The Magician’s Nephew Being Transplanted to 1955? | Talking Beasts
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The first photos from the set of Greta Gerwig’s upcoming The Magician’s Nephew adaptation revealed a key detail: The story will apparently be set in 1955, unlike the book which was set in 1900. It may also be worth noting that The Magician’s Nephew book was published in 1955. How significant is this shift? And could it be setting the stage for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe being set in present day? Listen to the discussion and post a comment below!
Watch the post-show chatter.
Let’s go!! I jumped out of my chair when I saw there was a new podcast episode!
I’m disappointed that we aren’t getting a period-accurate version of The Magician’s Nephew. In my opinion, Steven Spielberg’s version of War of The Worlds was mostly true to the spirit of the original book, but was hampered by the fact that it was set in the present day. The BBC version of War of The Worlds got the time period correct, but damaged the story by creating a completely new plot. Why can’t we have nice things?
I agree @Kent Slocum. This means it will be at least another 20-30 years before Narnia gets made again, by which time we could get a period-accurate version of the books, and I’ll be dead by then. I don’t understand why Greta speaks of her respect for the books and then goes and does this.
I love the respect you show for Gerwig in your discussion! I still have high hopes, and agree with Glumpuddle’s contention that it is very early on and there is so much about the script that we don’t know.
Great discussion! I’ll add that if Gerwig did indeed grow up loving the animated 1979 version of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, then I can understand why she might be open to changing the time period, as that film was *clearly* set in the 1970s and with American actors. That’s still a pretty straightforward adaptation, so clearly it can be done.
Like you guys alluded to in the episode, ultimately, what good is period accuracy if the movie isn’t good? Look at Walden’s VDT…
For me, 1900s London is such a big part of MN. It takes place in our world more than any other book and is pretty crucial to the book’s charm, so I’m really going to miss that specific time-period setting.
It can still theoretically be a good adaptation, but I fear it’ll miss the “feeling” of the book with this change. But it’s obvious we know next to nothing about what Gerwig is doing, so we’ll just have to wait and see.
Well… The Narnia time is one, in our wolrd is another! Mostly 90% of the movie is set in Narnia wolrd! So the essence and the “feel” of Narnia is going to still the same! I’m trying to do not be sad about these changes if NARNIA is going to be the same! I know MN is the book that takes place in our world more than the others… but it still feeling “old times” for me, being set in the 50’s…
@ Kent Slocum
I’ve never really understood the need to have completely 100% book accurate adaptations, or ‘purism,’ if you prefer. The whole point of adaptations is that they’re translating the source material into a new medium made by a different artist, so inevitably some things will need to change. So long as they endeavour to remain consistent with the spirit of the book, I don’t mind bold creative choices.
There are so many adaptations of ‘The War of the Worlds’ already; what’s the point in retelling the original H.G. Wells story every time? Just read the original.
Weirdly, ever though Rilian and I are like the opposite in that he’s more openminded about changing the time period for MN and less openminded for changing it for LWW whereas for me it’s vice versa, I sadly have to agree with him that nothing about this adaptation is sounding good to me. (Well, I do think the casting looks good and the sets and costumes look great except for Jadis’s.) I try to remind myself of what Glumpuddle said: that we really haven’t seen or heard that much but look what we have seen and heard about them doing. Changing the time period to the 50s. Changing the way Digory and Polly meet. Some kind of scene with a fox(?) A scene at a swimming pool. Possibly changing Aslan’s gender. Most of those things wouldn’t be so bad by themselves but we’re barely hearing anything that sounds like the book.
I’ve come up with a reason for me and so many other Narnia fans changing the time period for The Magician’s Nephew feels wrong, but another writer could probably express it better. Here’s my attempt. C. S. Lewis was really influenced by the children’s books of E. Nesbit growing up and they took place in the Edwardian era. Not philosophically, mind you, but definitely stylistically. If the kid characters in the Narnia movies are modern kids in 1940s clothes, the kid characters in the Narnia books are Edwardian kids in 1940s clothes. In general, C. S. Lewis was influenced a lot by the Victorian and Edwardian books that he read in his youth. In fact, what this episode was talking about with the narrator really isn’t original to C. S. Lewis. It’s very much E. Nesbit and, truth be told, a lot of Victorian and Edwardian authors. (I’m sorry if this is making anyone love the Narnia books less.) So The Magician’s Nephew, taking place when it does, is the Narnia book that feels the most…honest maybe? Like I said, another writer could explain this better.
Anyway, great episode. I’m kind of surprised and disappointed though that you didn’t talk about the male lion in the billboard we’ve seen, especially since you talked about how the Meryl Streep stuff has prejudiced some fans against the movie. Should we be relieved and stop worrying now? Or is it such heavy-handed foreshadowing that it must be a red herring?
P.S.
It’s technically not a movie but the 2000 Arabian Nights miniseries has a great narrator.
I’d like to say that I don’t feel like emphasizing the parallels between the Deplorable Word and the atomic bomb would go against the book’s message or even be adding a political message that wasn’t in the book. However, I would not be a fan of the dialogue Glumpuddle suggested since it’s really heavy handed. I know he was just coming up with placeholder dialogue though. If he were really writing the script, he’d want something subtler and likely Greta Gerwig does too.
I’ve said this elsewhere on Narniaweb but I really wish we’d just get a full interview with Gerwig where she addresses all the changes I mentioned in my other comment. Maybe she’d convince me they’re actually great ideas. Maybe she’d convince to give up on this movie. Either way, it’d take a load off my mind.
I actually like the idea of LWW and the future stories taking place in “present day.” Aside from MN, most of the stories take place in Narnia anyway. It will be interesting to see how the stories handle taking characters out of modern society with modern technology and adapt them to a world of Narnia.
Thank you so much for this podcast episode! I enjoyed your commentary immensely. It’s given me a lot to think about. Please make another one as soon as possible!! 🙂
I think the decision to set this new Narnia film in the 1950s may have been, in part, a strategy to differentiate it from all the previous adaptations. And not so much because of The Magician’s Nephew, but because of when the time comes to adapt the sequels.
Just think about it for a moment: there have already been multiple versions of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and all of them have been set in distant decades.
But the idea of making a version that takes place in a time closer to our present is something that automatically separates it from the rest.
Personally, I think the idea is great, as long as the films end up being good and respect the most important details of the storie
We know Gretta Gerwig likes playing around with timelines. She did it in Little Women. The thing is the story still starts in 1861. She had no problem doing a period piece with that one so what’s the issue with doing one now?
Don’t forget Lewis grew up in the 1900’s. This is spoused to be about his childhood isn’t it? Digory is autobiographical of Jack Lewis feelings dealing with his mum’s death. It’s disrespectful to the story that Lewis put the most of himself into.