Line #9 YMMV/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe


1	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: The 2005 film does this with the Pevensie children:
2	** It's implied that the others think Lucy's stories of Narnia are her way of coping with the trauma of having to be evacuated; creating an adventure for herself to avoid driving herself mad with worry.
3	** In the book, Edmund's betrayal of his siblings is said to be due to magic in Jadis's Turkish Delight (although Lewis points out at the end of the book that horrible influences at school were what first made him start to go wrong). The film puts forward the interpretation that it's more due to Peter's BigBrotherBully tendencies, and Jadis is the [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe first person to really show him affection in a long time]]. ''Even if'' he knows the affection is fake (and it's entirely possible that he knows), it's better to at least have someone ''pretend'' they care than nothing at all. This is even more visible later when someone ''genuinely'' cares about Edmund and he's rescued from Jadis -- he practically [[HeroWorship wor]][[{{Pun}} ships]] Aslan on sight for it.
4	** Peter and Susan seem more concerned with trying to look like responsible older children, Peter picking on Edmund to keep him in line and Susan scoffing at Lucy's stories. But in doing so they just expose their own immaturity, only behaving how they ''think'' adults should act. Both call each other out for this at different points in the film. At times, one gets the impression that ''Lucy'' is the most sensible one of the children; she displays WiseBeyondHerYears traits and has no problem calling her siblings out, especially in ''Film/PrinceCaspian''.
5	--->'''Lucy:''' I wish you'd all stop trying to act like grown-ups.
6	** Susan's status as the AgentScully in the films is widely accepted by fans as better. Partly because Susan was OutOfFocus for the two books she was in, and thus didn't have [[TheGenericGuy much of a personality]]. It also acts as {{Foreshadowing}} that she will eventually convince herself that Narnia was AllJustADream. Unfortunately, the film series was cut short before her arc could fully play out.
7	* AluminumChristmasTrees: For many who lived in the Americas and in East Asia, especially ''after'' the [[TheFifties time it was written]], this was how they learned what [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_delight Turkish Delight]] was. Many thought it was fake.
8	* AngstWhatAngst: In the book, none of the siblings ever miss their parents, or think about what effect their sudden disappearance will have on the rest of their family. Nor do any of them express a wish to go home. It's even said that their memories of their old life become more like a dream the longer they stay in Narnia.
9	* {{Anvilicious}}: The narrator throughout the first few chapters repeatedly reminds us that one must always be careful to never shut oneself in a wardrobe, and only a very foolish person would ever close a wardrobe door behind them. Lewis of course was understandably concerned that impressionable children should not try to imitate the Pevensies and get themselves trapped.
10	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The entire soundtrack to the 2005 film, really, but especially the goosebumps-raising [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_W7fMSBeJg Narnian lullaby]] that Mr. Tumnus plays for Lucy on the pan flute.
11	* CantUnhearIt: Georgie Henley in the 2005 film is the definitive Lucy for most fans for her spirited, [[{{Moe}} endearing]] and self-aware performance.
12	* CompleteMonster: Jadis. See [[YMMV/TheChroniclesOfNarnia here]].
13	* EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory: WordOfGod says the book is hypothetical speculation on Christianity if Jesus existed in worlds that were quite different from ours. Of course, most people just thought it was a charming fairy tale.
14	* EvilIsCool: Jadis is quite an iconic villain, for how she has Narnia trapped in an endless winter for a hundred years, can enslave the trees themselves to be her spies and keeps her petrified victims in her courtyard as essentially trophies. In the 2005 film, she fights in battle using the Florentine technique in addition to her magic, and even wears Aslan's mane that she'd cut off the night before as a pelt!
15	* FairForItsDay: Many modern readers have disliked Father Christmas' admonition that Susan and Lucy should use the weapons they are given only in great need, since "battles are ugly when women fight." However:
16	** The fact that the girls are given weapons in the first place and told to defend themselves if they have to is remarkable enough, since this would certainly not happen in the fairy tales and Medieval romances that were Lewis' inspiration for the ''Narnia'' series. Furthermore, no regular army in the real world (except, briefly, the [[WeHaveReserves famously ruthless]] Soviet Red Army during World War II) allowed any women in combat either at the time of writing or for decades after. The decision to allow women into the US Army infantry is still intensely controversial ''today''.
17	** There is also the fact that as of this time in the story, Susan and Lucy aren't just women, but ''little girls'' who are not even in their teens yet, so the idea that they should not fight if they can help it actually makes a lot of sense even if one does not object to female fighters. Later books actually portray older versions of Susan and Lucy (as well as Jill Pole, another female protagonist) as capable and respected combatants.
18	* FirstInstalmentWins: The later books most assuredly have tons of fans, but ''The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe'' is by far the best-known and most adapted book of the series. It's been adapted four times. The 2005 film is likewise considered the best of the three Walden Media Narnia films.
19	* HarsherInHindsight:
20	** There's a scene in the 2005 film where Susan apologizes to Lucy for not being as much fun as she used to be, and the two sisters bond. It's too bad that in book canon [[spoiler: Susan eventually grows apart from her siblings, dismisses Narnia as "childish fantasies" and is left alone when the rest of them die in a train accident]].
21	** Book-wise: Getting to like ''all'' the Narnians that the siblings become close to and even friends with becomes ''depressing'' when you get to ''Prince Caspian'' and learn they all have long passed due to the NarniaTime of the Pevensies leaving Narnia on a hunt ''by accident''.
22	* HilariousInHindsight:
23	** One RunningGag in the novel is that one should never shut oneself in a wardrobe, because if you do you'll be locked in. Edmund forgets this key piece of advice and does so anyway (although he is able to get out later). When the bloopers for TheMovie came out, one of them was Skandar Keynes (who plays Edmund) shutting himself in the wardrobe, and consequently getting locked in.
24	** When Edmund complains that it's raining outside, Susan mentions that they have a "wireless" inside to entertain them. At the time the word referred to wireless radio, but now gives off the impression of wireless Internet.
25	** Jim Broadbent playing Professor Kirke [[Film/HarryPotter becomes this after he played Professor Slughorn]], considering that one of the characters in ''Literature/HarryPotter'' was named after Professor ''Digory'' Kirke.
26	** Edmund in the 2005 film asks Jadis if she can make him taller. Skandar Keynes ended up going through a growth spurt during filming -- growing a whole six inches.
27	** Edmund complaining about having to wear a girl's coat is also amusing when you learn that Anna Popplewell had to double for him in an earlier scene.
28	** Tumnus mentions that he and Lucy have to be really careful because even some of the trees are on Jadis's side. During TheNewTens, this became amusing due to a spate of historical memes about "when the trees start speaking UsefulNotes/{{Vietnam}}ese" (referring to the [[UsefulNotes/VietnameseWithKalashnikovs Viet Cong's]] stealthy guerrilla tactics in UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar).
29	** In the 2005 film, Father Christmas, played by Creator/JamesCosmo, declares that "Winter is almost over!" Years later, he would feature in [[Series/GameOfThrones another fantasy series]] where he would battle against another menace threatening to bring its own brand of unending winter, and the ArcWords would be "Winter is Coming."
30	** Creator/TildaSwinton played the [[BigBad White Witch]] in here. Jump forward 12 years later in ''Film/DoctorStrange2016'', she would be the [[BigGood Ancient One]], who is practically a reverse White Witch while the White Witch herself would not be out of place among Doctor Strange's RoguesGallery.[[note]]Add in the fact that ''Film/DoctorStrange2016'' itself is a part of [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse a media franchise]] whose [[Film/TheAvengers2012 most popular film]] [[TheRedStapler popularized shawarma]] in the United States - which can be compared to how the ''Narnia'' franchise is forever associated with ''another'' Middle Eastern food (Turkish delight) to Western (especially American) audiences.[[/note]]
31	* ItWasHisSled: [[spoiler:Aslan surrenders himself to be killed by the White Witch in the place of Edmund, but comes back to life through ThePowerOfLove.]]
32	* JerkassWoobie: Edmund, while the White Witch's prisoner. It's during this point that he actually redeems himself.
33	* LargeHam: Jadis the White Which in the book -- at the very latest when she gets to say the line from [[ShoutOut.ToShakespeare Shakespeare's]] ''Richard III'' "in that knowledge, despair and die!" In Shakespeare's play, variations on that line drag on for all of a scene -- so the carry-over audience reaction to hearing that line said anywhere else is: "just kill him ''already'' instead of filling half an evening dramatizing about it!", making anyone who says that an [[VillainDecay insta-ridiculous drama queen]].
34	* MemeticMutation:
35	** ''Do not cite the deep magic to me, witch! I was there when it was written.'' [[note]]A quote made by Aslan in the movie adaptation. It has become popular to people who witnessed how something started to quote it.[[/note]]
36	** The Lion, The Witch, and the audacity of this bitch. [[note]]A reaction image of the the movie's cover and this quote is used whenever someone does something rather disrespectfully bold.[[/note]]
37	** Edmund infamously sells out his family for some Turkish delight, a type of dessert. It's not common or well-known in the US, so when American children read the story or watched the film for the first time, they often assumed it was extremely delicious (if not a made-up magical food) to be worth so high a price -- then when they tried it for the first time and learned it was mildly sweet at best, they were horrified at [[ComicallySmallBribe how low Edmund was willing to stoop for such a mediocre treat]]. [[note]] They often forget that the Witch's candy is magically addictive, and that she also promises to adopt Edmund and make him the future king of Narnia if he brings his siblings to her. [[/note]]
38	* {{Moe}}: Lucy actually isn't so much in the books, but Georgie Henley's portrayal of her as an AdorablyPrecociousChild results in this. Particularly her comeback to Mr. Tumnus asking if she's a dwarf.
39	-->'''Lucy:''' ...and actually, I'm tallest in my class.
40	* {{Narm}}:
41	** "Oh the cry of the seagulls! Can you remember?"
42	** The scene where the Pevensies and the beavers have to escape from the wolves. Mrs Beaver holds them up by insisting on packing loads of ridiculous things. The rest of the characters treat this as a mild annoyance, as if she's going to make them late for a train rather than get them all killed with her SkewedPriorities. Averted in the film, however, where the scene has plenty of urgency.
43	** Peter's use of expressions like "by jove" and "by golly" don't even sound anything other than forced. Probably because they're incredibly outdated expressions that the actors just felt awkward saying.
44	** The film has Aslan simply give all four Pevensies their titles upon their coronation, in stark contrast to earning them through years of ruling in the book, which makes his calling Susan gentle and Edmund just come rather out of nowhere.
45	* NarmCharm:
46	** The Father Christmas scene. Silly? Yes. A little cheesy? Of course. Is it still heartwarming? Absolutely.
47	* NotBadassEnoughForFans: Susan gets hit with this a lot, given that she doesn't get to display her archery skills a lot in the story. She tends to get thought of as weak for not being able to fight Maugrim off herself. This ignores the fact that she gets Lucy and herself to safety and manages to sound an alarm to warn the others of the danger. It's possibly for this reason that the second film gives her more to do in battle.
48	* SignatureScene: Aslan's sacrifice at the stone table and his subsequent resurrection are the most memorable parts of the story, in equal parts because they're the most overt Christian symbolism and because they're quite terrifying (and subsequently heartwarming) to a first time reader.
49	* UnintentionallySympathetic: Edmund when he first enters Narnia. The prose may lay him out as a BigBrotherBully to Lucy, but he does try to call out to her to admit that he was wrong about doubting her, and worries about her being alone in the winter. He also is shivering in the snow when a beautiful woman in white takes pity on him and shields him from the cold. How was he supposed to know that she was an evil witch and that the food she summoned was a GRatedDrug, which made him addicted to it and spoiled the taste of ordinary food? The 2005 film notably makes Edmund far more sympathetic, playing up Peter's BigBrotherBully tendencies.
50	* ValuesDissonance: Especially as capital punishment becomes increasingly unpopular in the world, it can be a bit eyebrow-raising that the BigGood Aslan was apparently fine with letting the Witch execute anyone she felt to be a 'traitor' right up until the point where said traitor is a little boy whose death would disrupt the prophecy. At the time the book was written, though, the UK was still carrying out executions.
51	** He negotiates with her for hours to back off it, and finally offers to die in Edmund's place -- which is a pretty strong indicator that Aslan is NOT okay with the whole thing; and only finding a way to ExactWords a way out of it instead of refusing point blank because the Deep Magic (which is a force of nature in that world) would otherwise unmake Narnia. So that refusing to execute someone would be ValuesDissonance with the people of the time the book was written, and ValuesResonance with the people reading it today.
52	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Lev Grossman, author of the Narnia {{Deconstruction}}, ''Literature/TheMagicians'' trilogy thought the wish-granting White Stag was a wasted character and wondered what would happen if he and Aslan were to fight each other. He put an {{Expy}} called the Questing Beast in his own trilogy and gave him a chance to grant wishes.
53	* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: All the various fantasy creatures in the climactic battle in the 2005 film are near perfectly rendered.
54	* TheWoobie:
55	** Mr. Tumnus, particularly in the movie, where there's an added scene of him meeting Edmund in prison and, despite obviously having been hurt during his stay, is more concerned about Lucy's wellbeing than his own. Not to mention that his petrified body looks like he was either terrified or in a lot of pain, before being frozen.
56	** Lucy can count in the initial parts of the book. It's very sad for her when her siblings don't believe her about Narnia, as she's a very truthful girl -- and being accused of making something up is one of the most offensive things in the world to her. It gets even worse when Edmund goes in and then pretends it was all a game just to mess with her. The 2005 film even emphasises how she's a scared little girl experiencing World War II, with her introduction being crying out for her mother during a bombing raid.
57	* {{Woolseyism}}: An ad-lib from Georgie Henley -- "my mother's name is Helen" -- adds a nice bit of symbolism. The Pevensie mother had not been named in the books. But in the film, she now shares the same name as the first Queen of Narnia. Not to mention the given name of Creator/CSLewis's wife, Helen Joy Davidman.
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Context YMMV / TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe