It was either Kung Fu Panda or Prince Caspian, so I took my nephew and niece to the latter. Aunts are only flesh and blood. A trailer for the Panda film featured him exclaiming ‘Awesome!’ Strangely enough this word is used in C.S. Lewis’s novel, about Aslan’s How, though not in the film. Awesome does not appear in the Bible (although awe does, four times, always in the phrase ‘stand in awe’), but Lewis meant it in the sense that the Authorised Version expressed by dreadful, as when Jacob declared: ‘How dreadful is this place! This is none other but the house of God.’
I could see that changes in connotation would be a problem for the screenwriters. Lewis’s remark that ‘Caspian felt very queer’ would amuse knowing children now. But I’m not sure why the children in the film should not use expressions like ‘By Jove!’ (passim); ‘Well I’m jiggered!’ (chapter 2); ‘Great Scott!’ (chapter 2); ‘sucks for him’ (chapter 8) and so on.
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in