Since it sounds like Netflix is going to adapt The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, I've been pondering how they'll do one of the problem scenes from it: Tumnus unsuccessfully trying to lull Lucy to sleep. Just watching Tumnus play his pipes while Lucy sits across from him would probably be boring especially if it goes on for over a minute.
The BBC series and the Walden movie both had Tumnus's song conjure images of Narnian life in Lucy's head. This was a good way to include the stories he told her from the book without doing a big long scene listening to him telling those stories (though it was probably confusing for viewers who, unlike myself, weren't familiar with source material.) But we don't want the new adaptation to just rehash previous adaptations.
They could just have the camera pan around the room while the music plays. Not the most exciting device but it would allow them to show the humorous titles of the books on Tumnus's shelf. Or they could just cut the lullabye entirely. That'd be disapointing for me as a fan though.
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Just to set the stage, my overall opinion on Netflix adapting Narnia is optimistic. That said, it's going to be hard to sell me on a new LWW.
I think the hardest part is going to be capturing Lewis's description of the tune (not referred to as a lullaby in the text, from what I can see). "And the tune he played made Lucy want to cry and laugh and dance and go to sleep all at the same time."
I believe Gregson-Williams hit three out of the four elements (I can't see myself wanting to laugh) and choosing the lullaby route was the way to go. I don't want a rehash, but something with similar feeling (or at least similar passion) needs to be written.
As far as the scene goes in general, I think it would be very effective for them to talk at moderate length of the old days, especially if we see Magician's Nephew first. Even though as viewers we will see very little of the old days in MN, it could bring up the emotions of longing in the viewers as well, instead of us just trying to empathize with Tumnus when we have no established context. In turn, that could play into the composition of the tune.
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