Why I love Lucy

No, this isn't about an old television show.  I just saw Dawn Treader for the second time (not because it was that good... it was good... but mostly to get away from homework and hang with some other friends).  There are several reasons to love this movie.  For one, it is the best book of the series.  I'm sorry to the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe fanatics.  Yes, Lewis opened up Narnia in that book, but here he gives it form and function that is rivaled only in The Horse and His Boy.  The setting, the magic, the idea of Aslan's country and the scene on the precipice of it are just splendid.

But none of that is why I adored this movie.  In fact, I found this most attractive for something that the producers changed from the original stories.  I know the Lewis die-hards will hate this, but one of the reasons the Narnia series has never reached the level of appreciation in my life that Harry Potter and even the Chronicles of Prydain have is because the characters in Narnia are so one-dimensional.  I don't understand this from Lewis because he writes in On Stories and elsewhere that the imagination of children should not be limited by adult misconceptions, and here he is crafting the main character (outside of Aslan) in his series as a one-dimensional child.

I'm talking about Lucy Pevensie.  In the books I can sum her up with a sentence.  She is a pure child whose only challenge is fighting off the temptation to seek earthly beauty and grown-up-ness at the cost of a child-like attitude and faith.  It's a great example, but hardly one I can relate to.  And I think it is one hard to relate to for kids today who are actually at the point of social pressure (which is happening earlier and earlier).

But I said I liked what the movies did.

And I do!  It started small in the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by giving her a dagger.  It didn't matter much to the plot, but it was a sign of things to come.  We didn't see much in Prince Caspian, so I have to admit I feared she would sink into oblivion.  And then came the Dawn Treader.  Here we have a Lucy with a sword, a Lucy with an attitude, a Lucy still tempted but growing, learning, becoming more than a childish girl.  It's not fair to apply Lewis' standards for girls to a different era, so I'm not going to blame him for his Lucy of literature.  Instead, I want to lift up the Lucy of this film.  She was brilliant.  Cute.  But a whole lot more than that.  As much as Eustace Scrubb was the character that will be remembered, Lucy is the character that gives meaning to the story that brings us oh so close to the boundaries of Aslan's country.