Reformation Faith Today

I had the privilege of seeing the movie last weekend. I must say it was excellent both in cinematography and story. In my opinion it was better than the first movie The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I recommend it highly!

Christopher Cowan over at the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood also saw it and has some thoughts on Susan’s warrior role in the movie version.

Readers may recall that in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, though Father Christmas gave Susan and Lucy Pevensie weapons, he did not intend for them to use them in battle, for “battles are ugly when women fight.” In the film version, this is altered to “battles are ugly affairs.” Thus, the question of women in combat is neatly avoided.

Not so in Prince Caspian. Unlike the book, the film clearly depicts Susan as a warrior, actively engaging in physical combat alongside her brothers. When asked about this deviation from Lewis’s story, director Andrew Adamson “doesn’t equivocate,” says Megan Basham in World. Adamson responds,

When the issue of Susan not participating in the fight for Narnia was introduced in the first film, I rejected it then. I was like, ‘Well if she’s just gonna make sandwiches then give her a plate and a knife.’ It’s something that I don’t agree with so I wasn’t going to make a movie like that.

On whether or not this change is a disservice to Lewis’s work, Adamson continues, “You have to remember, these books were written in a different time and place by somebody who I think evolved in his views over the years.” Adamson justified this to Lewis’s stepson and film co-producer Douglas Gresham by arguing, “I think C. S. Lewis evolved after meeting [Gresham's] mother, and that’s why you start to see stronger female characters in his later books.”

You can read part 1 of his comments on the subject here. What do you think? Is Cowan making too much of this re-write of Susan’s role?