Is Narnia an evil Christian plot?

[Nathaniel Firethorn]

Been reading a lot of editorials that insist it's an insidious attempt to expose our children to... religion.

And I want the government to do something!

- NF

[charby]

Dude its called a movie, you choose to see it or not..

BTW I get your sarcasm

Charby

[garrettwc]

You know I remember reading these when my kids were younger, and seeing the original movie. I never got a religious theme out of it. Only the basic good vs. evil thing.

I think the Hollywood types have noticed that C.S. Lewis had some compelling writings about his journey through Christianity and have twisted that into Narnia being a plot by the religious right.

[Phantom Warrior]

You know I remember reading these when my kids were younger, and seeing the original movie. I never got a religious theme out of it. Only the basic good vs. evil thing.

I think the Hollywood types have noticed that C.S. Lewis had some compelling writings about his journey through Christianity and have twisted that into Narnia being a plot by the religious right.

C.S. Lewis was a devot Christian after his conversion to Christianity (he was originally atheist, which I didn't know).  His writings, and thus Narnia, are definitely influenced by that.  There are also some pretty strong Christian themes in the books, esp in "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe."  

It is, however, a work of fiction, so the story isn't exactly a sermon.  I think this is another case of a classic author being adapted into an epic movie.  Similar to Lord of the Rings.  Narnia is more overtly Christian, but like I said, not bluntly so.  I can only hope they do a good job because the books are exceptional.  It would be a shame to ruin them.  I'm holding my breath for "The Horse and His Boy."

Here is the Wiki on C.S. Lewis.

[InfidelSerf]

The story of Narnia IS a depiction of Jesus Christ's sacrifice for the sins of humanity. Aslon represents Christ.

A quick search on his writings will reveal this.

[Iain]

It won't be as good as the classic 1980's BBC dramatisation. Think they went as far as The Silver Chair.

The theme music still kickstarts childish excitement about fawns and talking rats and ships sailing to the edge of the world.

[Azrael256]

The evil, insidious religio-fascists even published it in a seemingly harmless book fashion.  What great evil they have brought on the world.

'Course, it doesn't count when it's a book, 'cause none of the kids these days are smart enough to read.

[LawDog]

"Some people seem to think that I began by asking myself how I could say something about Christianity to children; then fixed on the fairy tale as an instrument, then collected information about child psychology and decided what age group I'd write for; then drew up a list of basic Christian truths and hammered out 'allegories' to embody them. This is all pure moonshine. I couldn't write in that way. It all began with images; a faun carrying an umbrella, a queen on a sledge, a magnificent lion. At first there wasn't anything Christian about them; that element pushed itself in of its own accord."

C.S. Lewis, quoted in Of Other Worlds.

LawDog

[Stand_watie]

Hollywood follows the money, and I think they saw a major niche audience opening with "The Lord of the Rings" and "the Passion".

C.S. Lewis is my favorite theologian perhaps because of the qestions/doubts he raises regarding the answers that Christianity holds for life's hard questions more than in spite of them. Some of his best theological insights are in that book series. One in particular that I'd been thinking of lately (and Matis and I had been sort of discussing) isn't even partisan to Christianity, it's a depiction of God helping us with the painful process of shedding self - It's the scene in "Voyage of the Dawn Treader" where Eustace Scrubbs is having his dragon skin peeled by Aslan. It was an ending scene in "The Last Battle" that first exposed me to the notion of afterlife as being a great deal more complex than most of modern day evangelical Christianity holds.



"Engerland! Engerland! Engerland!"

The question I have is how will the English movie audience take the obvious patriotic symbology of the movie (keeping in mind it was written in ww2). My guess it it will be much better received by English movie goers than by English film critics, who seem a batch of self-loathers to me.

I saw it tonight and give it two thumbs up. I was surprised that it didn't gloss over the crucifixion of Aslan.

[Bemidjiblade]

The evil, insidious religio-fascists even published it in a seemingly harmless book fashion.  What great evil they have brought on the world.

'Course, it doesn't count when it's a book, 'cause none of the kids these days are smart enough to read.

HA.  +1 Azrael.  Kids don't know what they're missing out on, and it's only getting worse.

[El Tejon]

ENGERLAND FOREVER!:D

Evil religious theme?  Yes, but as it is evil it was originally written in Texas by Dick Cheney and Haliburton executives, not C.S. Lewis, that lousy convert.

[Justin]

It won't be as good as the classic 1980's BBC dramatisation. Think they went as far as The Silver Chair.

The theme music still kickstarts childish excitement about fawns and talking rats and ships sailing to the edge of the world.

I'm sorry, but I watched the original BBC dramatization as a child, and the special effects were so tremendously terrible that they were a fundamental detraction to telling one of the most wonderful stories ever written.  Certain stories can only be told via certain methods at certain times.  Before the advent of the digital age, epic and fantastic stories by people like J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were impossible to tell via the medium of film with any sort of expectation of living up to the text on the page.

Are there lots of movies out there that are nothing more than an excuse to showcase the latest developments in motion capture, inverse kinematics, or fluid dynamics?  Yes.  But in the end, there are some stories that cannot possibly be told without the aid of the tools of the digital age.

As a child, I didn't realize that Lewis had peppered the book with Christian imagery and themes (nor would I care.)  At some point, I fully intend to re-read the series as an adult to see what I missed.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a dearth of truly thoughtful Christian writers in this day and age.  The only one that has been able to hold my attention in the same manner as CS Lewis is John Eldredge, and his stuff, while interesting, still falls far short of Lewis.

[SpookyPistolero]

If you are looking for a good read and want to try out something by C.S. Lewis, "The Screwtape Letters" is a very interesting book. It's written in the form of correspondence between two devils, an older upper-rank figure and a novice. The older is trying to apprentice the younger in the art of temptation. Very unique to see things from that angle, and well written. I almost wish I hadn't given away my copy so I could re-read it, now that I mention it, especially since it was thoroughly wasted on whom I gave it to.

[Iain]

Of course the special effects were terrible, but I grew up with terrible special effects, and yes, the worst offenders were usually overambitious projects like the Narnia one.

I had read the books and been raised going to a lively church however, so not a whole lot was lost on me.

Wasn't entirely serious, but the point sort of was that very little ever lives up to childhood memories. I'll probably see the new film, and it'll probably disappoint me in comparision to the BBC series, which I will definitely never watch again because the reality will not match up to the memory.

[Bemidjiblade]

I checked out the movie opening showing at the local theater.  Surpassed expectations.

[Felonious Monk/Fignozzle]

I LOVED the books.  Nice to see my kids discovering them, as well.

I tried to endure the BBC production-- it was just so bad, I never got all the way through.

My son is the first in the family to see the Narnia movie (hopefully, the FIRST and not the last of the films).
He was blown away, and has talked about it for two straight days.

Trivia: Richard Taylor's Weta Workshop, who designed sets, costumes and props for Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies, did the same for Narnia.

Narnia was ALSO filmed in New Zealand.

For special effects, it was a first-time collaboration between 3 of the heaviest hitters in the movie industry:
Industrial Light & Magic (of Star Wars fame), Disney, and ( a third company, Sony ImageWorks, who did Shrek).

Nice pedigree, worthy of high expectations...looking forward to seeing the movie!
Fig

[Nathaniel Firethorn]

I was surprised that it didn't gloss over the crucifixion of Aslan.

Aslan was stabbed, not crucified.

BTW, saw the movie yesterday. Five thumbs up.

Circa the early sixties, Lewis objected to a live-action version of the Narnia books, because he thought the animals would look hokey. (He did say that he might have been OK with an animated version.) I think he'd have been pleased with how it turned out.

Trivia: Richard Taylor's Weta Workshop, who designed sets, costumes and props for Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies, did the same for Narnia.

So that's where the orcs came from!

- NF

[Brad Johnson]

We have a guy in our office who is into the whole "everything that is not pure is evil" mentality. Every time something like this comes along he prints out all the hysterical rantings and puts them in our chairs. I've already gotten several "deliveries" on the LW&W movie castigating the movie makers for not being religous enough!

Too many people with too much time...

Brad

p.s. - you should have been around when the Pokemon debacle was running its course. The utter wierdness surrounding the opposition groups would have been entertaining except for the frightening, cultish, ideological extremism involved.

[Felonious Monk/Fignozzle]

There are always extremists who will insist that EVERYTHING is either evil, corrupt and demonic, OR holy, pure and sacred.
It is the Hellenistic dualism dichotomy that has poisoned the well.

As a devoted follower of God, I can tell you that these people scare me.  
They are the Judeo-Christian parallel to the Taliban.

Religious devotion taken to the ILlogical extreme was never IMO what God intended.

[USP45usp]

Yes .

I don't know.  Enjoyed the books (even before I knew it was written by a Christian and still enjoy it after I found out), I just hope the movie is done as close to possible to the books.

Wayne

[The Rabbi]

It's funny.  I read the books like 30 years ago not knowing anything about the author, other than he was an Oxford don and friend of Tolkien.  Then someone told me they were a Christian allegory.  Even after that I still didnt see any allegory in it.  Maybe I'm just stoopid, I dunno.
That said, I wouldnt have any objection to my kids reading the books, and they have asked me.

[LawDog]

Allegory, much like most everything else, is in the eye of the beholder.

Christians seeing the movie will consider Aslan to obviously represent Christ.  

Heathens watching the same movie may declare Aslan to actually be the Sun God, slain by Winter and bringing Spring with his return.

Mazdaics would confide that the above have it all wrong, that the movie obviously alludes to the sacrifice and rebirth of Mitra.

*sigh*

The Narnia series are crackling good adventure stories, told well and having solid moral values.

Read them, enjoy them and don't get too wrapped around the axle over whom is actually Whom in the stories.

LawDog

[MaterDei]

The evil, insidious religio-fascists even published it in a seemingly harmless book fashion.  What great evil they have brought on the world.

'Course, it doesn't count when it's a book, 'cause none of the kids these days are smart enough to read.

HA.  +1 Azrael.  Kids don't know what they're missing out on, and it's only getting worse.

My kids love to read and they have all read most or all of the Narnia series.  I suppose having no TV encourages this???

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

I was disappointed that they subdued the religious theme.  The books were supposed to have a Christian theme, and the movie scrubbed a little bit of that out.  Whether consiously or subconsiously, CS Lewis wrote an allegory about the sacrifice of Christ.

Now I hear that making it into a movie is a sinister right wing trick to expose hapless kids to religion?  Gimme a break.

Why does religion scare some folks so much?

It was a good movie anyway.  One of the few I've seen lately that was worth the ticket price.

[Stand_watie]

I was surprised that it didn't gloss over the crucifixion of Aslan.

Aslan was stabbed, not crucified..

Freudian slip I guess