CS Lewis Movie
de Klerk
Has the Space Trilogy ever been made into a series of films?
If not, do you think that it has the potential for being a film?
I'd like to here people's thoughts on this.
Christo de Klerk
MarionPaw
My first foray into this newsgroup. I have never heard of a movie from the
lewis trilogy. Marion Aldridge
Danny Pitt Stoller
de Klerk (ussar...@hotmail.com) wrote:
: Has the Space Trilogy ever been made into a series of films?
: If not, do you think that it has the potential for being a film?
: I'd like to here people's thoughts on this.
Rumor has it that a film company has bought the rights to *Out of the
Silent Planet*, but nothing is known yet about the progress of the film.
None of the books has ever been adapted for film, though *Perelandra* was
interestingly enough made into an opera. (I have searched in vain for
the score and libretto for *Perelandra* the opera.)
We have discussed the possibilities of Ransom films before in this
newsgroup, and generally agreed that they couldn't be handled in the
usual Hollywood fashion. The nudity and extreme violence of *Perelandra*
might also be a problem.
--
"Gentlemen of the jury, I am grateful and I am your friend,
but I will obey the god rather than you...."
- Socrates
Danny Pitt Stoller
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~dap
Brenda Clough
Danny Pitt Stoller wrote:
> de Klerk (ussar...@hotmail.com) wrote:
> : Has the Space Trilogy ever been made into a series of films?
> : If not, do you think that it has the potential for being a film?
> : I'd like to here people's thoughts on this.
>
> Rumor has it that a film company has bought the rights to *Out of the
> Silent Planet*, but nothing is known yet about the progress of the film.
> None of the books has ever been adapted for film, though *Perelandra* was
> interestingly enough made into an opera. (I have searched in vain for
> the score and libretto for *Perelandra* the opera.)
A close observation of the film-making process will reveal that acquiring the
movie rights to a book (while essential) isn't very significant. Even having
a producer and director and cast lined up doesn't mean much. If the project
progresses to the point where some film is actually shot, then you might
start paying attention. And if they ever -finish- shooting, a mild
excitement might be felt. But until then, don't hold your breath!
Brenda
--
Brenda W. Clough, author of HOW LIKE A GOD from Tor Books
<clo...@erols.com> http://www.sff.net/people/Brenda
Peter Thomas Chattaway
Danny Pitt Stoller (d...@mail1.sas.upenn.edu) wrote:
: Rumor has it that a film company has bought the rights to *Out of the
I e-mailed Douglas Gresham about this last week and he said permission had
been given to Henry Seggerman to produce an adaptation of _Silent Planet_.
I asked if Gresham or the Estate had "script approval", and he said, "Yes
after a fashion, he can't make a movie of which we disapprove."
--
Peter T. Chattaway | "Strange when you come to think of it, that of all
16397 Glenmoor Ct. | the countless folk who have lived before our time on
Surrey, BC V4N 1V2 | this planet not one is known in history or in legend
pet...@unixg.ubc.ca | as having died of laughter." -- Max Beerbohm
Jarin N. Tadych
> We have discussed the possibilities of Ransom films before in this
> newsgroup, and generally agreed that they couldn't be handled in the
> usual Hollywood fashion. The nudity and extreme violence of *Perelandra*
> might also be a problem.
How interesting. I am reading Perelandra for the 2nd time after 6 or so
years. I have been thinking, as I often do, how it could be made into a
movie (I guess that just adds to the visualization). What I thought
would be difficult would be the facial expressions - which I have
difficulty picturing - and the turbulence of the environment. I get a
bit queasy thinking about all those waves! And all those animals... And
wouldn't it be unnerving to be situated in such an alien planet? I
think being shrouded in golden light, as we know it, might be
oppressive.
I'm at the part where the Unman is trying to convince the Green Lady to
live on firm land. Weston's earlier conversation about the life force
bitterly reminded me that there is nothing new under the sun. What was
deceiving 50 years ago still decieves today.
**jnt
Feico Nater
On 29 May 1998 06:58:54 GMT, d...@mail1.sas.upenn.edu (Danny Pitt
Stoller) wrote in alt.books.cs-lewis:
>The nudity and extreme violence of *Perelandra*
>might also be a problem.
There is nudity in Out of the Silent Planet too, but this is easily
avoided without doing damage to the story. In Perelandra it's
different, I agree. There is nothing wrong with the story, but our
society is very intolerant against nudity in movies.
Violence in Perelandra? I think this is no problem.
===
Feico Nater, Netherland
http://home.wxs.nl/~taaleffect
===
Could it be possible, in the long run, to wear clothes without learning
modesty, and through modesty lasciviousness? (C.S.Lewis)
Danny Pitt Stoller
Feico Nater (nate...@wxs.nl) wrote:
: There is nudity in Out of the Silent Planet too, but this is easily
: avoided without doing damage to the story. In Perelandra it's
: different, I agree. There is nothing wrong with the story, but our
: society is very intolerant against nudity in movies.
I don't think the problem is our society's intolerance of film nudity,
because in fact our society is increasingly approving of nudity in film.
The problem is that nudity is used so often in films (and other media) to
exploit the human body and to market sexuality as a commodity that it
would be difficult to make a film that would deal with the nudity
tastefully and really achieve the sort of innocent (though of course not
sexless) nudity that *Perelandra* depicts.
: Violence in Perelandra? I think this is no problem.
The scenes of violence are extremely brutal and intense. Of course, we
see films all the time that include violence of this kind and exploit it
for entertainment value -- but the problem here, as in the case of the
nudity, would be to present the material in a way that is responsible and
not exploitive.
john bennett
de Klerk wrote:
>
> Has the Space Trilogy ever been made into a series of films?
> If not, do you think that it has the potential for being a film?
> I'd like to here people's thoughts on this.
Isn't there a point in Perelandra where Ransom feels that the Lady has
become capable of being portrayed by an actress, and he finds this
intolerable?
John Bennett
Danny Pitt Stoller
john bennett (johnb...@which.net) wrote:
: Isn't there a point in Perelandra where Ransom feels that the Lady has
: become capable of being portrayed by an actress, and he finds this
: intolerable?
The Un-Man tries to tempt the Lady to vanity, by leading her to wear
clothes, to look upon her reflection, and by inspiring her with tales of
great tragic women from Tellurian soil. When she is tempted by all these
things, the Lady is indeed compared with tragic figures such as might be
portrayed by actresses. But I don't think that Lewis was implying any
contempt for the art of acting -- all the arts were regarded highly by
Lewis, as far as I know. It was the Lady's own view of herself as a
dramatic figure, not the objective "actability" of her character, that
was intolerable to Ransom.
Feico Nater
On 30 May 1998 20:52:48 GMT, d...@mail2.sas.upenn.edu (Danny Pitt
Stoller) wrote in alt.books.cs-lewis:
>: There is nothing wrong with the story, but our
>: society is very intolerant against nudity in movies.
>
>I don't think the problem is our society's intolerance of film nudity,
>because in fact our society is increasingly approving of nudity in film.
Yes, that's true, although probably more in Europe than in the USA.
>The problem is that nudity is used so often in films (and other media) to
>exploit the human body and to market sexuality as a commodity that it
>would be difficult to make a film that would deal with the nudity
>tastefully and really achieve the sort of innocent (though of course not
>sexless) nudity that *Perelandra* depicts.
I agree. Perhaps an animation would be the solution. In drawn pictures
you could be able to show sexless persons, which are acceptable to
anyone.
---
Feico Nater, Netherlands
http://home.wxs.nl/~taaleffect
---
In matters of commerce the fault of the Dutch
is offering too little and asking too much.
b...@dragontree.com
On 31 May 1998 02:33:34 GMT,
d...@mail2.sas.upenn.edu (Danny Pitt
Stoller) wrote:
>john bennett (johnb...@which.net) wrote:
>: Isn't there a point in Perelandra where Ransom feels that the Lady has
>: become capable of being portrayed by an actress, and he finds this
>: intolerable?
>
>The Un-Man tries to tempt the Lady to vanity, by leading her to wear
>clothes, to look upon her reflection, and by inspiring her with tales of
>great tragic women from Tellurian soil. When she is tempted by all these
>things, the Lady is indeed compared with tragic figures such as might be
>portrayed by actresses. But I don't think that Lewis was implying any
>contempt for the art of acting -- all the arts were regarded highly by
>Lewis, as far as I know. It was the Lady's own view of herself as a
>dramatic figure, not the objective "actability" of her character, that
>was intolerable to Ransom.
Kind of like the Tragedian in /Great
Divorce/?? :-)
Mary
b...@dragontree.com
>There is nudity in Out of the Silent Planet too, but this is easily
>avoided without doing damage to the story. In Perelandra it's
>different, I agree. There is nothing wrong with the story, but our
>society is very intolerant against nudity in movies.
>Violence in Perelandra? I think this is no problem.
Yes, the violence could be handled
pretty creatively :-), actually. Lewis
wrote somewere in /Present Concerns/ re
chivalry, that in his culture, men with
good manners tended to be physically ...
er, wimpy :-) More so for scholars like
Ransom? So fighting barehanded was
something very strange for Ransom. It
might have brought up memories (visual
flashbacks) to school-yard bullies,
scuffles, etc -- maybe other childhood
traumas? The Unman switching characters
during the fight could also recall
traditional shape-shifting motifs (as in
the fight with the green snake in
/Silver Chair/). If it got very
psychedelic, showing what associations
flashed up for Ransom, that could
substitute for 'graphic violence'. :-)
>===
>Could it be possible, in the long run, to wear clothes without learning
>modesty, and through modesty lasciviousness? (C.S.Lewis)
Yes, I agree, that is the real problem.
Don't see how the nudism theme could be
filmed accurately, in our society.
Hm, not a good solution, but.... If they
made her really *very* scaly, like the
mermaids on the tuna fish cans.... :-)
So that the realistic shots looked more
animal than human, so could pass....
Then Ransom's reaction would have to be
to glimpses and shadows of her....
Could make a good movie, but not very
accurate to Lewis' theme....
Mary
Don A. Smith
In article <35723e95...@news.wxs.nl>, nate...@wxs.nl (Feico Nater) writes:
>
> I agree. Perhaps an animation would be the solution. In drawn pictures
> you could be able to show sexless persons, which are acceptable to
> anyone.
Not to me. :-) Seriously, though. I think what you describe would
totally destroy the whole point of having them nude in the first place;
namely that this is a "society" without any shame connected with the
naked human form. From the Lewisian point of view, drawing on the
Biblical story where shame of the human figure is an outcome of a Fall
that hasn't happened, to draw them as if there were a problem with their
nudity is to betray the internal integrity of the metaphorical structure
of the story. If a movie must be made at all, I would love to see them
say "damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead" and show the story as Lewis
told it. I know that's impractical, but I'd rather hold that impractical
position than allow the existence of a castrated (literally!) Perelandra.
If we, as a society, are not ready to make the movie, then let it wait
its time to be done right.
Better still, don't make it at all.
Don Smith
