Tyranny, Communism, and the Terror State

I was the Queen. They were all my people. What else were they there for but to do my will?

(Jadis, Queen of Charn)

I also love none of these things in comparison with the glory and strength of my throne.

(The Tisroc of Calormen)

I realized that I rushed through the issue of the time (in our world) during which the Chronicles of Narnia took place. I said, that, "God tells His story to all people in every generation," and no doubt that is true. Aslan can appear to children (or adults) at any time. However, I believe that if Lewis had written the Chronicles during a different time, he perhaps would have written a different story. Hence, a movie remake that does shift the time, can also shift some elements of the story. Let me try to expand...

There are two great external evils that attempt to overwhelm Narnia (well, maybe three if you're counting the Lady of the Green Kirtle, but I'm going to ignore her for this post): Jadis, Queen of Charn, and Calormen. To me, these represent two types of godless government that Lewis is warning us against, tyranny and communism. Perhaps Lewis is referring to the Russian Empire, but we'll have to hold off that thought for now. 

Jadis is the evil tyrant of Russia and perhaps Germany. There is no one above her and everything else belongs to her. Hence, she can, without a moments regret, destroy every living thing under the sun. After all, they are all "mine". 

The Tisroc leads a communist regime of the USSR where no love can be above the love for the state. Hence, he hates, ""These little barbarian countries that call themselves free (which is as much as to say, idle, disordered, and unprofitable)..." These are the evils attacking Narnia for they are the ones that Lewis saw.

But now let's change the time period. When the grandparents of today's children were themselves children, it was the communist regimes that were the great evil. Hence, Jadis would destroy Charn not through power, but through poverty and ruin. Today's great evil is the Terror State, and the Tisroc would be a theocratic ruler exporting terror under the guise of fairness and pity. The main elements of the story, highlighting the character of God, the Arthurian ethics, and so on, can stay the same. But the ever shapeshifting of evil would force a change of the story. 

A movie remake which shifts the time of the Chronicles could creatively change Narnia's world to reflect evil in its time. Of course, this would require a religious figure brave enough and bold enough to call out evil for what it is. We will see if such people are making these movies.