Saturday, January 21, 2006

Epic Mashup

The missus and I saw “The Chronicles of Narnia” last night. It was a very fine flick, and well done. This is really the first moment in film history when production technology can really do justice to fantasy stories. Which is why we have this wonderful bumper crop of fantasy and science fiction epics – Narnia, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and the big dog, Star Wars.

Which suggests a rich possibility, which I hope some rogue film editors are already busily at work on: a mashup of all of them.

As I watched, for example, the battle scene in Narnia, it was hard not to remember similar moments from a similar battle in Lord of the Rings. Indeed, a few years ago I read a joint biography of the Inklings, the group of religious writers that included C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, which recounted the parallel course, and rivalry, of the writers and their series, played out in the Eagle and Child (or Bird and Baby) pub. A mashup of just these two films, intercut with the conversations of the writers around the pub table, would be fascinating.

Another excellent project for someone else to do. I would pay money to see it.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

When the Inklinks got together they wondered at the demise of "myths" in the industrial world. As such they sought to creating "meaningful myths" for modern "man." Its interesting that the Professor of Anglo-Saxon and the history English Lit. reached deep into Christianity and found Zoroastrianism. Not that Jews and Christians had not already adapted it for their use some 2 millenia ago. I distinguish the two by claiming Zoroastrianism is a dualism which holds a provisional monotheism: one God of two, Ahura Mazada will win the cosmic combat in the end...and then there shall be one. Christianity on the other hand is a monteism which holds to a provisional dualism: There is One God, but two powers at work in the cosmic conflict that God is engendering at this time. This is our Zoroastrian heritage a war between the powers of Light and Darkness.

Anonymous said...

I see one can't edit comments once posted, apologies everyone.

Anonymous said...

Hey there. Can I ask if you know of any sites like this one (single parent dating) where I can meet other people to talk about single parent dating?
Cheers

Gruntled said...

Ah, Ron, that is wonderfully helpful. Do you see Zoroastrianism in Mere Christianity and Lewis' other Christian apologetics, or is it only in the myth cycle?

Charlotte said...

I'd certainly pay to hear Tolkein and C.S. Lewis having at it, although I'm always inclined to think that what writers created is going to be richer than what they say about what they wrote. What I really want somebody to produce -- with all the wonderful special effects now possible -- is a Glastonbury trilogy, with Celtic mythology, Joseph of Arimathea, the Holy Grail, Arthur, Merlin et al. As a side note, I wish the single moms well in their quest.

Gruntled said...

Yeah, and then Arthur and Aragorn and Aslan could mix it up ... :)

Anonymous said...

Brings a whole new meaning to the idea of mixed metaphors.

thisniss said...

Well, it's not a film mashup, but there is a pretty bad photoshop graphic, attached to a pretty decent article on the Tolkien-Lewis friendship, here [site pass or subscription required].

Wow, 2003. I can't remember where I put my car keys earlier today, but a two-year old Salon article sticks in my mind. Priorities...

Gruntled said...

Thank you, that is a good piece. And Lewis as Treebeard is wonderful.

thisniss said...

I imagine everyone's seen this by now, but just in case: "Lazy Sunday" (The Chronicles of Narnia rap). My husband and I think this is the funniest thing SNL has done for years, but maybe it's a generational thing? At any rate, I can only imagine that this is exactly what C.S. Lewis had in mind when he first penned The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.

(again with the priorities: that paper will wait, but I must share this bit of goofiness right now!)