10 Harsh Realities of Reading The Chronicles of Narnia, 68 Years After the Series Ended

As a series of books that started decades ago, there are a lot of things about The Chronicles of Narnia What are harsh realities now. CS Lewis published his fantasy series drawing on his own religious beliefs in the mid-20th century, Quickly became a favorite staple of children’s literature. Narnia is often compared to The Lord of the RingsBecause of the friendship of the authors, the drastic differences in their approach to their worlds inspired by medieval literature, and both series have a huge impact on the fantasy genre.

With Greta Gerwig’s upcoming Narnia Movies, which will reboot the series’ cinematic franchise, the discussion of which is outdated in Narnia is more alive than ever. While Netflix is Narnia Reboot is in good hands, Gerwig still has her work cut out for her when it comes to rethinking the books. Some harsh realities about Narnia include deeply biased depictions of individual characters or entire populations, As well as weaknesses in the narrative. These books have done well because most people are willing to read them as a product of their time, accepting the lesser parts of the story.

10

The Chronicles of Narnia’s world-building is not deep enough

Narnia’s world-building is mostly on an as-needed basis

comparing Narnia to Lord of the RingsNarnia is a much simpler world. Tolkien developed entire languages ​​and histories for his setting, while Lewis introduces new plot elements as the children encounter them. Asan creates Narnia in The magician’s nephew, With the focus of this creation is on the country itself. In other books, more countries and territories in the world are quickly introduced as they become relevant to the adventures of the main character.

Aslan also explains in part that the original inhabitants of the world were all supernatural beings, while humans came there from the children’s world. But, in general, There are huge gaps in Narnia’s lore. The history of the countries from which allies and enemies come is scarce, almost the entire time when the children are not in Narnia is empty, and there is basically no magic system. Narnia Has the potential to offer a very rich world, but Lewis isn’t that interested in delving into every corner of his tale.

9

The Pevensies having to go back to their children sounds awful

The Pevensie’s frustration with his children again is only seen in the movies

After they were crowned kings and queens of Narnia, The Pevensie children grow up in this magical other world as they rule the country. They even consider marrying royals and nobles from neighboring territories. After they become fully formed adults, capable of ruling a prosperous country, they are children again when they return to the real world. In the movies, the boys are both frustrated by being treated like kids, while Susan talks about getting used to living in England again.

The books never suggest that the Pevensies feel frustrated or disoriented because of this experience. They mean that, because of the magic of Narnia, the children are shifting back and forth between the mentality of being an adult and a monarch versus a regular school child. However, this still sounds like it would be psychologically exhausting. The Pevensies are legends in Narnia, Where they literally ruled their world. They are by all means happy with life and good at ruling, before they go back to just having the power of children.

8

The Chronicles of Narnia demonstrates a lot of gender stereotypes

There are clear gender roles in Narnia and the neighboring countries

The girls playing a bigger role in the action of the Narnia Kino was largely led by Susan’s actress Anna Popplewell, who requested that Susan use her bow more in Prince Caspian. in the books, Susan is said not to participate in battle because of personal ability. Lucy sometimes rides into battle, but her role is still downplayed. in The horse and his boyWhen Lucy is an adult and queen, a character says of Lucy fighting and Susan staying behind:

“She is [Susan] Not like Lucy, you know, who is as good as a man, or at any rate as good as a boy. Queen Susan is more than an ordinary grown lady. She does not go to the wars, although she is an excellent archer.

Although Susan does not need to be characterized as a delicious battle, the problem lies in the fact that she is presented as the norm, while Lucy is the exception. Earlier, Father Christmas gifts the girls weapons as defensive measures, saying that he does not mean for them to fight because “Bats are ugly when women fight.” The characterizations of Jill and Polly don’t do anything too major other than that, While supporting female characters like Caspian’s wife, called a “Mother and grandmother of great kings,” They are docile unless they are evil witches.

7

Nothing is known about the lady of the green kirtle

The White Witch has some backstory, while the Green Lady is a complete mystery

The White Witch is by far the most memorable Narnia Villain, mainly inspired by “The Snow Queen.” however, Lewis came back in The silver chair with a brand new villain, Bearing some similar traits to the White Witch but leaning more to be kind and tempting to attract prey. The Lady of the Green Kirtle and reigning Queen of the Underworld just turns up The silver chair Without an explanation, another example of Lewis’ lack of interest in world-building.

Meanwhile, the White Witch’s backstory in the Narnia Timeline reveals that she comes from another world, which she destroyed in spite of herself. It is a long-standing theory among Narnia Fans that the Green Lady is somehow the White Witch come again, And it would make sense for them to have some kind of connection because of their narrative similarities. As it is, the Lady of the Green Kirtle suddenly appears because The silver chair A new threat is needed, one that returns to the series’ origins.

6

Caspian was not a great king

Caspian makes some unfortunate decisions during his time ruling Narnia

Like the Pevensies, Caspian ascends the throne of Narnia because of an implied divine destiny and is said to be the beginning of a line of great kings. However, his actions in Voyage of the Dawn Treader And The silver chair Revealing him to be childish and impulsive – he is a boy when he ascends the throne, highlighting a problem with this pattern. Only a few years into his reign, Caspian leaves Narnia under the rule of an advisor to take a long voyage. He also has to be convinced by Asan not to go to the edge of the world.

After his son’s disappearance, Caspian sends knights in search of him, for a time. When enough people were suggested, he stopped the search. However, he did not do much else in the remaining years of his reign to secure his country’s future. It is not clear who his successor will be when he goes again at the beginning of The silver chairWanting to see the end of the world again before he dies. Caspian’s reign largely seems to have been a series of lucky breaks, Helped along by the visiting children in moments of crisis.

5

The Chronicles of Narnia goes down after the lion, the witch and the wardrobe

The first Narnia book published is definitely the best

An excellent harsh reality of Narnia is this The lion, the witch and the wardrobee is the best installment; The story only goes downhill from there. Both the book and movie are the highest rated of the series, while much of the icon is most directly associated with Narnia comes from the story. The Pevensies are also mentioned as the faces of NarniaSlowly dropping out of the series as they outgrew the world. The silver chair Comes the closest to feeling like a return to the original Narnia, With a more conventional narrative structure and a similar villain.

Gerwig starting with The magician’s nephew May help the series As it will not have an impossible standard to match from the beginning. However, some Narnia Books have more philosophical formats that will be difficult to adapt. The last battle Is also arguably one of the lowest titles in a ranking of the Narnia books, which makes it difficult for filmmakers who want an epic conclusion. That’s at least many years down the line.

4

The Chronicles of Narnia has a problematic depiction of people of color

The image of Calormenes in The Horse and His Boy and the Last Battle is problematic

Calormen is a land south of Narnia, whose people are essentially Middle Eastern. Most of the highlighted characters of this country are villains, except for some rare people who condemn some part of the country’s practices. Their culture is exoticized and associated with the worship of the demon god Tash. Other notable human populations in Narnia Include the friendly people of Archenland, the country immediately south of Narnia who are descendants of Englishmen. The Telmarines invade Narnia from the island of Telmar and are aligned with Mediterranean pirates, at least in the movies.

Especially about the Calormenes, Narnia Depicts a lot of harmful racial stereotypes Which characterizes most of the people of a single population as evil. In an effort not to repeat the plot of a new witch that turns up every book, Lewis turns to historical conflicts to inspire other threats to the Narnians. However, the account of history he draws on is also heavily biased, intent on painting one religion as the correct one.

3

Children go to battle in Narnia

The Pevensies and the other children are barely teenagers, waging a medieval war

Peter, the eldest of the Pevensie siblings, is 13 years old The lion, the witch and the wardrobe When he leads the Narnian army into battle, accompanied by his younger brother Edmund. The movies have understandably aged the kids to make their fighting more believable, but it’s still unsettling and awkward in the context of the books. The kings and knights of Narnia were often fighting from a young age, Along with the children who come there from the real world with much less combat experience.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians offers an obvious point of comparison hereAs the movies old Percy and his friends and were met with backlash. The younger age range in the Percy Jackson Books and TV shows possibly work better because of a more humorous tone and the characters at least being demigods. Percy is also much more relatable to modern readers, and his competence in dangerous adventures is empowering to the intended demographic of the books.

2

The real world is terrible compared to Narnia

Why would the children ever want to leave Narnia?

Narnia Adheres to the typical magical other world story format that emphasizes the necessity of the children eventually returning to their real lives. Narnia is a fantastic adventure from which they learn how to be brave and noble, But they must go back to their parents eventually. But the fact that they stay in Narnia for more than a decade and lead fulfilled lives there undermines this, as they all return to Narnia in the end.

The real world is boring compared to Narnia, which the children only visit when there is dire danger. Brilliant the unicorn says in The last battle That life in Narnia is actually unbelievably wonderfully different. Meanwhile, In the real world, all the Narnia veterans keep in touch with each other Because they are the only people they can talk to about these experiences. They’ve probably wondered at least once why they don’t just go back and stay there when it’s the defining experience of their lives.

1

The fate of Susan Pevensie in the last battle is terrible

Susan is criticized for becoming a normal young woman, forgetting about Narnia

The end of Susan’s story is notoriously the most contested part of Narnia. Her siblings and the other people who have traveled to Narnia over the years return when they are all killed in a train accident in the real world, leaving Susan without any family. The others explain it Susan now denies that Narnia was anything more than a game they played as children. She is essentially characterized as having grown to be interested in femininity and sexuality, and does not come to Aslan’s land because of it:

“‘Oh Susan! said Jill, ‘she’s interested in nothing now-a-days except nylons and lipstick and invitations. She’s always been a jolly sight too keen on being grown-up.’

“Grown-up, indeed,” said the Lady Polly. ‘I wish she would grow up. She wasted all her school days wanting to be the age she is now, and she will waste the rest of her life trying to stay that age.

The consensus is that this is not an ending that suits a very complex character, who served as Lucy’s perfect logical foil but always came to Narnia’s aid when needed. before his death, Lewis even said that he might not have finished Susan’s story, But it will never be known if he could have effectively reversed the implicit judgment of womanhood (The Collected Letters of CS Lewis, Volume 3: Narnia, Cambridge and Joy). The Chronicles of Narnia Needs a better story for Susan and some other characters, which may be seen in future adaptations.