It's a pity that Gerwig, a talented actress (she played Camilla in the Crown) and a smart director (remember Barbenheimer) feels she has to subvert Narnia. Directors, producers and actors often feel they need to subvert the canon or subvert fan expectations in order to 'prove themselves' as creatives. I'm still salty about Jackson subverting the whole premise of taking the ring to Mordor secretly but having Frodo flash it at the Nazgul in the 2nd LOTR film. But I get that being subversive is also profitable, get's attention and therefore dollars. But surely isn't Gerwig now famous and rich enough now to put aside subversion and lean into the nobler task of a strightforward adapation? We live in hope.
Queen Jadis magically moving the Eagle and Child from Oxford to London in order to blow it's windows out from the inside isn't an accident, it's a symbol of the new order. Narnia has been shifted out of Lewis' wartime setting into the Modern™ world, so that Modern™ issues can be virtously highlighted. For example the masculine-coded Aslan being voiced by a female actress was a subversive gesture. Although that lede got buried during the trailer, when it sounded like professor Digory (and maybe even the old Knock!) was doing the introductory voice-over instead of Meryl Streep, which bodes well. On Aslan for a moment. I liked Glen Scrivener's subversion of the subversion, by highlighting the connection with lady wisdom in Psalm 8, even if Gerwig didn't intend that. Another example of the subversion was turning the evenly proportioned 'wood between the worlds' into a choatic forest. Lastly, if it turns out that choosing James Bond to play Uncle Andrew as a benign donor figure is a trailer trick, in order to suprise us with his megolmania later, then that's a great use of subverting our expectations! But if Uncle Andrew has been rehabilitated, then the subversive rot is deeper than we realised. Subversion also clouds creative opportunities. Victorian London in 1900 would've been fascinating, cannonical Charn as a dark hollowed out fascist hellscape would have been horrifying. Being subversive causes Gerwig to miss those opportunities.
Then equally important, is Gerwig's understanding of Christianity. From interviews and write ups it seems like her theological convictions aren't as deep and focused as Lewis' were. She understood the importance of Aslan creating the world and it's a wonderful moment in the trailer. However a rendition of 'stair-way to heaven' is an odd choice, was she watching Wayne's World and thought 'cool it's about heaven, I can use that'? More seriously though there's a real danger Gerwig may fold Aslan back into creation, downplaying is Creator status, making him into some sort of cosmic channel or demiurge. Miracles by CS Lewis, one his most important works, describes the central miracle of Christianity, the Incarnanation. God creates and then enters creation. God is not part of this world. If Gerwig gets this right, I can overlook almost everything else, except prehaps the rehabilitation of Uncle Andrew and the smashing of the Eagle and Child.