rthstewart | To E, Part 3

Gosh, this makes me want to pick up Harold and Morgan again! Thanks so much, E. A couple of things, I guess, other than a humongous thank you.

Thank you for the comment on consistency as I see some definite inconsistencies, especially with Morgan and Lucy. My ideas on Lucy really firmed up after working on Palace Guard and some of TQSiT, so she’s much more developed in H&M. Your comment about the quote at the beginning of the Foolish Faun chapter from PC and then the tale itself are indeed going to precisely the deux ex machine point. I developed it further in TPG with Lucy excpecting Aslan to save her. It’s actually sort of interesting to think about – for a 100 years, they were probably wishing Aslan would save them and he doesn’t. The despair during the rise of the Telmarines would have been even greater. It would be hard to see how Narnians could assume Aslan would fix everything when he didn’t for so long. Lucy, on the other hand, doesn’t have that experience of waiting and disappointed expectation.

The Bahamas were exactly what I was thinking of as off shore tax havens. The idea of bias and favoritism in corporate and tax policy is well established – the benefit of home ownership in the US, or sin taxes on soda pop, deductions for dependents. I just read on article on how high tariffs on Chinese made ironing boards have kept the only American manufacturer of ironing boards in business. As you point, economic espionage and protest were rampant during WW2 – I’m reading now how the French sent all their bad wine to the Wehrmacht during the occupation. Unfortunately, I’m really rubbish at finance and numbers so I was just making up so much of this as I go along and now I am stuck with something I know nothing about as people said they kinda sort liked how Edmund and Morgan had something they were doing together that was important apart from Tru Lurve and/or hawt, sweaty timez.

I have, at the moment, given the barest thought to the organization of the banking syndicates, except to assume that the individual houses operate like a Lloyd’s of London, who are independent and competitors but also work cooperatively to pool and share risk. I had thought that for whatever reason that Narrowhaven ends up being a sort of financial capital, possibly because of very lax oversight by Narnia. Were I to go on in H&M, a lot of this would have to be explored and I did envision a storyline involving what it means politically that a Linch banker has aligned with the Narnian monarchy.

OK, last, about the princesses. When I wrote those lines about manipulating and being manipulated, I had not even thought the final chapter of the story would happen. It was going to end with Jina in the corset. Ha. But, having gone down that road, I have been thinking a lot about women using their sexuality for advancement on the one hand and how embracing of personal sexuality is a tool of empowerment. As I was working on TQSiT, some of the “Tarkheenas” of the story really gave me pause. The men of that milieu were treating women as toys. Why was it bad that these powerful women – politicians, power brokers, socialists, and newspaper owners -- were playing a man’s game in a very male dominated world, and succeeding at it? I found something grudgingly admiring in their seizing of what they wanted. That notion of seeing, wanting, looking, and maybe acting (but thinking, refraining from acting, and making good choices) ended up finding its way into Susan’s characterization as I wanted to attack the fandom convention of Susan’s frequent sexual victimization.

Then, of course, I turned it all on its head with Jezebel and the princess discussion in H&M. It does show something of how Susan and Lucy come to be the strong characters that they are and shows something of how oblivious Morgan can be and that, as if I needed any more proof of it, that she is wholly not of that world view but will sort sell people into it if that’s what she’s paid to do. I admit I’m also taking another swipe – there is a persistent idea in some communities that a young woman should pass from care, custody, and control of her father, directly to that of her husband. I think that is a real life thing for some people in this fandom community and so I was putting it into Narnia.

Phew. That’s all. Thanks so much. Glad you caught the discussion you sparked and I’m very grateful

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oh, most of my LJ flist is fandom people -- i used to be more involved but now i'm basically just a reader.

when it comes to the Narnia films I am just so filled with overemotional nostalgia i am completely incapable of being critical. ordinarily i critise & analyse every aspect of movies and TV till it drives people crazy, but with Narnia I just weep all the way through -- the first one, anyway. it was ridiculous. thankfully i have heard i am not alone in this, however.
i'm not finding susan's code too difficult once i get into it. i do want more edmund though -- edmund was always my favourite (another reason why i like the movies -- i think the guy who plays him does it in a very sarcastic and sly way, coming across as far more intelligent than magnificent Etonian Peter).

well, i love history so this is definitely the story for me i guess. do you read much historical fiction? i don't in general, but i am a big Dorothy Dunnett fan. is Narnia fic generally quite childish, then? that surprises me, because in most fandoms most of the fic is adult oriented. most of the fic that isn't 12 year olds writing flowery & poorly-spelled romance, that is. i'd have thought a lot of people would want to write about the High Kings & Queens, etc.

I treat the films as licensed fan fic. I adored the first film, and in particular how it so firmly grounded Narnia in WWII -- making the Witch appear like some sort of Aryan goddess, Tunmus as Nazi collaborator, the Gestapo like Wolf secret police, and that their inability to contribute to the War in England certainly colored the Pevensies' decision to engage more fully in Narnia. With PC, I liked the whole grungy dreadlocks, guerrilla, feel to Old Narnia and the Telmarines as Mediterraneans. It was the marginalization of Lucy and the Angry!Stupid! Peter that I took issue with, but hey, it's fan fic and I didn't mind the films so much as the bad fic that has followed reinforcing the stupid monarchs. I'm very ecumenical in my fic, adoring A/U and xovers as much as anything else and... oh where was I.

It felt very odd to consider even the possibility of lusting after actors who seemed so very, very young and indeed my visuals, to the extent I have them, come from the great Peter O'Toole films of the late 60s, early 70's, The Lion In Winter (roaming dogs! chickens! Timothy Dalton and Anthony Hopkins!); Lawrence of Arabia, and Beckett (O'Toole and Burton).

Is Narnia fic childish... Gosh, I dunno. You can look at fanfiction.net and come to your own conclusions. To paraphrase Tolkien, I don't read those works and those writers don't read mine. The undisputed BNF is Elecktrum. Other popular writers who I read or used to read include: Ilysia, Animus_Wymris, Lassiterfic, Be_themoon, Almyra, Francienyc, and Andi Horton. Other very, very popular writers include Lirenel, Tonzura123, and Sentimental Star. None of these writers are 12 years old and the work spans gen to OC romance. A popular LJ/dreamwidth author is Bedlamsbard.

Thanks again! I hope you'll consider leaving a review at some point!

To E, Part 3

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