Continuing my movie list - again

[oneiriad]

31. T4xi
Daniel and Emilien are such an old married couple. But I think the French should start seriously considering quitting while they are ahead.

32. Moulin Rouge
Why is it that no painters were apparently mentally healthy? At least as far as the movies show it? I mean, if they are not drunkards or maniodepressive, then they are cutting off parts of their own body. Something isn't quite right when the movie with the painter who has kinky gay s/m sex with a random burglar (played by Daniel Craig, so that part I get) seems to be in the healthy part of the spectrum - well, if you don't count his paintings. Am I the only one who thinks Francis Bacon's paintings are creepy?

33. The Singing Detective
I rather liked how this movie mixed memories and fiction, hallucinations and reality. Mind you, it's probably not a movie for those who like Robert Downey Jr. looking his best.

34. Sharpe's Regiment
Ambushed - euphemism or not euphemism?

35. Sharpe's Siege
I'm curious - does Sharpe ever have an immediate superior who is not either incompetent or simply a traitor?

36. Sharpe's Mission
Is it strange that one of my favourite characters in these movies is Hagman?

37. The Last of the Mohicans
It's okay, but my favourite Daniel Day-Lewis movie must remain My Beautiful Laundrette (punk youth with cute Pakistani boyfriend - what's not to like?). Also, is there some rule saying that British officers who are competing with the hero for the girl has to have horrible, redemptive deaths?

38. The Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian
I almost didn't go to see this, having been so disappointed by Disney's first attempt. I'm glad I did go. I liked the rivalry between Caspian and Peter, I liked that they had made Caspian older. Also: Reepicheep! It was a bit long in places and the Susan/Caspian romance felt forced, but overall I liked it (even if the battle scenes were the same we've seen in every fantasy movie for the last few years).

Am I the only one who thought Aslan's expression was kind of - suspicious ?- during the real reunion between him and Lucy??? Or have I just read Gaiman's The Problem of Susan too many times and have begun seeing things?

Random thought: has anybody written a crossover between Narnia and PotC, based on the fact that the Telmarines are descendants of shipwrecked pirates? It would explain a few things if Jack Sparrow and Barbossa were among the ancestors of the royal family and the nobles. Of course it doesn't fit, since Narnia was supposedly created sometime late in the 19th century, but still - besides, where would you have found a ship full of what I suppose must have been Mediterranean pirates (who must have either had women captives or an unusual number of cross-dressing cabin boys aboard) at what must have been sometime early in the 20th century, if they were to have a big enough force to invade Narnia at some point during WWII?

I'm overthinking this, aren't I?

Comments

[kattahj.livejournal.com]

Random thought: has anybody written a crossover between Narnia and PotC, based on the fact that the Telmarines are descendants of shipwrecked pirates?

LOL! If you find this, you must let us know!

As for the Telmarines invading Narnia, that wasn't their first stop in the Narnia-world, so there may have been only, say, five of them who made it into Telmar, inbred fiercely over the next millennium, and got an army big enough to beat the Narnians.

[oneiriad.livejournal.com]

As for the Telmarines invading Narnia, that wasn't their first stop in the Narnia-world, so there may have been only, say, five of them who made it into Telmar, inbred fiercely over the next millennium, and got an army big enough to beat the Narnians.
True. Or, depending on the geography of the world Narnia is in, they might simply have had some immigration from Calormen into Telmar - which reminds me, one of the noblemen swearing fealthy in the movie does so for Tashbaan, which is the capital of Calormen in the books. I wonder if that means that the Telmarines conquered Calormen as well... And I'm getting too far out, I think.

Actually, what I am wondering is not so much how they had the time to breed - if 1300 Narnia years can pass in a single Earth year, then that is hardly worth wondering about. But if Narnia came into existence at some point in the latter half of the 19th century, and if the pirate ancestors came from Earth as stated in the movie, well, I have trouble figuring out where they would have found those pirates. Not to mention me puzzling about the distinct lack of gunpowder among them - even if the original pirates didn't know the details of actually making gunpowder, then I suspect they would still have managed to reinvent it if they tried. It makes no sense for everybody to be using medieval technology if their ancestors were from at the earliest the Victorian age.

And I am definitely overthinking this.

[kattahj.livejournal.com]

Perhaps the relationship between Narnia and Earth is not necessarily linear, but only linear in relation to the individual? That is to say, no individual can cross into Narnia at an earlier point than his first visit, but a person who has previously not crossed into Narnia can enter it at any point. Eustace and Jill are introduced to Narnia by others, so the only unrelated entry is Polly and Digory, and the fact that that one comes earlier in Narnian history than the Pevensies' may be sheer coincidence.

Or perhaps they're just really really backwards 20th century pirates. (It is rather interesting how Narnia seems to be moving backwards from a time that has sewing machines to a purely medieval one.)

[oneiriad.livejournal.com]

Well, you're right that the way time works between Earth and Narnia is left pretty unclear, so I suppose it is possible that people from before or after the time period of the books might enter. That would at least explain the pirates...

It is rather interesting how Narnia seems to be moving backwards from a time that has sewing machines to a purely medieval one.)
It's not just the technology. If you think about it, Narnia seems to fit the idea that the world began in a golden age and can go nowhere except down. And we don't ever get to see the real golden age - the time before the White Witch conquers Narnia - but it's alluded to in the books. The Pevensies' brief reign is really more of an aborted attempt at a silver age than a golden age. And once they're gone, well, I suppose it can be taken as a sign of how bad things keep getting that the last years of Narnia's existence seem to need a lot more visits from our world than the early days.

Anyway, if Narnia - like a lot of fantasy novels - have this approach, then it actually makes perfect sense for technology to be sliding backwards as well. Alternatively, the more advanced technology of the Narnians might have been lost when the Telmarines invaded and forced the survivors to hide in the forest. After all, it's not like it's unheard off...

[kattahj.livejournal.com]

If you think about it, Narnia seems to fit the idea that the world began in a golden age and can go nowhere except down.Wow, now I'm depressed. *g*