Aslan Returns, Part V: Susan

Lucy believes. Peter fights. Edmund grows. Caspian learns.

Susan doubts.

I never quite understood why Susan does not come back to Narnia with the rest of the Pevensies. I once read a very cynical explanation that C.S. Lewis thought that seven kings and queens of Narnia sounded better then eight kings and queens of Narnia.

That wasn't a very satisfactory answer.

I have heard others say that this was a refutation of the once-saved-always-saved belief. So why couldn't Lewis have picked someone like Eustace? He's not really a favorite of the series.

But, I have finally come to understand. In Prince Caspian, a small scene was inserted when we should hear Trumpkin snoring (he didn't, if you were wondering). Here, Susan tells Lucy that she was just getting used to being in England again, and now everything has been turned topsy-turvy. She acts as if she is moving in a dream and wonders, however slightly, if Aslan even exists anymore. I think, in the depth of Susan's mind, she is "grown-up" enough to be able to live in one place at one time and do so without assistance. Yet, while Peter goes through the same thought process, he realizes as he tries to lead the Narnians, that he can't. Susan does not. She seems to move through the movie as if the only thing to do was to get everyone where they needed to be and get home. While the others learned a lesson during their first visit to Narnia, Susan did not. She is facing the exact same lesson again--letting go of full control of all events.

And she receives another failing grade.

To look on the other side of Susan, or rather, to look at Anna Popplewell, is another story. Anna says that she will miss filming, and plans to visit ("but now I have to fight my way through security...." sounds like trying to fly somewhere!), but feels confident that she is ready to move on to other things.

She is beginning to care only about lipstick and nylons.

I have found some interesting progressions in photos of Anna. At one point, Anna, who is undeniably very pretty, no matter how you cut the cake, seemed to shine, no matter where she was or what she was doing. I remember looking at one picture where she was windblown, a bit dirty, and probably sweaty, and thinking something along the lines of "wow, I wish I could look that way in those conditions!" But Anna does.

Then she discovered the lipstick and etc. Since the release of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Anna's lips have been slowly but steadily getting redder. Her neckline has been slowly and steadily getting lower (I hope it stops pretty soon.), and, while she will miss working with everyone on set, she says she is ready to move on to new things.

Just like...Susan.