@col-klink
No, the 1940's beginning would be a reason why today's readers would be attracted to the book.  Back in 1950 the Second World War was only a few years in the past.  People would look at the time as more like recent history, although there was a fond remembrance for medieval fairy tales, which would evoke a similar feeling of nostalgia toward the Narnia portion of the book.  Actually, both generations of readers could enjoy the story's nostalgia. There is no reason why the readers from different times couldn’t love all of the time periods in the books, although the World War II period was darker and perhaps more difficult to survive. 

If its almost certain they are starting with Magician's Nephew now, then i guess we can put the Modern Day debate to bed for a while... unless they are going to be following up a modern day MN up with a LWW set in 2065!  

Posted by: @icarus

If its almost certain they are starting with Magician's Nephew now, then i guess we can put the Modern Day debate to bed for a while... unless they are going to be following up a modern day MN up with a LWW set in 2065!  

It's rock and roll. Obviously that means MN will be set in the 1970's. /s

@justin Now I'm imagining Uncle Andrew as an aging rocker under the delusion that he's still "got it"...  

@courtenay 

I am kidding, obviously, but part of me is nervous that there is a non zero chance I may end up being right. 

Posted by: @courtenay

@justin Now I'm imagining Uncle Andrew as an aging rocker under the delusion that he's still "got it"...  

Oh dear, they would have no choice but to cast Bill Nighey.  He already played an ageing rocker in Love Actually. 
The term "rocker" wasn't really used until the later 50s, and the musicians of the day would have been mostly in their 20s and 30s. I guess if he was as old as Chuck Berry, he could have been 60+ in the 2065 version of MN!! (Think Keith Richards)

Posted by: @courtenay

@justin Now I'm imagining Uncle Andrew as an aging rocker under the delusion that he's still "got it"...  

But, I mean, .... would it be inaccurate?  

I'd say it feels more important than it actually is based on the text itself. It could be because the films and BBC dramatizations have shaped my visual picture of the books in many ways. This was a great discussion to read through. 

Posted by: @icarus

If its almost certain they are starting with Magician's Nephew now, then i guess we can put the Modern Day debate to bed for a while... unless they are going to be following up a modern day MN up with a LWW set in 2065!

Posted by: @justin

It's rock and roll. Obviously that means MN will be set in the 1970's.

Does either of you want to reconsider the probability of this happening now 😆 

I think that the way that movies portray the culture today is wildly unrealistic, so i have no desire to have a wildly unrealistic view of humanity placed upon Narnia. People don't act the way people are portayed in TV and movies in real life. People don't act like that and if you put that on Narnia and then try to put in the magical elements it will seem very silly. The people have to act like real people and Aslan has to act like God and the way people write present day on tv and movies now is very unrealistic. No one talks like that. No one acts like that.

Posted by: @decarus

People don't act the way people are portrayed in TV and movies in real life.....No one talks like that. No one acts like that.

I think that's a criticism you could make of every single movie ever made since the dawn of time.

I think you kind of just have to treat it as being part of the medium at this stage 

I think that great movies don't do that. I think great movies find something about the truth of humanity that is very lacking in almost all of todays movies and tv, in my opinion. 

Think about the Wizard of Oz. There is just this girl who lives with her aunt and uncle on a farm with some workers and has a nosey old rich neighbor who takes her dog because he messes with her flowers and that all feels very real and grounded and then she gets thrown into this other magical land. You have to ground the real part.

Think about the terminator. There is this kid that is very 80s with his single mom working at a diner, but you get it mom and a kid and having a normal rough life and then bam there is this guy saying a robot is trying to kill her son.

Even Star Wars just a kid complaining to his aunt and uncle about doing chores and then here comes the crazy.

I do think that movies and tv are the stylized version of reality, but it has just gone off the rails now. No one i have ever met talks or thinks the way that people talk in tv or movies now. It is just so out there, that there is no ground for the person to stand on, their characters aren't people, so when whatever strange thing happens to them it is just ridiculous and silly. Not all, but almost all. You have to ground the characters in reality.

For me, movies are all about character. Understand the character, grow the character, understand them again. Understand their motivations. That is plot. The storyline is irrelevant. The making of realistic, grounded characters, is the whole game. In my opinion, that is what i want.

  It gets too complicated if some stories are transported to modern times, if that is what is being suggested. C.S. Lewis is quite specific that MN takes place in summer, 1900, that is to say, only six months or less, before the then very real Empress of India, passed away on 22nd January, in 1901, after which began the so-called Edwardian era. I can't imagine how Jadis would look, trying to balance herself on the hood of a speeding taxi, rather than a hansom cab. Especially in London, where these days only the King & Queen plus the Prince & Princess of Wales ride in carriages on a formal occasion like the opening of Parliament. Besides, the film company would have to book in the filming session with the Met, which they might need to do, anyway. The Cabbie would be getting whipped to speed up more, and London's traditional cabs don't allow that sort of thing, with a partition between the driver & his passengers.  Police car sirens blaring to book the unfortunate cabbie, wouldn't suit, either. 

Take the story to summer of 1947 as I saw mentioned in past comments on this thread, means that LWW didn't happen, the German bombing of London, the reason for the Pevensies being evacuated, had long finished. British troops were withdrawn from both the newly independent India, which had become a republic, like the newly created East & West Pakistan. And there was no longer any need for a British Empress of India, either, when 5 years later, the then widowed Queen Consort would become the Queen Mother. 

These days, Jadis would be lucky not to be tasered or even shot down like in NCIS (Whether Sydney or Los Angeles). That would end the story, full stop. No need to be transported anywhere else, including to Narnia, to meet Aslan. To locate the story in the present would be an even worse idea. 

I don't think I would be up for a modern-day setting in our world for Narnia. What would that mean Magician's Nephew would take place in? Early or mid 1950's? I guess it's not the worst thing, but for the other books no. I can't possibly think how it would work out.

I think the way to promote the books is to have the movie look old fashioned like the time periods the stories are set in. Then there won’t be any confusion for the readers, many of whom are children, to make a consistent connection between the books and the films. If it is the same time period it will be easier to attract people to the books. And people will want to see a movie that is at least similar in some ways to the books. The nostalgia will work effectively to attract people to see a movie that is based on a book.

I recently had a funny moment reading The Magician's Nephew to my six-year-old son. I read aloud the very first sentence, "This is a story about something that happened long ago when your grandfather was a child..." A quick internal debate settled with me finishing the chapter, and then going back to explain that this story actually takes place in 1900, far before Poppie was born 🤣 

Personally, I'd prefer that adaptions stay within the 1900-1940s timeline. That being said, in most of the books, the children don't spend too much time in our world. It might not make a huge difference since the majority of the stories take place in Narnia.