Books  on  the  Box :sx   the  BBC  Chronicles  of  
Narnia   .sx   
  KIMBERLEY  REYNOLDS   .sx   
  It  is  rare  to  find  parents  and  educators  actively  promoting  a  
television  series  ( other  than  the  specifically  didactic  'schools'  
broadcasts  ) and  treating  it  as  a  cultural  event .sx   This  reflects  a  
deeply  rooted  ambivalence  about  television  as  entertainment  which  
is  directly  linked  to  attitudes  surrounding  children's  reading .sx   
Watching  television  is  inevitably  regarded  as  an  activity  less  
worthwhile  than  reading  , and  for  long  has  been  accused  of  seducing  
children  away  from  books .sx   Nevertheless  , when  in  1989  the  BBC  
launched  its  three-year  serialisation  of  C.S.  Lewis's  Chronicles  of  
Narnia  , families  around  the  country  regularly  settled  down  to  an  
early  Sunday  evening's  viewing  , and  the  whir  of  institutional  video  
recorders  switching  themselves  on  was  almost  audible .sx   The  ongoing  
adaptation  of  the  Narnia  books  for  television  ( at  the  time  of  
writing  The  Silver  Chair  is  being  screened  in  the  six  
weeks  leading  up  to  Christmas  1990  ) raises  a  number  of  key  issues  
about  children's  literature  and  television .sx   These  have  primarily  to  
do  with  status  , audience  , and  the  construction  of  narrative .sx   In  
particular  , the  'made-for-TV'  nature  of  the  series  ( as  compared  
with  the  many  film  adaptations  of  children's  texts  such  as  
  Black  Beauty  , National  Velvet  , The  Secret  Garden  and  
  Treasure  Island  )  created  problems  and  possibilities  which  
need  to  be  explored .sx   In  this  article  I  shall  be  less  concerned  with  
the  specific  adaptation  of  Lewis's  books  than  with  the  attitudes  
toward  televised  versions  of  children's  books  the  series  
highlights .sx   In  particular  , I  want  to  question  the  long-held  
assumptions  about  the  fugitive  and  reductionist  nature  of  visual  
renditions  now  that  the  video  recorder  has  come  of  age .sx   
  Screened  stories :sx   sceptics  , status  , and  skills   .sx   
  C.S.  Lewis  belonged  to  a  well-established  school  of  thought  
which  holds  that  books  are  infinitely  superior  to  films  and  
( especially  ) television  , and  that  any  attempt  to  make  a  filmed  
version  of  a  'good'  book  is  doomed  to  fail .sx   He  identified  some  of  
the  reasons  for  this  failure  in  a  brief  analysis  of  a  filmed  
version  of  Rider  Haggard's  King  Solomon's  Mines   .sx   
  Of  its  many  sins  -  not  least  the  introduction  of  a  
totally  irrelevant  young  woman  in  shorts  who  accompanied  the  
adventurers  wherever  they  went  -  only  one  here  concerns  us .sx   At  the  
end  of  Haggard's  book   .sx ..  the  heroes  are  awaiting  death  entombed  
in  a  rock  chamber  and  surrounded  by  the  mummified  kings  of  that  
land .sx   The  maker  of  the  film  version  , however  , apparently  thought  
this  tame .sx   He  substituted  a  subterranean  volcanic  eruption  , and  
then  went  one  better  by  adding  an  earthquake .sx   Perhaps  we  should  not  
blame  him .sx   Perhaps  the  scene  in  the  original  was  not  'cinematic'  
and  the  man  was  right  , by  the  canons  of  his  own  art  , in  altering  
it .sx   But  it  would  have  been  better  not  to  have  chosen  in  the  first  
place  a  story  which  could  be  adapted  to  the  screen  only  by  being  
ruined .sx    .sx   
  Lewis  goes  on  to  say  that  the  story  is  ruined  not  because  one  
ending  is  necessarily  better  than  another  , but  because  they  create  
entirely  different  feelings  in  the  reader/spectator .sx   This  
difference  in  feeling  he  attributes  to  two  causes .sx   First  , the  
dictates  of  cinematic  conventions  and  expectations  ( his  prejudices  
against  which  are  not  denied  ) , and  second  , the  lack  of  
understanding  on  the  part  of  the  film's  director  of  what  
constitutes  a  good  story .sx   The  educated  e  lite  , Lewis  
argues  , tend  to  disparage  the  power  of  narratives  which  concern  
themselves  more  with  plot  than  character  development  or  portraits  
of  society  , and  particularly  those  plots  which  involve  excursions  
into  other  worlds  or  'shadow  lands' .sx   The  kind  of  literary  
snobbishness  which  dismisses  genres  such  as  children's  fiction  or  
science  fiction  as  all  plot  and  no  substance  misses  an  important  
point  , for  to  a  certain  kind  of  reader  such  writing  has  the  power  
to  convey  " profound  experiences  , which  are   .sx ..  not  
acceptable  in  any  other  form .sx   "   .sx   
  Lewis's  defence  of  literature  characterised  by  powerful  plots  
is  based  entirely  on  the  subjective  nature  of  the  reading  
experience .sx   It  is  unique  , personal  , private  and  capable  of  enabling  
the  reader  to  transcend  mundane  reality .sx   Because  of  these  qualities  
the  written  text  is  supremely  able  to  adapt  to  the  needs  of  the  
individual  reader  and  to  do  this  at  different  stages  in  his/her  
development .sx   Lewis  believed  utterly  in  the  power  of  the  written  
word  , be  it  poetry  for  the  educated  or  adventure  stories  for  the  
masses  , and  likewise  deprecated  filmed  narratives .sx   
  " Nothing"  , he  wrote  , " can  be  more  disastrous  than  
the  view  that  cinema  can  and  should  replace  popular  written  
fictions .sx   The  elements  which  it  excludes  are  precisely  those  which  
give  the  untrained  mind  its  only  access  to  the  imaginative  world .sx   
There  is  a  death  in  the  cinema .sx   "   .sx   
  In  such  passages  Lewis  is  articulating  the  fear  held  by  many  
that  television  and  films  would  do  two  things  ; especially  with  
regard  to  the  juvenile  population .sx   First  , that  they  would  prove  so  
seductive  that  children  would  abandon  , or  fail  to  acquire  , the  
habit  of  reading .sx   Second  , that  filmed  versions  of  texts  would  make  
even  the  best  stories  mechanical :sx   each  viewing  would  be  identical  
to  the  one  before  ; the  child  would  not  be  free  to  change  emphases  ; 
the  viewer  would  become  a  passive  spectator  , as  all  the  'work'  
( e.g.  the  animation  of  the  text  ) had  been  done  , etc.  All  in  all  , 
the  viewing  process  was  portrayed  as  an  entirely  impoverished  one  
when  compared  to  that  of  reading .sx   It  was  believed  that  the  child  
would  develop  no  analytical  skills  through  watching  rather  than  
reading .sx   Perhaps  most  important  of  all  , Lewis  is  suggesting  that  
watching  a  film  prevented  the  child  from  making  the  complex  series  
of  unconscious  identifications  with  characters  and  situations  which  
make  fantasy  literature  useful  for  psychological  development .sx   
  However  vaild  some  of  these  arguments  may  be  , they  must  also  be  
understood  as  typical  of  attitudes  toward  popular  culture  
throughout  the  ages .sx   Ironically  , Lewis  was  at  great  pains  to  defend  
the  virtues  of  popular  forms  of  literature  ( including  children's  
fiction  ) precisely  because  of  their  appeal  to  less  experienced  or  
sophisticated  readers .sx   It  needs  also  to  be  remembered  that  at  the  
time  that  Lewis  was  writing  his  defence  of  popular  texts  ( 1947  ) , 
television  ownership  was  not  widespread  , prolonged  daily  viewing  
was  impossible  , the  VCR  had  yet  to  be  invented  , and  no  research  had  
yet  been  done  into  the  viewing  process .sx   
  Since  Lewis's  death  in  1963  a  considerable  amount  of  research  
into  the  effects  of  television  on  the  child  has  been  conducted  , and  
much  of  it  can  be  used  to  debate  the  objections  outlined  above .sx   In  
particular  , it  is  now  recognised  that  children  are  not  necessarily  
passive  and  indiscriminate  viewers  , but  may  instead  develop  'visual  
literacy'  skills  which  can  complement  those  acquired  through  
reading .sx   The  ability  to  decode  a  complex  visual  narrative  often  
precedes  but  does  not  necessarily  preclude  a  similar  degree  of  
sophistication  and  facility  with  written  texts .sx   Despite  frequent  
media  discussion  of  these  issues  , there  has  long  remained  a  
distrust  of  television  and  filmed  versions  of  classic  children's  
books  , and  the  advent  of  cable  and  satellite  TV  seems  bound  to  
provoke  a  reactionary  revival  of  those  parents  who  announce  that  
they  have  no  television  as  if  this  were  a  virtue .sx   ( Funnily  enough  , 
such  behaviour  is  closely  related  to  the  non-smoking  , teetotalling  , 
vegetarian  adults  Lewis  repeatedly  mocks  in  the  Narnia  books .sx   ) 
Recently  , however  , there  has  been  a  volte-face  on  the  
part  of  many  adults  who  previously  deplored  filmed  versions  of  
children's  books  as  at  best  inevitably  disappointing  and  at  worst  
travesties  of  the  original .sx   There  seem  to  be  two  key  reasons  for  
this  U-turn .sx   The  first  is  that  far  from  discouraging  children  from  
reading  , television  and  films  have  given  birth  to  a  vigorous  new  
publishing  activity  -  the  book  of  the  film/programme .sx   Children's  
book  sales  have  increases  by  170  per  cent  over  the  last  five  years  , 
precisely  the  period  over  which  domestic  sales  of  VCRs  have  also  
rocketed .sx   Through  TV  tie-ins  young  readers  are  introduced  to  an  
eclectic  range  of  writing  , from  Ghostbusters  to  Adrian  Mole  and  
back  to  such  classics  as  A  Little  Princess  and  , of  
course  , the  Chronicles  of  Narnia .sx   More  importantly  , the  viewing  and  
reading  processes  have  increasingly  been  recognised  to  be  
complementary  rather  than  mutually  exclusive .sx   
  The  second  and  in  some  ways  more  interesting  reason  for  the  new  
acceptability  of  filmed  versions  of  juvenile  texts  , also  based  on  
the  widespread  use  of  VCRs  in  homes  and  schools  , is  the  growth  of  a  
children's  video  library .sx   Much  work  needs  to  be  done  to  raise  the  
overall  quality  of  material  readily  available  on  video  for  
children  , and  this  is  important .sx   Videos  are  
not  just  're-usable  resources'  , useful  for  keeping  children  quietly  
entertained  ; they  have  the  potential  to  make  the  viewing  process  
more  analogous  to  reading  and  so  for  developing  analytical  skills  
useful  for  both  activities .sx   VCRs  make  it  possible  to  re-view  , to  
skim  , to  watch  selected  scenes  repeatedly  , to  omit  sections  and  
pause  over  others  -  all  of  which  make  viewing  more  personal  , more  
creative  , and  potentially  more  intellectually  demanding .sx   They  also  
mean  that  greater  care  has  to  be  taken  over  the  translation  of  
complex  texts  into  videos  , as  re-viewing  , like  re-reading  , demands  
that  there  be  something  new  to  discover  at  different  stages  in  the  
young  viewer's  development .sx   
  The  ramifications  of  this  degree  of  control  over  the  
presentation  of  video  material  are  many .sx   For  the  older  child  it  
enables  very  detailed  interaction  between  the  written  and  visual  
texts .sx   By  encouraging  visual  decoding  , videos  may  enhance  
understanding  of  the  director's  version  of  a  text  and  so  the  
potential  for  comparison  with  the  reader's  own  interpretation .sx   
Repeated  watching  of  a  visual  version  of  a  text  with  which  the  
child  is  familiar  can  highlight  differences  in  the  narrative  
functioning  and  capabilities  of  the  two  media .sx   Even  a  young  child  
will  notice  and  understand  adjustments  to  the  way  in  which  a  story  
is  told  ; for  instance  , the  need  to  make  the  narrator  a  character  in  
the  action  or  to  substitute  descriptions  of  events  ( as  in  a  letter  ) 
with  enactment .sx   By  comparing  the  narrative  organisation  of  printed  
and  visual  versions  of  a  text  a  great  deal  can  be  learned  about  the  
relationship  between  structure  , form  and  meaning .sx   
  Re-viewing  is  undoubtedly  the  most  important  aspect  of  video  
material .sx   According  to  Lewis  , the  desire  to  re-read  indicated  that  
a  story  was  not  just  being  read  to  find  out  what  happened  or  
whodunnit  ; indeed  , his  criterion  for  a  good  book  was  that  it  became  
more  pleasurable  on  subsequent  readings .sx   Particularly  in  the  young  
child  it  is  no  aesthetic  qualities  which  are  being  sought  through  
repeated  readings  , listenings  , or  tellings  but  ( as  the  psychologist  
Bruno  Bettelheim  has  observed  ) the  satisfaction  of  having  resolved  
difficult  emotional  problems .sx   The  same  applies  equally  to  the  
viewing  process  , which  additionally  has  the  reassuring  property  of  
never  forgetting  or  changing  what  comes  next .sx   
  For  all  of  these  reasons  videos  have  the  potential  both  to  
complement  printed  versions  of  juvenile  texts  and  to  raise  the  
standard  and  status  of  televised  adaptations .sx   If  they  are  to  do  
this  effectively  it  is  necessary  to  overcome  established  attitudes  
to  children's  literature  itself  and  , just  as  importantly  , 
habitualised  practices  in  the  adaptation  process .sx   To  render  the  
narrative  complexity  of  texts  ( and  particularly  those  which  were  
not  originally  intended  for  reading  aloud  ) , those  involved  in  
making  adaptations  must  be  encouraged  to  exploit  the  medium  of  
television  to  its  full  potential .sx   At  present  most  books  which  are  
adapted  for  television  make  unhappy  compromises  as  to  how  far  they  
are  prepared  to  'adapt'  the  original  text  , and  as  a  consequence  
generally  leave  the  viewer  dissatisfied .sx   In  a  recent  article  for  
  Screen  , Paul  Kerr  identifies  the  principal  cause  of  this  
dissatisfaction  as  the  tendency  for  televised  versions  to  
  " flatten  " a  text  so  that  , " it  is  less  a  'novel'  as  
such  that  is  being  adapted  than  its  plot  , characters  , setting  [and]  
dialogue  "   .sx   The  reason  for  this  flattening  is  a  direct  
consequence  of  the  elevation  of  the  written  text  over  the  film  ( and  
especially  over  TV) .sx   Tradition  has  enshrined  the  practice  of  trying  
to  be  entirely  faithful  to  the  original  , which  means  treating  film  
or  television  as  a  transparent  medium  purely  concerned  with  showing  
what  the  writer  has  written .sx