brought up in knowledge of the law but, having the law in their hearts, obey it nonetheless, being acceptable to the Lord.

However, I don't agree that the Calormenes ever thought that only black people should be slaves - their leaders, in particular Rabadash and the Tisroc, thought that everyone should be slaves other than themselves, regardless of how fair or dark they were. The peasants having to bow and scrape to the high-ups, on pain of some horrible punishment or other, were little better off than slaves. In VDT Caspian, the Pevensies and even pasty-faced Eustace were captured for slavery, whilst in HHB Shasta narrowly avoids becoming Anradin's slave, the reason for his escaping in the first place.

And that is also the reason why Aslan lashes Aravis, to remind her that nobody is 'only my maid servant' to be disregarded. The Calormene leaders tended to regard their country and its inhabitants as personal property, rather than a personal responsibility which is the (good) Narnian way.

^I think Lilygloves was referring to American slavery, not Calormene slavery.

What about how she sees him treating animals or servants etc in Tashbaan? Wouldn't that be a real factor in her change of heart, especially if she really was Queen Susan the Gentle?

I think that could work well. I haven't read the book in a while, so forgive me if I'm mistaken, but I seem to recall that in Calormen, there were slaves with their tongues cut off so they couldn't speak. Perhaps Susan could find out about this, and Rabadash could treat it like no big deal or something. Or maybe Rabadash could order a slave to be beaten for doing something small such as spilling something on the floor.
I think I'd really like to see Susan's gentle side in this film. All we've seen so far, really, is 'logical Susan' and 'warrior-princess Susan'. In all the Walden CoN movies I've seen so far, I don't think I've ever seen her be truly nice to someone else for anything more than a few seconds. It's a bit sad, because although Susan was never one of my favourite characters, I never minded her that much when she was Queen Susan the Gentle. Queen Susan the Violent doesn't quite have the same ring to it...

I can't remember if this has been discussed in this thread before, but I've been thinking about who would direct this movie if it ever got greenlit. In my opinion, Apted is out. I think HHB is a story that would need a really enthusiastic director... such as Adamson. I think he'd be perfect for this one. It has the battles, the linear plotline with a climax towards the end and the Pevensies. It would really suit his style of directing.
The only worry I'd have about him directing would be that he might blow up the romance between Shasta and Aravis. I'd prefer this not to happen, as I think the story's more about building friendships than it is about romance. The romance only comes when Cor and Aravis have grown up. I think all I'd want was maybe a wedding at the end of the film or something... yet again, I've never been a huge fan of romance.

They need more than doing other books. HHB is mentioned in SC. So first they must read the books. Then they must choose between actors playing adult Pevensies and actors playing normal Pevensies. As you probably know, characters are little older than they are in the books and the actors are little older than characters. But the actors were children during filming LWW. That's why the director employed other actors, including Georgie Henley's older sister, to play them at the end. Later all they normally do, and finally horses. They talk, so they could be animated as Aslan is, or they could be real, only with animated mouths' move. I don't know who could voice them! Aravis' dress must be as 13 years old girl could have, but it also must look expensive and sumptuos. And Corin must be similar to Cor, but without exaggeration. I must differentiate them!

I'm really worried about how they'll do Aslan tearing Aravis' back. If they something like they did with Draon Eustace, I'm going to hate it. They need to show that Aravis was wrong. They shouldn't have Aslan making things not so harsh. They must do this part to the letter. Otherwise, my favorite Narnian book as a movie will be ruined!

I'm really worried about how they'll do Aslan tearing Aravis' back. If they something like they did with Draon Eustace, I'm going to hate it. They need to show that Aravis was wrong. They shouldn't have Aslan making things not so harsh. They must do this part to the letter. Otherwise, my favorite Narnian book as a movie will be ruined!

That's something that's going to be really interesting to see in terms of what the filmmakers will do. It's something the filmmakers are going to have to treat with special care, because it needs to have exact balance. On one hand, we don't want it to be disgustingly gory; we can't forget that, in esscence, these books were written for children. On the other hand, we don't want it to be 'tame'; we want to see that yes, it hurts a lot. It's an extremely delicate scene, but done well it could be very powerful. Even so, it isn't going to be easy to get that balance (which means that in Walden's case, they'll probably try to skip it altogether ).
Something else that's really important they emphasise about Aravis' wounds is that it is not 'karma', but actual chastisement from Aslan, delivered in love so that Aravis will learn to consider what effects her actions have on others and how it might hurt them. If it's just a 'you hurt someone, so now you'll get hurt', the scene will lose all meaning, no matter how well the 'balance' for the wounds is done.
I agree, PuddleCheep, that Aslan shouldn't be portrayed as 'tame', never letting anything painful happen to anyone. That is nothing like reality, and I'm sure Lewis would be turning in his grave to hear that this is what his books were being turned into. The fact is that God lets bad things to happen for us for a purpose (which we may not see until much later), which is one of the major themes of 'The Horse and his Boy'. Boy, it'd be a shame if they left that out.

The only worry I'd have about him directing would be that he might blow up the romance between Shasta and Aravis. I'd prefer this not to happen, as I think the story's more about building friendships than it is about romance. The romance only comes when Cor and Aravis have grown up. I think all I'd want was maybe a wedding at the end of the film or something... yet again, I've never been a huge fan of romance.

This is something I would be willing to compromise on. Yes, it would be better for it to be mostly friendship for most of the movie, but we saw in Walden's VDT that if we don't see a romance in the movie, we won't see it at all. Who knows, perhaps we'll get lucky and they won't kiss, just hold hands (I can dream, can't I? ).

I'm really worried that they will white-wash the casting, particularly Aravis. I'd rather they deal with the PC issues of the Calormen being mostly actors from Indian and Iranian descent than they give the role of Aravis to a white girl. I would hate that.

I would think that surely any movie studios would have learned from the huge uproar over the Last Airbender whitewashing. But then, this is Hollywood. They never learn their lessons.