A rant for lycoris

[tallulahgs]

Personally, I find Caspian/Eustace slash a shocking blight on the Narnia fandom and a sad reflection of the slash-lover's grip on the fan world today. I find it an objectionable pairing because it invalidates CS Lewis's way in which we are meant to perceive Eustace.

It has already been stated that Eustace comes from a progressive family where they approve of fresh air, teetotalism and vegetarianism. He is also encouraged to read and understand about real life. Lewis demonstrates how Eustace rebels against these ideas by being converted by the magical world of Narnia.

I argue that Eustace's parents Harold and Alberta could quite well be pro-homosexuality - it would go with their progressive and atheistic outlook. Therefore associating slash with Eustace's CONVERSION is quite, quite wrong.

Every time you write Caspian/Eustace slash, God kills another centaur. Please, think of the centaurs.


Hmm... I think I just argued that CS Lewis was a homophobe... damn!

Comments

[fox-in-sand.livejournal.com]

that makes a lot of sense, i love Narnia to unbelievable extents, but am always uncomfortable with eustace rebelling against values which i think are Good, to join what in Narnia is the Good. i think i can only continue to adore narnia if i wilfully ignore the messages which cs lewis has obviously put in there as i don't particularly like them, and i'm not that comfortable ignoring them... argh! they were brilliant when i was too young to know they were christian propanganda!

[tallulahgs]

Wow, I'm impressed I sounded convincing enough! Yes, I am v fond of Narnia too but I too ignore some of the things which come across - the Christian thing doesn't bother me too much except in The Last Battle, which is a nasty book and is not the true ending IMO. (I think he should have stopped after The Silver Chair. Er, sorry if you love TLB.)
I find the moralising isn't half as bad as in Enid Blyton though; I have a soft spot for the Malory Towers series, but the woman had no tolerance for weakness at all. (She would have been very harsh on fangirls, I feel... hmm...)

[fox-in-sand.livejournal.com]

that's very true re our enid! the folk of the faraway tree was great fantasy type stuff though, if you ever read them. i like some bits of TLB, like puzzle and "the accursed ape" is just a hilarious use of english, but generally yes, is irritating, especially the end. am interested, how would you end it?!

[tallulahgs]

Yeah, I read the Faraway Tree books - key text of my childhood.
I loved Puzzle. In a way that made the book harder to read. He so wanted to do the right thing, and didn't mean any harm ;_; and it all went wrong.
I don't know how I'd end it... I might have just stopped after Silver Chair (so we know Rilian has come back so Narnia is safe for the foreseeable future) or, if I had to have the Judgement Day, brought in OCs so that at least half the cast didn't suffer death at such a young day. And probably wouldn't have exiled Susan. But seeing as CS Lewis believed in Judgement Day, and I have issues with it, I probably wouldn't have done that... yeah, stopped after SC and avoid the issue completely. Yes.

[fox-in-sand.livejournal.com]

good plan! i agree, as i have big issues with any sort of judgement day. are there religious connations anywhere in SC or Prince Caspian? cause i haven't picked up on them in those books, although i try to ignore them when they're in t'others books so it may be me being unobservant!

[tallulahgs]

Lycoris said she heard SC is meant to be a warning against the evils of atheism ("There is no sun. There is no Aslan" etc) Prince Caspian... people turning from religion towards realism? I dunno... I should think there is but I don't know what. *wishes she still had access to The Narnia Companion*

[jenova12.livejournal.com]

Hmmm....I really like C.S. Lewis and my fav book was a tie between "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardorbe" and "The Magician's Nephew". Why is "The Last Battle" a nasty book?

[tallulahgs]

Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm a big Narnia fan. I just felt that the Christian allegory, which I had been fine with throughout the other six books, suddenly got pushed to the forefront in TLB; I felt it was a book that wanted to say "Look! Judgement Day is coming!" rather than "I'm going to tell a good story while being inspired by my faith to imply things about it." I found the story very depressing and then the happy ending didn't ring true with me - they'd been through so much, people had died, it really got to me (I was ten, okay) and then I just couldn't believe in the ending. Not to mention I think it's a bit rough that they all died so young. At least Digory and Polly had had good long lives, but Jill and Eustace were only sixteen, which seems kind of harsh to me.
Ahem. Now I'm going to do the rant you actually asked for...

[jenova12.livejournal.com]

Did you hear that they're making a Narnia movie? Yeah, they're making "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe". ^^ It's going to be live action and it's being filmed at New Zealand.

[tallulahgs]

I think so, but I don't know much about it.
(You're keeping a diplomatic silence on The Last Battle? Probably wise ^_^)

[jenova12.livejournal.com]

Yup I don't wanna die. ^^

[tallulahgs]

Why do I have this reputation as vicious? I'm not! I'm lovely! ^_^

[lycoris.livejournal.com]

BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

Thank you. :) I think you just argued CS Lewis was a homophobe too. :)