Yeah, as I was saying to Heliopause over on DW, I think Lewis probably meant to use Susan as an example of the person who loses faith/turns away -- that's what the secondhand reports of her treating Narnia as an imaginary children's game are about -- but in practice, if you take into account the things Aslan says in all six previous books, Susan is also and simultaneously the only one who keeps faith, by obeying the instructions to "come close to [her] own world" and not use the Rings. Lewis was not big on continuity, and in this case his inconsistency fatally undermines any attempt to condemn Susan's actions.
I think you are right that the poster meant to attack Lewis rather than book!Susan, but the basic premises of their argument are flawed. Even aside from the way that the poster attacks the books for an ending that is only absent from the films because the films ran out of funding to reach that point, there is nothing wrong with being an archer but staying out of battles! To make an analogy, when I was a kid, I was a really good swimmer. I passed all my local YMCA's classes and got to the point where they said I had to be on the swim team if I wanted to keep swimming. And I had NO interest in competitive sports at that time -- racing would have taken all the joy out of swimming for me. Just being a good swimmer didn't mean I needed to race, or that I was a bad person/swimmer for not wanting to join the swim team. Similarly, one can enjoy archery and be good at it without ever wanting to use that skill to hurt people, or without being suited for the particular pressures of a battle.
In my case, I was able to become an assistant teacher instead of joining the swim team. In Susan's case, she apparently shoots for pleasure -- and occasionally goes hunting -- but stays out of battles. These are not wrong or weak choices, simply ones that don't fit a traditional (heavily "masculine") narrative of competition and power. And honestly, I really like that about book!Susan... particularly because Lucy's presence in the narrative shows that women can be warriors, thus making Susan's choice a CHOICE rather than something she was forced into by gender stereotypes.
Obviously people's mileage varies, and that's okay! But I like having many and varied female characters, including ones who don't have a body count and never intend to acquire one. *wry*
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I think you are right that the poster meant to attack Lewis rather than book!Susan, but the basic premises of their argument are flawed. Even aside from the way that the poster attacks the books for an ending that is only absent from the films because the films ran out of funding to reach that point, there is nothing wrong with being an archer but staying out of battles! To make an analogy, when I was a kid, I was a really good swimmer. I passed all my local YMCA's classes and got to the point where they said I had to be on the swim team if I wanted to keep swimming. And I had NO interest in competitive sports at that time -- racing would have taken all the joy out of swimming for me. Just being a good swimmer didn't mean I needed to race, or that I was a bad person/swimmer for not wanting to join the swim team. Similarly, one can enjoy archery and be good at it without ever wanting to use that skill to hurt people, or without being suited for the particular pressures of a battle.
In my case, I was able to become an assistant teacher instead of joining the swim team. In Susan's case, she apparently shoots for pleasure -- and occasionally goes hunting -- but stays out of battles. These are not wrong or weak choices, simply ones that don't fit a traditional (heavily "masculine") narrative of competition and power. And honestly, I really like that about book!Susan... particularly because Lucy's presence in the narrative shows that women can be warriors, thus making Susan's choice a CHOICE rather than something she was forced into by gender stereotypes.
Obviously people's mileage varies, and that's okay! But I like having many and varied female characters, including ones who don't have a body count and never intend to acquire one. *wry*