rthstewart (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rthstewart) wrote2011-02-11 07:35 am
rthstewart) wrote2011-02-11 07:35 am
Entry tags:
Oh and another thing
This could be subtitled, Confessions of a Mary Sue Mom the contours of which are laid out here during the Great Mother's Day Debate in which the Just King perceptively noted that I wanted to write the Pevensies so that they would be role models to (my) children and my greatest fear (other than my assistant getting into my laptop) was that my children would grow up to be like Edmund and this was why I didn't let him conclude By Royal Decree by having sex with Evil Banker Morgan.
If you've been paying attention, you will have noticed that a thematic element that is pervasive on the Narnian side of the vision (establishment of a human succession), is worming its way into TSG. We have the flashbacks as the end of TQSiT to Cyrus with Peter and Morgan, Mrs. Pevensie's (she still does not have a first name) ruminations to Tebbitt and the Colonel, Edmund's flashbacks regarding Morgan and Aidan's small relations, Fooh and Beehn with Peter and Dalia, Thomas Clark's relationship with Jack, and now Mrs. Pevensie again, plus the little John Lennon looking for beatles [sic] and Yi and Maureen's son. And of course, Mrs Pevensie's long discussion with Peter in AW7.
Fact is, sitting as I do as so very, very old, when I see the college age or even high school age F List women saying "But I can't tell my parents!" I jump up and down and say "Yes! Really! You can!" And so, ideas of being shut out, of a mother's estrangement from children and spouse, the burden of raising children as de facto single parents (even if not divorce or death, work and war called fathers away then and still does today) are all weaving their way in here and some of this is perhaps a bit more personal than I normally go. I am exploring the effect of the War and separation on family life as well as the continuing issue of Mrs. Pevensie's peculiar relationship with her children. You can expect an appearance of Mrs. Goodwin eventually and I think the revelation that Mrs. Pevensie is not quite a stodgy as her children think.
So, by the way, should I call Mrs. Pevensie "Helen" as the films name her?
Further edit: I got whacked about in the last two days with some of the usual critique I've garnered over the years plus a new accusation that, frankly, troubles me a lot. It doesn't change what I'm doing or my approach to the story nor does it make me conclude that I am a reprobate, that I have ruined Narnia, or that I should just wander off to write Twilight fic with others of my ilk. But, having just posted on the subject of the relationships among parents, spouses, and children and the issues of race, ethnicity and prejudice, and in the wake of the last two chapters exploring themes of justice, retribution, and compassion, I'm going to be retooling the next chapter a bit. Peter and Susan are due for a long, long talk. I'm working some things out and the overdue conversation between Peter and Susan will be the vehicle for some of it.
If you've been paying attention, you will have noticed that a thematic element that is pervasive on the Narnian side of the vision (establishment of a human succession), is worming its way into TSG. We have the flashbacks as the end of TQSiT to Cyrus with Peter and Morgan, Mrs. Pevensie's (she still does not have a first name) ruminations to Tebbitt and the Colonel, Edmund's flashbacks regarding Morgan and Aidan's small relations, Fooh and Beehn with Peter and Dalia, Thomas Clark's relationship with Jack, and now Mrs. Pevensie again, plus the little John Lennon looking for beatles [sic] and Yi and Maureen's son. And of course, Mrs Pevensie's long discussion with Peter in AW7.
Fact is, sitting as I do as so very, very old, when I see the college age or even high school age F List women saying "But I can't tell my parents!" I jump up and down and say "Yes! Really! You can!" And so, ideas of being shut out, of a mother's estrangement from children and spouse, the burden of raising children as de facto single parents (even if not divorce or death, work and war called fathers away then and still does today) are all weaving their way in here and some of this is perhaps a bit more personal than I normally go. I am exploring the effect of the War and separation on family life as well as the continuing issue of Mrs. Pevensie's peculiar relationship with her children. You can expect an appearance of Mrs. Goodwin eventually and I think the revelation that Mrs. Pevensie is not quite a stodgy as her children think.
So, by the way, should I call Mrs. Pevensie "Helen" as the films name her?
Further edit: I got whacked about in the last two days with some of the usual critique I've garnered over the years plus a new accusation that, frankly, troubles me a lot. It doesn't change what I'm doing or my approach to the story nor does it make me conclude that I am a reprobate, that I have ruined Narnia, or that I should just wander off to write Twilight fic with others of my ilk. But, having just posted on the subject of the relationships among parents, spouses, and children and the issues of race, ethnicity and prejudice, and in the wake of the last two chapters exploring themes of justice, retribution, and compassion, I'm going to be retooling the next chapter a bit. Peter and Susan are due for a long, long talk. I'm working some things out and the overdue conversation between Peter and Susan will be the vehicle for some of it.
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Personally, I like just referring to her as Mrs Pevensie. As much as I like the name Helen, I don't like the usage in the movie canon because we already have a (Queen) Helen in the books.
As for those negative reviews, well, people have the right to their opinions and really, if they do not like what they read, they are not obligated to continue on. You've given plenty of warnings that your vision is unlike most of the stories in this fandom and it's their own fault for not heeding the warnings. If I do not like something I've read, I will not bother reviewing and just stop there. Why upset oneself and the author if one cannot come up with a reasonable and intelligent critique? To me, it seems to reflect badly on the reviewer if there aren't any good reasons to back up their own words.
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When Peter and Lucy come to visit and Rth is underwhelmed
She ignores the ever increasing volume of shouts outside. The school bus arrived, delivering said children and they are all out in the yard. They have collected a Cold War arsenal of Nerf weaponry and are proceeding to instigate World War 3 in a complex game involving snowballs, darts, swords, and super powers.
As the noise gets ever louder, she opens a weary eye and sees with alarm that a man and a woman have joined the assault and battery in the front yard. She lunges to her feet, grabs a snow shovel, trips over the Labrador and the Labrador's stuffed bone that is larger than the dog, and hurtles outside to protect the children from the menace of these interloping adults who are obviously child molesters. The dog barrels out after Rth, choosing to make her ferocious defense of home and hearth with a tattered, squeaky striped plush snake in her mouth.
The very tall blonde man and quick, light blonde woman are twirling Nerf longswords with what appears to be a fair amount of skill. Rth wouldn't know as she abhors all violence (the Star Wars water pistol blaster notwithstanding because it's a great Hasbro replica of Han Solo's Blas-tech D). The not so ferocious dog sees the interlopers, launches off the steps, and collapses at the man's feet instantly demanding belly rubs.
It is while limping out with the snow shovel and sliding down the steps that Rth unfortunately recognizes the Nerf sword wielding man and Nerf mace wielding woman as figments of her imagination who have, nevertheless consumed copious amounts of her free time since she made the mistake of watching Becket, The Lion in Winter, and Lawrence of Arabia in DVD marathon in November 2008 and thinking that no one would ever find her in Narnia fandom and she could toil away in quiet obscurity.
With a weary sigh, Rth limps back inside, fetches the toolbox from the basement, the dog leash from the hall closet, and comes back outside where the children are now aligned with Queen Lucy and fashioning arrows out of tree branches that dropped during the latest snowstorm and power outage and are littered all over the yard.
The man steps forward, idly twirling his sword. Rth thinks that Obi-Wan Kenobi did a better job of it in The Phantom Menace. "I'm Peter...."
"Yes, I can see that." She pushes the toolbox at him. "Something died under the back deck and the pond needs dredging. Also, the gutter fell off the back of the house."
To Lucy, Rth says, "I'll give you $10 if you can get the kids to pick up all the tree branches that fell and shoot them into that rubbish bin."
She turns back around and to head inside and remembers her manners. Over her shoulder she asks, "Do you want pepperoni on the pizza?"
Re: When Peter and Lucy come to visit and Rth is underwhelmed
Re: When Peter and Lucy come to visit and Rth is underwhelmed
Though, I'd run if I were you. Peter may be here to complain about how Edmund gets all the fun (and sex) while the High King just wallows in regret over being unable to guide his siblings through such matters. As for Lucy.. hmm. I don't think she'd have that many complaints at all! Su and Tebbitt had their issues about the shoe drop, Ed wants more time with not-a-lady Morgan and well, Peter has own issues.
And yes, I very much enjoyed finding this in my inbox this morning!
Re: When Peter and Lucy come to visit and Rth is underwhelmed
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Ah well, ignore them hun *hugs*
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Bzuh? What's this?
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I don't get the "ruining Narnia" thing. I mean, you know that when I read -- back when I had time for reading -- I tend to gravitate to the pieces that remind me most of the books I read when I was little. But that isn't how it should be for everybody, it's only how it is for me-- and only in this fandom, not in others. So shouldn't people just be able to say "cool, not exactly my Narnia, but I really admire you for it being yours" and move on?
*lost*
(my group members think I am researching the Berlin Conference for our presentation right now, but they are across the table watching our classmate's television cameo on youtube, so that's okay, somehow, maybe . . ?)
ETA: Oh, and you should call her anything period-appropriate that takes your fancy, I think . . . I still remember seeing one reviewer get upset at an author for calling Mrs Pevensie something other than Helen, because that was "inaccurate". That was just funny. It was the main reason I deliberately named her something else, myself.
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(Anonymous) 2011-02-11 09:51 pm (UTC)(link)Meticulously researched, fascinating, intricately written? Now that would be closer to the facts. However, that sort of criticism stings, and it's very difficult not to take it to heart. So I will simply note that I disagree utterly, and I'm sorry that parts of the fandom are giving you a hard time because of some proscribed view about what Narnia can and cannot be.
Your 'Mary Mum' take fascinates me. I'm not at that stage of child-rearing yet, but I can see very clearly where you are coming from. I suppose that when I mentioned it previously, I had been thinking in terms of the somewhat combative relationship that can exist between teens and their adults. So the snotty response that Susan is giving her mother would not be out of place in that context. I love the way you've pretty much taken teenage angst off the table with your 'adult-in-a-young-body' approach to Peter's conversation with Mrs P - allows for constructive plot development in future chapters. Again, you've avoided much of the canon 'usual', and while this may be a way of working through issues (and no, that's not meant to be a disparagement, BTW), it again highlights to me why I keep coming back to read more - your writing is always tackling something different, and you always have some new and interesting to say.
OK, enough soapbox. I'll climb down now.
Names? Truthfully, no fixed opinion here. To be honest, I rather liked the movie use of Helen. I appreciated the little nod to the creation of Narnia, and the first Queen. However, it's as Andi says - go ahead and choose anything period-appropriate that you like. Or continue as you have been - the current 'nameless' approach is working very well, I think. Not much help, I know : )
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I've been thinking about your comment about Susan and the snotty teen response. The Susan in this vision is slow to anger but she also can be a bit high handed and passive/aggressive. I was getting at that a bit in Harold and Morgan -- that she is angry with Edmund and Peter and showing it be putting all the bread on her plate. She is, as Peter says, slow to anger, but that anger, once it is there, is very slow to recede. I've got another scene with her and Mum and it's more of the same; Susan isn't ready to yield yet. She's still angry, both over Tebbitt and over the fact that Mum misled her into thinking their father was coming home. And Susan just isn't going to let go of that anger that quickly.
I think.
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annoyingbotheringitching me about your characters, particularly Edmund, as the TSG set has gone on. I had only gotten as far as pinning to the fact that they are very different than mine, but now, reading this, I think I've got it -- I would want and hope a child of mine would grow up like any of the Pevensies, and they could certainly do much, much, much worse than to emulate Edmund. Sex with Evil Bankers and all. (More sex! *throws confetti*) Actually, and maybe this is my-Ed injecting and overlaying your-Ed, I think Edmund is probably the better of the two boys to emulate in TSG; he's got his head together more than Peter.As for your little flower of a reviewer, can't you just lob tomatoes at her like the rest of us, and write your vision the way you want? *puppy dog eyes*
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Damn. You are on to me.
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The world is a busy, complicated place. Everyone thinks they're the hero of their own story - and they are. It's not easy to break things down into categories, good or evil, this or that, you have to stand back and absorb the whole melee of life.
All of which is to say, this reviewer completely missed the point, and to her I can only offer the dismissive Southern platitude: "Well, bless your heart."
(point, not poit, this is not Pinky & The Brain here, Ana)
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