Furthermore, both racism & sexism go both ways, judging by the news of last week about those kidnapped Nigerian girls. As is also shown in both HHB & LB. And you make a good point about the Mediterranean ancestry of Prince Caspian. If that novel could be filmed without much murmur, why can't both HHB and LB be filmed also? As for Philip Pullman, why was he the first to call these books racist & sexist when they were first published by 1956, remaining in circulation since then? JK Rowling, who has admitted she never read, or finished, the Last Battle, wasn't even born until 31/7/1965.

Thank you. They come off as immensely irritating and self-righteous in their commentary of Narnia. It's pretty easy to accuse an author of dated views when you're living more than fifty years after his books have been published. I haven't read His Dark Materials, but I have read books 1-5 of Harry Potter, and if Rowling thinks she broke down all kinds of stereotypes with her female characters, I will say that Lewis did a better job at that every time. I don't even think it's a bias, the fact that a man writing during the 1950s could invent characters such as Lucy, Jill, and Polly is pretty extraordinary. People just don't seem to realise that back then, women were expected to be little more than wives and mothers. It seems nothing short of ridiculous to me now to paint Lewis as a sexist or racist, though I have wondered in the past about whether it could be possible.

And yes, I will read your fanfiction. XD I actually was going to earlier but I got distracted by your discussion of The Problem of Susan on the same page. I had such a hard time understanding what the heck was going on in that story, and I think I'm usually pretty decent at analysing things...

Sorry, I don't know how you would see my live journal, which is under the name, gadigal, an anglicisation of the name of the Cadigal mob, the first people who lived around Sydney Harbour in 1788. If you go into the journal through the link the first thing you should see is the first episode, entitled No longer a friend of Narnia? Part 1 of If Susan was a real person. The last episode is entitled Once a queen, always a queen. Ep 6 of If Susan was a real person, and ends how I see Susan dying. You should be able to read the fanfic consecutively, merely by scrolling down, for the first 6 sections, as everything I ever wrote in it is all on the same page. I struggle with IT, you see. I started this fanfic on 16th January, 2013, and finished it to my satisfaction on 16th December 2013, but to do this so it can be read, I had to do the sections in reverse order of when I wrote them due to the nature of Livejournal.

The year beforehand, I wanted to discuss "The problem of Susan". The Problem with Susan is Neil Gaiman's take on Susan Pevensie, published in a book of short stories in 2004, but this is definitely M rated, like his other stories in that volume. What I have written in my livejournal is partly a discussion of this story as well as LB. Gaiman's story is interesting to read for anyone who wants to film Last Battle, and it can be read on Internet. But it is a distorted tale, to avoid copyright issues, and I think most people here would dislike it, intensely, for the horrible way it depicts Aslan, in particular.

Professor Susan Hastings, according to Gaiman, becomes a Professor of Children's literature after the Rail accident. She never marries, has a love affair with a married man before losing siblings in a rail accident, and has horrible dreams about a battlefield after which she and her sister see a lion and a witch deep in discussion, but she doesn't know what they are deciding. A journalist interviewing her on a book she has written on children's literature takes her for the real Susan Pevensie, and questions her about that Last Battle scene, and Susan not going to heaven. When Susan dies during the following night, rather well, I thought, the journalist gets an even worse bad dream about Aslan and the White Witch.

I ended up writing my own fanfic, and that is all it can ever be, because I also disagree with Gaiman's version of Susan Pevensie's fate, which rather depends on Philip Pullman's criticisms of C.S.Lewis' LB, and Greta, the journalist's, poor understanding of both the book and any theology behind it. I wanted to work out my own take, and I think mine is at least as valid a point of view from a cultural perspective. Gaiman's story also adds weight to LB being PG13, since it is clear from Gaiman's short story, that younger children might not understand it very well, unless a suitable adult discusses it with them. I doubt I have put in anything, myself, that the mods here would object to, as it isn't my personal style, anyway.

Much of the rest of my live journal is a discussion of the HP novels. Even if JK Rowling agreed rather mildly, about 2003, when OOTP was published, that LB was sexist about the lipstick, and Susan discovering romance, she has also claimed to be heavily influenced by C.S.Lewis in her writing, especially VDT, which she read to her eldest daughter, and Magician's Nephew. I can also see this, in various parts of the HP series, and in its overall arrangement. At the time of C.S.Lewis' writing, people, and the publishing world, were more uptight about children reading about romance, at least in UK and the Commonwealth of Nations. At the time of OOtP's 2003 release, LWW was in the pipeline, GOF was already being filmed, Laura Mallory was trying to get HP banned and JKR was probably nervous about her delayed new book which was being criticised almost as vociferously as Philip Pullman had criticized LB & HHB. If necessary, I'll give you separate links for each section.

You guys don't want it to drag out into two films so we can have more Narnia? I can't say I would mind if both films were really well-done, but...it's probably not needed, you're right. I'm just being a tad selfish. :O

Well, that's true, but I've heard such concerning things about The Hobbit trilogy, and it seems that they've stretched out that book like they were pulling taffy.

JK Rowling, who has admitted she never read, or finished, the Last Battle...

Really? I did not know that. It's disappointing that she'd comment on Susan if she hadn't finished the series.

Much as I like fantasia_kitty's idea of the box with the rings being passed on to Susan, on second thoughts, I rather think that if Aslan had the power to rescue his Friends of Narnia from the trainwreck, as well as Mr & Mr Pevensie, he would also have the power to "vanish" the box of rings, lest they do any more harm.

Unless... there was still a purpose for them in this world. Everyone, be on the lookout for yellow and green rings.

Sorry, Wagga, when I said distracted, I simply meant that I saw the six parts of the fanfiction, but saw there were other posts as well and thought I'd read a few of those short ones before I dug into the longer story.

I had tears in my eyes at the end of your story! ;__; It was a really well-written, interesting take on what might happen to Susan after her tragic loss, and I think this part is an excellent way of describing the person she has become at the time of The Last Battle: "'That's what Polly Plummer was saying all those years ago. She was right. I acted as if my wedding day was the only important consideration in my life, even when I was still at school. I was so intent on my wedding day that I ignored such warnings, trying to pretend those Narnia adventures never really happened to show how grown-up I was. And, thinking that it is adult to put aside fairy tales, I fell for the biggest fairy tale of them all, that after the wedding day I would live "happily ever after"."

I liked the comparisons between her husband in this world with Rabadash, as well. I think we can say that Chuck is a better person than Rabadash, but it does show that Susan still suffers from some of the same problems in determining what is important. I wouldn't mind them doing for the film what you did, with the nylons, lipstick, and invitations being related to an upcoming wedding, but of course they'd be, er...borrowing your idea.

I'm not sure whether I want to see The Last Battle as a film or not. On the one hand, the story has great potential for the screen and I would love to see the first two-thirds of it. On the other hand, I shudder to think what could happen to the last part of the story.

The last third of the story drives home one of the main themes of the entire series: longing for something more, something better, something greater than our own world. That sense of longing for something greater resonated with me the first time I read the series and I still feel it today. Jewel summed it up beautifully:

"I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now. The reason why we loved the old Narnia is that it sometimes looked a little like this."

If that longing is not an essential part of the story, than the last third is rather meaningless. They've finally come home, but if we as an audience are not convinced that they have come home there's no joy in it.

The reason I'm so hesitant is because the already existing films have failed to capture that sense of longing. PC came close a few times, but I think that theme got a bit lost in the shuffle. LWW tried, but since they gave the power of stopping the winter to the children, the Narnians' longing for Aslan's return was shoved aside. VDT failed utterly. One of the core themes of the book was almost totally absent.

waggawerewolf27 wrote:
Much as I like fantasia_kitty's idea of the box with the rings being passed on to Susan, on second thoughts, I rather think that if Aslan had the power to rescue his Friends of Narnia from the trainwreck, as well as Mr & Mr Pevensie, he would also have the power to "vanish" the box of rings, lest they do any more harm.

Unless... there was still a purpose for them in this world.

I always did wonder what happened to the rings. There are so many pools in The Wood Between the Worlds and so many possibilities.

The more I ponder the latter chapters of The Last Battle, the more I'm convinced that whoever scores the film needs to be absolutely brilliant.

I think it might be an almost impossible challenge for a filmmaker to effectively capture the atmosphere of Aslan's Country as Lewis described it from a visual standpoint alone, but a talented composer has a fair shot at being able to make the viewer feel it. After all, the descriptions of Aslan's Country don't so much focus on what the place looks like; the focus is primarily on the way it makes its inhabitants feel. "Ever rock and flower and blade of grass looked as if it meant more." How could you ever capture that visually, without the awesome power of music alongside to guide the emotions of the audience?

I think the soundtrack is something that should really be given a lot of thought when it comes to translating The Last Battle from book to film. I'd love to see a lot of contrast, in both style and tone, between the music that accompanies the scenes in the Shadowlands and the scenes that take place in Aslan's Country.

This discussion has fascinated me. I haven't contributed at all because every time I think of something someone else covers the point with great clarity. I really appreciate everything people have to say. It's interesting to me that, despite being raised in a christian family and being one most of my life, my perspective on the books is very similar to PhelanVelvel. First and foremost they are works of classic children's literature; novels. Any 'christian' stuff in the books is there because no author writes without putting himself into his work, and of course to give fiction meaning, one must put what one believes is meaningful into it. Now, I'm not diminishing the importance of his themes; I believe they are strengthened through fiction.

Unfortunately, so many people see Lewis as a theologian and assume that everything he writes must be evaluated from that standpoint. Thus, we get every little thing included in the stories (and even many things he excluded) torn apart, examined, judged, and compared to see if it measures up to our ideas of political correctness. Preconceptions irritate me, but of course none of us are free from them. It angers me that people truly think Lewis was claiming that Susan was 'left out' because of sexuality represented by the lipstick, stocking, etc. That is so very simplistic and immature. Nothing is easier than imbuing false symbolism into things

(Edit: I had an example here where I made up some symbolism in Harry Potter. I was asked to edit it, quite fairly I should say, as it was not family friendly. I can't think of another example off the top of my head so you'll just have to imagine it )

If I made the above claim in seriousness people would laugh, yet this is about equivalently ridiculous with the Susan claims (By the way I loved all the Susan discussion on this thread). The racism and sexism claims have slightly more evidence to support them, but an argument claiming Lewis was guilty of those still requires lifting concepts out of their context (such as, the bad guys have dark skin. Therefore; Lewis=Racist). I think that accusing Lewis of this is also a form of discrimination. I don't know if there is a word for it, but I'm going to call it Eraism. We have racism, sexism, classism, ageism, and more. Eraism is the discrimination of people due to when they lived or the values/standards of that time. You see it with Thomas Jefferson all the time. Jefferson owned slaves. Jefferson=Bad and everything else he did should be completely dismissed.

Anyway, all that to say that compared to many of his contemporaries, Lewis showed surprising open-mindedness. Unfortunately, nowadays people will jump on the slightest hint of racism (I actually did see one critic accuse Prince Caspian of racism back at the films release). So, as the filmmaker, it will take some bravery to make The Last Battle. Rarely do children's books/movies take true bravery to make because they rarely deal with complex, difficult, or controversial issues. However, some of the greatest films and works of literature come from dealing with issues AT THE TIME. Writing about the evils of slavery isn't really a risky issue. No one is going to disagree with you. Writing about the evils of slavery in Georgia in 1810; that might take real bravery. It's that kind of bravery needed to make The Last Battle. No matter what, someone will get angry. Someone will accuse you of something heinous. Whoever makes the film needs to be sure and confident in it.

They certainly do, Thunder-Fist. It should probably be someone not just interested in adapting a Narnia book in general, but someone specifically interested in The Last Battle. If that person exists, I don't know, but it will be quite a challenge.

I too agree that the lipstick thing is a stretch, and a rather dull one, at that. An obsession with nylons, lipstick, and invitations to me was an indication of materialism. I understand that it can also be read as "things that make you more appealing to boys, i.e. Susan reached sexual maturity", but I knew exactly what Susan's problem was when I read it. She reminded me of a friend who thinks she's too cool for you, thinks she's too popular for you, spends all her time trying to look perfect to impress everyone, and can't be bothered to give you the time of day. I've had friends who acted that way before, especially in high school/university ("the silliest time of one's life" for many people, in my opinion), and I know how awful it can be. Yes, putting on lipstick and nylons and attending parties can be done to impress boys, but if you're interested in nothing except impressing boys, what kind of person are you? If flaunting your looks is the only thing you live for, I probably wouldn't be your friend, and I felt that was the point Lewis was trying to make.

Even if nylons, lipstick, and invitations were intended as sexual symbolism, at the end of the day, Lewis wrote that she was interested in "nothing except". That means she had no time for her family, her friends, Narnia, or Aslan. I'm open to people living any lifestyle they choose as long as it's not hurting anyone else, but Susan comes across as selfish--whether you think she's spending all her time on fashion or sex, she no longer has a moment to spare for the people who care about her. Imagine if Lewis had Jill say "She doesn't care about us anymore. The only thing she cares about are her clothing, cosmetics, and parties. She'll choose them over us every time." Imagine if he had Polly say "I wish she would grow up. She wasted all her school time wanting to be 21, and she'll waste all the rest of her life trying to stay 21." That paints a very specific picture of someone who can never be content with anything but an age at which she is PHYSICALLY beautiful.

Unfortunately for us, however, he didn't phrase the precious few lines we got about Susan in an unnatural way devoid of any subtlety, so people will forever assume that he is a misogynist who thinks girls need to be virgins or mothers and nothing in-between.

And we welcome your contributions to the discussion, I've certainly been enjoying it. Gives the forums some spice in an otherwise inactive time!

One suggestion to explain Susan's behaviour I read some time ago was that this was Lewis criticising the emerging notion of the teenager, as something distinct from both children and adults. Up till the mid-fifties children were children, went to school and read children's stories (written by adults), and then they left school and hey presto, they were adults - at least, in an idealised imagination if not completely in reality. But then along came rock 'n' roll and the whole idea of "teen culture" where adolescents had their own distinct music and dress, which they apparently created themselves (although Bill Haley and Chuck Berry were considerably older). Especially in a pretty austere post-war Britain, this rather upset the applecart, threatening the established order of things - if adolescents started doing their own thing instead of what more mature people told them to do, anarchy might ensue! So the comments about Susan could equally have been applied to Edmund, say - "He's interested in nothing these days except Elvis Presley and rock 'n' roll and playing the guitar."

Thoughts?

One suggestion to explain Susan's behaviour I read some time ago was that this was Lewis criticising the emerging notion of the teenager, as something distinct from both children and adults. Up till the mid-fifties children were children, went to school and read children's stories (written by adults), and then they left school and hey presto, they were adults - at least, in an idealised imagination if not completely in reality. But then along came rock 'n' roll and the whole idea of "teen culture" where adolescents had their own distinct music and dress, which they apparently created themselves (although Bill Haley and Chuck Berry were considerably older). Especially in a pretty austere post-war Britain, this rather upset the applecart, threatening the established order of things - if adolescents started doing their own thing instead of what more mature people told them to do, anarchy might ensue! So the comments about Susan could equally have been applied to Edmund, say - "He's interested in nothing these days except Elvis Presley and rock 'n' roll and playing the guitar." Thoughts?

We can't know for sure without asking him, but I really doubt this was Lewis's intent. From the text, it seems Lewis's beef against Susan was not that she was interested in nylons, lipstick, and invitations, but that she was interested in nothing but nylons, lipstick, and invitations - to the point that she shoved everything else out of her life, including her her relationship with Aslan and probably her relationship with her siblings. Her sin was not being a teenager. It was idolatry, and leaving her faith behind in favor of being "of the world".

Plus, even if Lewis was against the idea of teen culture (and I have no idea if he was) I don't see why he would paint it as a sin of such gravity. Many characters in the chronicles do things that he believed were wrong - and were punished for it or taught not to do them again - but they were not treated as sinning in a way that put their salvation in peril. It's true that the reason Susan wasn't in Aslan's Country was because she didn't die, but we can tell from the text that there are still other problems she had that might have prevented her from going there even if she had died. We don't know that for sure, but it was definitely a question Lewis wanted to bring up. Peter describes her as no longer being a friend of Narnia; and in his letters, Lewis treats Susan's salvation and eventual fate as an unanswered question. That means that Susan's sin, or the state of her heart, was bad in a very serious way. And even if Lewis was against teen culture, I can't imagine him claiming that young people who engage in it are putting their relationship with God/Aslan at stake, even in a fictional story.

~Riella

Writing about the evils of slavery isn't really a risky issue. No one is going to disagree with you. Writing about the evils of slavery in Georgia in 1810; that might take real bravery. It's that kind of bravery needed to make The Last Battle. No matter what, someone will get angry. Someone will accuse you of something heinous. Whoever makes the film needs to be sure and confident in it.

Excellent post!

I think every Narnia film needs to have filmmakers with courage. They're such unique books and so unlike most children's literature; the last thing these stories need is people who want to play it safe. Honestly, I'd say one of the greatest problems with the VDT film was that the filmmakers seemed to lack courage. Not enough gumption to try to tell a story that doesn't have a "villain" or isn't the typical kid's movie formula.

(Not to throw everyone who made the film under the bus; there may well have been people who wanted to create a much more faithful adaptation, but had no creative control.)

Unfortunately for us, however, he didn't phrase the precious few lines we got about Susan in an unnatural way devoid of any subtlety, so people will forever assume that he is a misogynist who thinks girls need to be virgins or mothers and nothing in-between.

Another part of the problem could be the fact that sexism has become such a hot button issue in the modern era. It's discussed so much in society today, and I think that can cause some people to see sexism in older books and movies where there may not have been any in the first place. It seems like people always just assume that Lewis "was a product of his time" without ever wondering if their own interpretations of the Narnia books might be false.

One suggestion to explain Susan's behaviour I read some time ago was that this was Lewis criticising the emerging notion of the teenager, as something distinct from both children and adults.

That's an interesting theory, but Susan was about twenty-one when the train accident took place, so she wasn't really a "teenager" anymore. It also seems like it would be rather anachronistic if Susan's rejection of Narnia was related to the emerging idea of teen culture if that didn't really appear until the mid-50s, as you said. If you look at the timeline, she seemed to lose faith in Aslan and Narnia in the late 40s. Plus, Jill actually says that Susan was "always a jolly sight too keen on being grown-up", so it seems that Susan was more interested in being seen as a worldly adult than a member of teen culture per se.

Peter describes her as no longer being a friend of Narnia; and in his letters, Lewis treats Susan's salvation and eventual fate as an unanswered question. That means that Susan's sin, or the state of her heart, was bad in a very serious way. And even if Lewis was against teen culture, I can't imagine him claiming that young people who engage in it are putting their relationship with God/Aslan at stake, even in a fictional story.

Ditto. This goes for being fond of lipstick, nylons and invitations, too. I remember Jill admiring the Lady of the Green Kirtle's fashion sense in The Silver Chair, and she also made a point to keep the Narnian dress she was wearing when she came back to her own world; Lewis says that she wore it to a "fancy-dress" ball at one point. Her love for fashion, or the fact that she cared about getting dressed up to go to a party, certainly weren't treated like things she should be ashamed of or concerned about.

Honestly, guys, all of these people saying "the lipstick, the nylons and invitations mean this, this, and this!"—instead of just taking a plain reading of what Lewis actually wrote—are starting to remind me of those people who look for so-called Illuminati symbols in everything.

It seems like people always just assume that Lewis "was a product of his time" without ever wondering if their own interpretations of the Narnia books might be false.

So true. And that doesn't just apply to people looking for problems. I once had a friend whose mother wouldn't let her read the Chronicles of Narnia because the mother "wasn't sure what all Lewis was trying to say." It was such a shame. She was looking too hard for meaning and christian import, and when certain parts of the stories weren't clear, she would start casting around for meaning. And once the reader starts doing that, you never know what the author may get accused of. In actual fact, some of the stuff simply happens for purposes other than metaphor; plot, character, atmosphere, all important things in a novel.

Again, I'm not diminishing anyone's interpretation. Obviously there are many layers to Lewis's writing and if some metaphors show themselves in subtlety (which they do), then by all means embrace them, especially if they're important to you as the reader. That's part of why it's so difficult to turn these books into films. As we read them we each have our own movie playing inside our head. In each production certain things are emphasized while others are minimized or omitted entirely. All books are like this, of course, though it seems to me that due to the writing style these books there is more variation from reader to reader in what they see. For example, in my mind the world of Narnia has always been very realistic and earthy at its base, whereas others tend to see it as more ethereal and fairytale-esque. And that's just a small example.

So the largest problem I foresee with making any of these films, The Last Battle especially, is the hundreds of potential films that could come from just one book. What I mean by that is, which story will they tell. I remember an interview with Peter Jackson where he said, in The Lord of the Rings, primarily they would tell Frodo's story, and secondarily, Aragorn's. This helped them focus the film versions and gave direction to what would be emphasized and left out (this was the reason for the omission of Tom Bombadil). My point here is, what version of The Last Battle would they choose to present on screen?

PhelanVelvel wrote:
You guys don't want it to drag out into two films so we can have more Narnia? I can't say I would mind if both films were really well-done, but...it's probably not needed, you're right. I'm just being a tad selfish. :O

The Rose-Tree Dryad wrote:
Well, that's true, but I've heard such concerning things about The Hobbit trilogy, and it seems that they've stretched out that book like they were pulling taffy.

I actually wouldn't mind if they made it into two films, if the structure suited it. I haven't thought about it so I'm not sure if the book could sustain two films. In my opinion, the popular idea that the Hobbit has been 'stretched' is false. Many important parts of the book were rushed, glossed over, or skipped entirely. The films were supplemented by additional characters, plotlines, and lengthy action scenes; things not from the book. This is a subtle, but I believe important, difference. I don't think stretching a book into two films would be very difficult, even a relatively short one, as far as run time is concerned. Think of VDT. It could easily have been twice, even three times as long and not been stretched. The problem would be pacing, and finding two self-contained films within The Last Battle book. Like I said, I haven't thought much about it, so I don't really have an opinion yet. Of course, this is very hypothetical at this point .

I hope they can capture the emotion of this scene:

"Kiss me, Jewel," he said. "For certainly this is our last night on earth. And if ever I offended against you in any matter great or small, forgive me now."

"Dear King," said the Unicorn, "I could almost wish you had, so that I might forgive it. Farewell. We have known great joys together. If Aslan gave me my choice I would choose no other life than the life I have had and no other death than the one we go to."

There are many parts in the Chronicles that bring tears to my eyes or make me flat-out cry. This is one of them. I'm wondering how they will depict Jewel. From Pauline Baynes' illustration, it seems that he looks more like how unicorns are depicted in "The Last Unicorn", as opposed to the way they were depicted in the LWW film. I personally think her illustration of him is in the right vein. I don't like them to look too much like horses, because they really aren't. They're another creature entirely.

I've been meaning to answer this thread for some time, but have been somewhat distracted by other matters. So I'm afraid this is going to be a mammoth post.

JK Rowling, who has admitted she never read, or finished, the Last Battle...

Really? I did not know that. It's disappointing that she'd comment on Susan if she hadn't finished the series.

Firstly, I think that JK Rowling was in a bit of a bind when she made her statement about Susan, the lipstick and discovering romance. There JKR was, in the middle of a series she was still writing, and at least two or three of these books had been filmed. There was a reaction against her books, accusing them of promoting witchcraft and even some fellow literary figures, such as A.S.Byatt or Harold Bloom, were quite critical of her. At first, Ms Rowling had been quite fulsome in her praise of C.S.Lewis, whose Narnia series she had enjoyed. She had referenced how she had been reading VDT to her eldest daughter as a bedtime story in the foreword she wrote for someone else's book, commented how much she liked Eustace as a character, elsewhere, and referred to libraries as similar to the Wood between the Worlds in another Library Week speech in about May, 2005.

What JKR was trying to achieve in her HP books was to show the challenges children have to deal with, in a not always friendly world, whilst they develop into adults, and so the references to Susan in Last Battle, if she had read the book even partially, would have gone against what JKR, herself, was writing about. The interviewer, perhaps aware of the anti-C.S.Lewis views of the likes of Philip Pullman, the first of whose own trilogy was about to be filmed, threw JKR a curly question, which no doubt led to her remark.

One suggestion to explain Susan's behaviour I read some time ago was that this was Lewis criticising the emerging notion of the teenager, as something distinct from both children and adults. Up till the mid-fifties children were children, went to school and read children's stories (written by adults), and then they left school and hey presto, they were adults - at least, in an idealised imagination if not completely in reality.

I see what you mean. But this change didn't even start happening until just before JKR, herself, was born, and wasn't really a problem in C.S.Lewis' day. The trouble with JKR's criticism, as well as that of other writers, is precisely this phenomenon of the teenager, taken for granted today but almost non-existent until after 1956 when Last Battle was published and when Rock'n Roll started to bite. Like Ithilwen, I doubt that C.S.Lewis was really concerned with teenage behaviour per se. He was one, himself, at one time, though, like many of his contemporaries, he went to war at the age of 19. I think he was more concerned about the post-war materialism of the 1950's, much of it related to the movies, plus the erosion of old values, partly due to what was coming out about WW2, in particular, and partly due to the growth of atheism during the Cold War.

his letters, Lewis treats Susan's salvation and eventual fate as an unanswered question

Yes, Susan's fate is an unanswered question, and Doug Gresham in an interview last November said it was meant to stay that way. He remarked that for all anyone knew, Susan could still be alive, maybe even a great-grandmother living somewhere in the USA. And since in VDT C.S.Lewis sent her there with her parents, it is quite possible she would return at some stage in her life.

In the 1950's, I remember something else that maybe many of you might not realise. WW2 was very traumatic to the world, to UK and Europe, in particular, though it was also bad elsewhere, in China and South East Asia. Australia, itself, was under direct threat of invasion and was bombed throughout the war. Make no mistake, people here at the time were very grateful for American assistance after Pearl Harbour, and some, like my Dad, felt they owed their lives to them.

It did lead almost to a love affair of all things American in UK & elsewhere. After the war USA was easily the most prosperous nation on Earth. Many people here, especially women, looked to America, and especially Hollywood, decide which were the latest fashions, the most desirable clothes, make-up, music and dances. Even contemporary authors to C.S.Lewis - Enid Blyton comes to mind - tended to show children from America as more sophisticated, rebellious and confident, compared to those in UK & elsewhere.

So when I read in VDT that Susan had gone to America, it isn't hard to imagine that she then fell in love with the glamorous side of USA, as portrayed in advertising and movies, and after the war, spent her time at home grizzling about how unpolished, backward and childish her siblings seemed to be compared to the wonders of America. Andrew Adamson also remarked that in Prince Caspian he wanted to explore how the Pevensies might feel, having become accustomed in Narnia, to making their own decisions, then were faced with the problem of returning to normal life where that power of deciding for themselves had been taken away from them.

I've been considering whether or not a Last Battle film should leave out entirely the bit about Susan. After all, neither of the two radio plays make a great deal out of it. I don't remember the BBC audio drama mentioning it at all, and the Family Radio play merely puts those remarks into a discussion among themselves of why Susan refused to come to the Seven Friends of Narnia meeting where they see Tirian. However, so much is made of this piece, a film would have to find a good way of including it, if only because just about everyone in the audience who is acquainted with the book and its reputation, would be expecting it.

I wouldn't mind them doing for the film what you did, with the nylons, lipstick, and invitations being related to an upcoming wedding, but of course they'd be, er...borrowing your idea.

Thank you for your kind words, and am so glad you liked my one and only fan-fic. A wedding is one idea, and I'd be flattered if, by coincidence, the idea was taken up by the people who have the options on the film rights. I started it early last year, but had to change my intended ending, putting it into the future imperfect tense, after hearing Doug Gresham being interviewed at Ashurst College in November of last year, to take into account what he said.

But I also think there are other ways of getting around the "Problem of Susan". Maybe Susan is so in love with America that all that it is necessary to do is to send her back there, saying little more to Tirian than she lives there, so the remainder of the Seven Friends of Narnia no longer see her much, that all she cares about is the wonderful life she lives there, and that she is astonished they still remember those funny games they used to play as children together in UK.

If that longing is not an essential part of the story, than the last third is rather meaningless. They've finally come home, but if we as an audience are not convinced that they have come home there's no joy in it.

I agree this part of LB is going to be very difficult. I expect they will have to show the train accident as part of the transition to Narnia or to "home". But Jill and Eustace go to Tirian and we don't see the others until Tirian goes into the stable. We will have to see that all of them transfer to Narnia at the same time, Jill and Eustace included. But is that possible?

I sort of get what you mean about this feeling of where one is at home and where not. A migrant might want to return home to what he remembers of his native land. But, just as in PC, he finds out he has been viewing the past with rose-tinted glasses, that old school mates have forgotten him, and that, after all, home is in the country he has settled in, not necessarily where he grew up. In Heaven the rose-tinted glasses shouldn't be necessary -Heaven is truly home as we would like to remember it, appreciative friends and all. No beloved buildings torn down to make way for modern monstrosities, for instance. But I don't know how a film would be able to convey this faithfully, anyway.

Otherwise, I don't think the films so far have done such a bad job of showing this feeling of wanting to be somewhere they could call home. Susan spent much of LWW saying she wanted to go home in the book, until she finally got there at the end. But I don't remember her doing this in the film. In PC, Peter and Susan, neither of whom were able to return afterwards, seemed unsettled in the real world, in particular Peter. But when they did go to Narnia, neither seemed all that at home there, either. Narnia had gone on and they belonged to Narnia's past.

I think it is impossible to show VDT in any film without showing how unfavourably Eustace compares the Dawn Treader to boats in our world. And in that film his cousins didn't seem all that contented staying with Eustace before the transition into Narnia. In fact the beginning of VDT was one of the better parts of the film, I thought. How in the remaining films would we depict this feeling of not being at home? Silver Chair, perhaps? In that speech of Puddleglum's?

Oh, they can't make a movie of the last battle! Much as I'd love to see it, it would be impossible for anyone to capture the raw emotion and passion. I honestly had to replace my first copy of The Last Battle because the pages got all wet from my tears! Seriously. I am starting to cry now just thinking of it! The filmmakers will have their work cut out for them. I look forward to it though, even if nothing is better than my imagination.