DVD commentary for part of Changeling
Jan. 9th, 2016 01:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
somethingdarkerThis is in answer to a request by rthstewart a few years ago. I kind of flaked and didn't get around to dealing with it until now.
The coming of the White Witch couldn’t help but be a tragedy. It’s a difficult thing to accept in a world where God— Aslan— is known to walk the land. The question of why He intervenes at some times and not at others has got to be something that Narnian theologians debate. I’m still not entirely satisfied with the Watsonian reasons I’ve come up with.
The hope that Aslan's presence had lit within Dickon's heart wavered. He didn't freeze in the grim, determined terror that he'd felt before, but he knew adults well enough to fear. He bit his lip on a demand for reassurance. He wished he were young enough to join Elayn where she slept, snuggled against Aslan's side.
I wanted Dickon to be in that limnal state where he’s old enough to see how big problems are but young enough that he has to trust other people to deal with them. He’s got a better grasp of the consequences of what’s happening than the adults around him would like.
"Ah, child." Aslan shook his head a little. "So young to have to be old."
And it is sad that a nine year old has see how terrible the world is.
Dickon felt Aslan's breath warming him. "Is there nothing to be done?"
This is the desperate hope that the adult can make everything better. When Aslan’s present, anything seems possible.
"What would you have me do?" The question seemed genuine.
I’m not convinced that, if Dickon suggested a solution, Aslan would carry it through. I could, however, see Aslan showing Dickon visions of what might be.
Dickon's hands clenched. "I don't know!" He wanted to cry, wanted to shout that he wasn't even ten yet, but princes don't get to be children. "Stop her. Make her vanish. Make it so that no one else dies."
I think even an adult would have this reaction. I kind of regret not having the adult characters who are present contribute to this interaction, but, at the same time, I think they’d be a distraction. That is, I’m not sure that those folks really would be silent witnesses to the scene, but I needed them to be in order to get the impact I wanted.
"I give my children-- and even she is one-- free will. You all may make choices and all must live with those choices, even the choices that others make. That is the Covenant. I may unmake it if I unmake Narnia. Is that what you would have, Son of Adam?"
This is the closest I could get to an acceptable theological reason for Aslan to allow this to happen, but I rather think that this ought to prohibit the sorts of interventions He’s shown to do in canon, the sort of intervention He’s undertaking right at this moment. It’s a difficult balance.
Dickon shook his head. He looked at his hands.
"She will conquer Narnia, but she won't go further south. She has no one she trusts far from her reach, and her magic works less well where snow is not common." Once again, Aslan looked at the guards. "At least, she won't go further south if these children are not there."
I’ve always wondered why the Witch was content with Narnia. Probably, being the sort of person she was, she couldn’t be, but there had to be reasons she wouldn’t reach further.
"Mother said--" Dickon hesitated. He knew Aslan was right. Aslan couldn't not be right. He tried to meet Aslan's eyes. "Is it then our duty to die?" He thought he could be at peace with that as long as he was with Aslan, but then he looked at his sister. "Even hers?"
Dickon doesn’t have any mixed feelings about his sister right now. I’m sure that, at points during their lives, he thought she was a nuisance or that she took attention away from him, but he knows that all of this is deathly serious. He desperately, desperately wants to give up that burden.
"Your duty is to live. You must go beyond the borders of the world." Aslan turned his head to let his mane cover Elayn. "There will be four thrones waiting in Narnia, two for Sons of Adam and two for Daughters of Eve. Live for that."
And Aslan is telling Dickon that he can’t give up, that he has to keep going. I think that Dickon has noticed that Aslan hasn’t answered his question about Elayn, but he’s not ready to challenge Aslan.
Dickon frowned. "I am only one."
"Family comes in time."
I think that, had Dickon chosen differently, he and a wife and two children would have returned to Narnia. Elayn wouldn’t have suffered. Aslan would simply have taken her to His country immediately. But Dickon doesn’t know that. He also doesn’t know what Aslan’s country is like, what happens to people there.
rthstewart a few years ago. I kind of flaked and didn't get around to dealing with it until now.The coming of the White Witch couldn’t help but be a tragedy. It’s a difficult thing to accept in a world where God— Aslan— is known to walk the land. The question of why He intervenes at some times and not at others has got to be something that Narnian theologians debate. I’m still not entirely satisfied with the Watsonian reasons I’ve come up with.
The hope that Aslan's presence had lit within Dickon's heart wavered. He didn't freeze in the grim, determined terror that he'd felt before, but he knew adults well enough to fear. He bit his lip on a demand for reassurance. He wished he were young enough to join Elayn where she slept, snuggled against Aslan's side.
I wanted Dickon to be in that limnal state where he’s old enough to see how big problems are but young enough that he has to trust other people to deal with them. He’s got a better grasp of the consequences of what’s happening than the adults around him would like.
"Ah, child." Aslan shook his head a little. "So young to have to be old."
And it is sad that a nine year old has see how terrible the world is.
Dickon felt Aslan's breath warming him. "Is there nothing to be done?"
This is the desperate hope that the adult can make everything better. When Aslan’s present, anything seems possible.
"What would you have me do?" The question seemed genuine.
I’m not convinced that, if Dickon suggested a solution, Aslan would carry it through. I could, however, see Aslan showing Dickon visions of what might be.
Dickon's hands clenched. "I don't know!" He wanted to cry, wanted to shout that he wasn't even ten yet, but princes don't get to be children. "Stop her. Make her vanish. Make it so that no one else dies."
I think even an adult would have this reaction. I kind of regret not having the adult characters who are present contribute to this interaction, but, at the same time, I think they’d be a distraction. That is, I’m not sure that those folks really would be silent witnesses to the scene, but I needed them to be in order to get the impact I wanted.
"I give my children-- and even she is one-- free will. You all may make choices and all must live with those choices, even the choices that others make. That is the Covenant. I may unmake it if I unmake Narnia. Is that what you would have, Son of Adam?"
This is the closest I could get to an acceptable theological reason for Aslan to allow this to happen, but I rather think that this ought to prohibit the sorts of interventions He’s shown to do in canon, the sort of intervention He’s undertaking right at this moment. It’s a difficult balance.
Dickon shook his head. He looked at his hands.
"She will conquer Narnia, but she won't go further south. She has no one she trusts far from her reach, and her magic works less well where snow is not common." Once again, Aslan looked at the guards. "At least, she won't go further south if these children are not there."
I’ve always wondered why the Witch was content with Narnia. Probably, being the sort of person she was, she couldn’t be, but there had to be reasons she wouldn’t reach further.
"Mother said--" Dickon hesitated. He knew Aslan was right. Aslan couldn't not be right. He tried to meet Aslan's eyes. "Is it then our duty to die?" He thought he could be at peace with that as long as he was with Aslan, but then he looked at his sister. "Even hers?"
Dickon doesn’t have any mixed feelings about his sister right now. I’m sure that, at points during their lives, he thought she was a nuisance or that she took attention away from him, but he knows that all of this is deathly serious. He desperately, desperately wants to give up that burden.
"Your duty is to live. You must go beyond the borders of the world." Aslan turned his head to let his mane cover Elayn. "There will be four thrones waiting in Narnia, two for Sons of Adam and two for Daughters of Eve. Live for that."
And Aslan is telling Dickon that he can’t give up, that he has to keep going. I think that Dickon has noticed that Aslan hasn’t answered his question about Elayn, but he’s not ready to challenge Aslan.
Dickon frowned. "I am only one."
"Family comes in time."
I think that, had Dickon chosen differently, he and a wife and two children would have returned to Narnia. Elayn wouldn’t have suffered. Aslan would simply have taken her to His country immediately. But Dickon doesn’t know that. He also doesn’t know what Aslan’s country is like, what happens to people there.
