C. S. Lewis, Prince Caspian, and Women in Combat, Part 1

The big screen version of Prince Caspian, the much-anticipated second film installment of C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia, was released in theaters last week. Prior to seeing the movie, I read last week's World magazine cover story, "The Return of the Lion." One significant difference between Lewis's book and the Disney film mentioned in the World article caught my attention.

Readers may recall that in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, though Father Christmas gave Susan and Lucy Pevensie weapons, he did not intend for them to use them in battle, for "battles are ugly when women fight." In the film version, this is altered to "battles are ugly affairs." Thus, the question of women in combat is neatly avoided.

Not so in Prince Caspian. Unlike the book, the film clearly depicts Susan as a warrior, actively engaging in physical combat alongside her brothers. When asked about this deviation from Lewis's story, director Andrew Adamson "doesn't equivocate," says Megan Basham in World. Adamson responds,

When the issue of Susan not participating in the fight for Narnia was introduced in the first film, I rejected it then. I was like, ‘Well if she's just gonna make sandwiches then give her a plate and a knife.' It's something that I don't agree with so I wasn't going to make a movie like that.

On whether or not this change is a disservice to Lewis's work, Adamson continues, "You have to remember, these books were written in a different time and place by somebody who I think evolved in his views over the years." Adamson justified this to Lewis's stepson and film co-producer Douglas Gresham by arguing, "I think C. S. Lewis evolved after meeting [Gresham's] mother, and that's why you start to see stronger female characters in his later books."

I would like to offer a few thoughts regarding Lewis's work and Adamson's interpretation.

(1) It was not until I read the World article and did a little research that I realized anyone actually made claims about the "evolution" of C. S. Lewis's thoughts on gender. However, having read some recent debate on this very issue (Christian Scholar's Review vol. 36, no. 4 [Summer 2007]), I remain unconvinced that Lewis's later writings reflect an embrace of gender egalitarianism. In the end, of course, this question will remain unanswered, since Lewis is unavailable for questioning. Regardless, though, it seems the question was really moot from the start, for Adamson confesses, "It's something that I don't agree with so I wasn't going to make a movie like that." Ultimately, then, modern views eschewing any notion of gender roles for men and women won the day.

(2) Adamson contends that one starts to see "stronger female characters" in Lewis's later books. But what is meant by stronger? In Prince Caspian, Lucy sees Aslan, who beckons for the children to follow him. The other children are unable to see him, though, and reject Lucy's appeals. Eventually, they relent and take the route to which Lucy (and Aslan) pointed.

In the print version, Lucy's fortitude is much more evident (a fact strangely absent in the film). When she sees the lion a second time, he commands her to tell the others to follow. But even if they will not, Aslan urges, "Then you at least must follow me alone." Lucy is shaken by the prospect of telling people "something they probably won't believe and making them do something they certainly won't like." But she is resolute to follow Aslan in spite of her fears. Thus, when she wakes the others and urges them to follow, Lucy proclaims "in a tremulous voice,"

And I do hope that you will come with me. Because—because I'll have to go with him whether anyone else does or not.

Lucy is presented as a model of steadfast faith in the face of adversity. After she apologizes to Aslan for not obeying him the first time and announces her determination to follow him, he tells her, "Now you are a lioness. And now all Narnia will be renewed." Lewis chooses a female protagonist to play a crucial role (and not "just make sandwiches") in the overall effort to win back Narnia. It is difficult to see how anyone would not regard her as a "strong female character."

Unless, of course, women are only considered "strong" when they act like men.

(3) Recently, Douglas Gresham was interviewed by Rebecca Cusey for National Review Online. Gresham admits that Adamson persuaded him that "Lewis's attitude toward women changed to some extent after he married my mother." (However, the anecdote Gresham shares does little to convince that Lewis had changed his views of male headship as taught in Scripture.) What I found most interesting, though, is how Gresham responds to the thought of a world where women take part in battles:

That becomes a very difficult thing to define. I don't really think women should be involved in active combat. I don't think it's fair for the men who are fighting beside them, or the men who are fighting against them. And it's not fair for the women themselves. I think the idea that women have to become men in our current society is a very bad one.  

Tomorrow, we will consider this "bad idea" of our modern culture, which insists that "women have to become men" and the biblical response.

Part 1      Part 2