The Pea In The Wardrobe: Movie Analysis

The Pea in the Wardrobe

Everyone has their own understanding of what childhood agency means to them. According to Author Richard Flynn, who wrote the article titled, What Are We Talking About When We Talk About Agency, he defined childhood agency as “children’s competence and capability as social actors and about challenging what James calls ‘the more traditional, developmental discourse of children’s incompetence’”(262). During the course of this paper, I will discuss how my understanding of childhood agency differs from Flynn’s through the use of examples from the film, Narnia, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the first of three adaptations of C.S Lewis’ series, The Chronicles of Narnia.
This film was set during the World War II bombings

It is puzzling how although she is the youngest and yet shows the most agency. One could think of it as children feeling the need to possess agency, especially around adults because they do not want to be viewed as a vulnerable being who is dependent on others, especially when others, though older, act less mature than them. Lucy is a good role model for children of all ages. Throughout this film, we see copious scenes where Lucy defies the image of a child and proves that childhood agency is not just about capability and competence, according to Flynn who defines the term childhood agency as “children’s competence and capability as social actors and about challenging what James calls ‘the more traditional, developmental discourse of children’s incompetence’”(262), but rather goes beyond that to show that childhood agency is about the ability for a child to show forgiveness, leadership, courage, strength, responsibility and maturity especially when they are experiencing trials and tribulations. They are able to put aside their weaknesses and pull themselves together for the good of