thecosmicdance (![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} thecosmicdance) wrote,@ 2008-07-14 01:33:00 |
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The Last Battle pt12
The Dwarves. Shooting all the Talking Horses. That has got to be one of the most deplorable things anyone in this series has ever done, and I’m counting Jadis "want some candy, little boy?" and The Rapist of the Green Kirtle in that. Horrible.
I hatelove the part when Eustace, Jill, Jewel and Tirian have almost won their battle and then they hear those drums. The drums which mean the Calormene have prepared for something like this, and there are hundreds more soldiers only a few miles away. It’s at that moment that they know it’s over. They’ve lost and no one is coming to save them. Hearing those drums and knowing you’re not going to live out the night…
Another thing that is fascinating about this entire story is that this is not one of those epic, global Armageddons, like you’d expect from the End of the World. Narnia is a small country in a small world, and most people in our world never knew it was there. They’ve existed for thousands of years but that turns out to be maybe fifty years in our time.
The final battle takes place between a handful of people, and an empire with no reason to conquer them other than they just wanted to. The bad guys just keep coming, because this little group attempting to resist is no real threat and means nothing to them.
If I could have picked who I wanted to be called to Narnia for this, I wouldn’t have picked Eustace and Jill. I like them but this really called for *everyone*, especially those with more battle experience, but I can see why it happened this way instead. It would have been too easy for the Pevensies to show up all glamorous and experienced, the ancient kings and queens coming to Save the Day, when the day was *not supposed* to be saved.
“Yes,” Queen Lucy said. “In our world too, a stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world.”
So Lucy has found Aslan in our world. Wow, that’s…I do not know what people are talking about, because if you blink you’ll miss that reference and what it implies about Lucy. It’s one of the few times he’s been that blatant about it. I think, for the most part (and I mentioned this before), although it is easier for me, as a Christian, to say this because I don’t have to deal with *not* being one, those who say these books are too pushy about the underlying religious themes need to go and read some... Okay , that’s a whole rant I just don’t have time for atm. Personally, I think the “Veggie Tales” are waaay pushier. I mean, seriously, OMG. And allegedly they have ties to Dominionists.
The closest thing Narnia has to a “witnessing” scene (a staple of books written deliberately to "push their religion" on the reader) is when Eustace tells Edmund about becoming a dragon. But even there, Eustace sought Edmund out, not the other way around. He just talks, and Ed just listens and doesn’t try to direct the discussion, and only after Eustace asks does he simply tell his cousin what he knows about Aslan. That’s it. There’s nothing more, except that they leave the island a lot closer to being real friends, and Eustace is going to try and be a better person. And he's not doing so because he is trying to get Magical Protective Immunity, but because his actions have been hurting himself and the people around him.
Does everyone who doesn't believe in Aslan end up dying? Well, yeah, but so does everyone who *does* believe in him. Rocks fall, everyone dies. No one goes to Hell (Narnia doesn't really have a Hell, not one that humans are punished in anyway) we're not told what happens to those who couldn't or refused to, come to Aslan's Country. But mostly, if they didn't want to come it was their own choice and the only consequence of that is that they...just don't get to come. All they had to do was walk through that door before it closed. Even Susan was responsible for her own inability to come to Aslan's Country-she shut him out, not the other way around.
In "Left Behind" Jesus comes back and melts unbelievers with his eyeballs. See the difference?
The reason why I get happy when I read Lucy's line there is because there are so few people like the Pevensies in any decent SF/F (or a lot of other genres). By that, I mean, they are believers but they’re not stupid/innocently backward, evil, hypocritical, proselytizing or mentally ill. But it seems, when I think about it, as if only authors deliberately intending to write Christian stories allow this of fictional Christians in SF/F.
As for non Christian SF/F writers- Joss Whedon gave us Shepherd Book and Riley Finn. *shrug*. And the best thing you can say about Riley is that his character flaws weren't the result of his faith. Terry Pratchett gave us Brutha and…a character whose name I do not remember but he was in the one with the vampires. And those last two aren’t *really* Christians, they’re people who belong to a suspiciously similar faith in a semi satirical other universe. Um, that seems to be it. Ouch.
Anyone want to prove me wrong? Please?
“I see it all now,” said Eustace (he had the bad habit of interrupting stories). Yes, and you’ve just interrupted him interrupting to tell us that he interrupts people.
“This is absolutely crazy,” said Eustace to Edmund.
“I know. And yet-“ said Edmund.
Heh. A cute echo of the Lucy/Caspian “It smells purple” conversation. I don't think I need to spend time going over the Plato/shadows in a cave/New Narnia thing. It's just kind of...there, I guess.
I swear to you, I am not making up this next part. It is the greatest musical coincidence I’ve experienced since all those seagulls rose up over the seawall in time to “You Raise Me Up” or the time I was in Swasey Park, and the sun rose over a frosted winter wonderland, with the white gazebo, the silent, icy river, and the redbrick, ivy draped Academy buildings just as that crescendo hit in the Swan Lake music. I finished The Last Battlein the car, while waiting to meet friends at B&N. I closed the book, put it down while still feeling a little gobsmacked, and turned on the car radio. The DJ says “and here’s the new Coldplay”. Dun dun dun-dun-dun-dun I used to rule the world, seas would rise when I gave the word… I think my mouth just fell open.
If you do not know, “Viva La Vida” by Coldplay has been adopted by like, the entire Narnia fandom as an unofficial part of the soundtrack. And I never thought of this before but there is nowhere in the series it fits more perfectly than at the end of LB. This needs to play over the final scene in the movie. Can’t you just picture it? Rearrange it so most of the heavy dialogue takes place before they get too far, with the opening notes playing softly in the background as they all begin to stream into Aslan’s Country. And the song gets louder, and then bursts out I HEAR JERUSALEM BELLS ARE RINGING as they look at each other, and grin and start to run, all of them, ROMAN CATHOLIC CHOIRS ARE SINGING hundreds of people of all colors and ages, regular animals and fantastical creatures, BE MY MIRROR MY SWORD MY SHIELD all joyfully running across the fields and over the hills. Very little dialogue, only enough to explain, even as they are reunited with their loved ones and as they come upon the Real England down below the camera will start to pan back, the song will take over as we soar away and up come the credits!
Is that it? Am I done?
The Dwarves. Shooting all the Talking Horses. That has got to be one of the most deplorable things anyone in this series has ever done, and I’m counting Jadis "want some candy, little boy?" and The Rapist of the Green Kirtle in that. Horrible.
I hatelove the part when Eustace, Jill, Jewel and Tirian have almost won their battle and then they hear those drums. The drums which mean the Calormene have prepared for something like this, and there are hundreds more soldiers only a few miles away. It’s at that moment that they know it’s over. They’ve lost and no one is coming to save them. Hearing those drums and knowing you’re not going to live out the night…
Another thing that is fascinating about this entire story is that this is not one of those epic, global Armageddons, like you’d expect from the End of the World. Narnia is a small country in a small world, and most people in our world never knew it was there. They’ve existed for thousands of years but that turns out to be maybe fifty years in our time.
The final battle takes place between a handful of people, and an empire with no reason to conquer them other than they just wanted to. The bad guys just keep coming, because this little group attempting to resist is no real threat and means nothing to them.
If I could have picked who I wanted to be called to Narnia for this, I wouldn’t have picked Eustace and Jill. I like them but this really called for *everyone*, especially those with more battle experience, but I can see why it happened this way instead. It would have been too easy for the Pevensies to show up all glamorous and experienced, the ancient kings and queens coming to Save the Day, when the day was *not supposed* to be saved.
“Yes,” Queen Lucy said. “In our world too, a stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world.”
So Lucy has found Aslan in our world. Wow, that’s…I do not know what people are talking about, because if you blink you’ll miss that reference and what it implies about Lucy. It’s one of the few times he’s been that blatant about it. I think, for the most part (and I mentioned this before), although it is easier for me, as a Christian, to say this because I don’t have to deal with *not* being one, those who say these books are too pushy about the underlying religious themes need to go and read some... Okay , that’s a whole rant I just don’t have time for atm. Personally, I think the “Veggie Tales” are waaay pushier. I mean, seriously, OMG. And allegedly they have ties to Dominionists.
The closest thing Narnia has to a “witnessing” scene (a staple of books written deliberately to "push their religion" on the reader) is when Eustace tells Edmund about becoming a dragon. But even there, Eustace sought Edmund out, not the other way around. He just talks, and Ed just listens and doesn’t try to direct the discussion, and only after Eustace asks does he simply tell his cousin what he knows about Aslan. That’s it. There’s nothing more, except that they leave the island a lot closer to being real friends, and Eustace is going to try and be a better person. And he's not doing so because he is trying to get Magical Protective Immunity, but because his actions have been hurting himself and the people around him.
Does everyone who doesn't believe in Aslan end up dying? Well, yeah, but so does everyone who *does* believe in him. Rocks fall, everyone dies. No one goes to Hell (Narnia doesn't really have a Hell, not one that humans are punished in anyway) we're not told what happens to those who couldn't or refused to, come to Aslan's Country. But mostly, if they didn't want to come it was their own choice and the only consequence of that is that they...just don't get to come. All they had to do was walk through that door before it closed. Even Susan was responsible for her own inability to come to Aslan's Country-she shut him out, not the other way around.
In "Left Behind" Jesus comes back and melts unbelievers with his eyeballs. See the difference?
The reason why I get happy when I read Lucy's line there is because there are so few people like the Pevensies in any decent SF/F (or a lot of other genres). By that, I mean, they are believers but they’re not stupid/innocently backward, evil, hypocritical, proselytizing or mentally ill. But it seems, when I think about it, as if only authors deliberately intending to write Christian stories allow this of fictional Christians in SF/F.
As for non Christian SF/F writers- Joss Whedon gave us Shepherd Book and Riley Finn. *shrug*. And the best thing you can say about Riley is that his character flaws weren't the result of his faith. Terry Pratchett gave us Brutha and…a character whose name I do not remember but he was in the one with the vampires. And those last two aren’t *really* Christians, they’re people who belong to a suspiciously similar faith in a semi satirical other universe. Um, that seems to be it. Ouch.
Anyone want to prove me wrong? Please?
“I see it all now,” said Eustace (he had the bad habit of interrupting stories). Yes, and you’ve just interrupted him interrupting to tell us that he interrupts people.
“This is absolutely crazy,” said Eustace to Edmund.
“I know. And yet-“ said Edmund.
Heh. A cute echo of the Lucy/Caspian “It smells purple” conversation. I don't think I need to spend time going over the Plato/shadows in a cave/New Narnia thing. It's just kind of...there, I guess.
I swear to you, I am not making up this next part. It is the greatest musical coincidence I’ve experienced since all those seagulls rose up over the seawall in time to “You Raise Me Up” or the time I was in Swasey Park, and the sun rose over a frosted winter wonderland, with the white gazebo, the silent, icy river, and the redbrick, ivy draped Academy buildings just as that crescendo hit in the Swan Lake music. I finished The Last Battlein the car, while waiting to meet friends at B&N. I closed the book, put it down while still feeling a little gobsmacked, and turned on the car radio. The DJ says “and here’s the new Coldplay”. Dun dun dun-dun-dun-dun I used to rule the world, seas would rise when I gave the word… I think my mouth just fell open.
If you do not know, “Viva La Vida” by Coldplay has been adopted by like, the entire Narnia fandom as an unofficial part of the soundtrack. And I never thought of this before but there is nowhere in the series it fits more perfectly than at the end of LB. This needs to play over the final scene in the movie. Can’t you just picture it? Rearrange it so most of the heavy dialogue takes place before they get too far, with the opening notes playing softly in the background as they all begin to stream into Aslan’s Country. And the song gets louder, and then bursts out I HEAR JERUSALEM BELLS ARE RINGING as they look at each other, and grin and start to run, all of them, ROMAN CATHOLIC CHOIRS ARE SINGING hundreds of people of all colors and ages, regular animals and fantastical creatures, BE MY MIRROR MY SWORD MY SHIELD all joyfully running across the fields and over the hills. Very little dialogue, only enough to explain, even as they are reunited with their loved ones and as they come upon the Real England down below the camera will start to pan back, the song will take over as we soar away and up come the credits!
Is that it? Am I done?