Kenny and I got to go see Disney’s rendition of C. S. Lewis’ *The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe* in *Chronicles of Narnia*. He didn’t want to at first. He’s read all the books, some more than once. But he knew from the commercials that some of the scarier characters looked, well, scary! I kept good-naturedly needling him to go until finally he asked “Papa, why should I go and have those images in my head?”
Oh… uh… good point. Great. Now I’ve got a kid who it turns out has actually listened to me and values the sovereignty of *his* imagination over that of the director.
Well, we talked it through and he ended up thinking it would be fun as long as I warned him when he shouldn’t look. It really worked out just fine and there was little he needed to worry about throughout most of the movie. Except when Aslan dies at the Stone Table.
Here something is done which I both hate and love. Evil is portrayed as evil. Not mingled with the too common slight bit of attractiveness to draw out compassion or interest. Just repulsive greed and rot and intensity.
I have mixed feelings because one one hand I’m glad evil is getting a face it really doesn’t get very often otherwise. The *Lord of the Rings* trilogy did this very well, too. No mistaking evil. No mistaking it **was** evil. However, it sure seems intense for young kids. There were some really young kids there, too. I just don’t get that. If that’s not the kind of thing you protect your little kids from, what is?
I think I should urge my children to become psychotherapists. I can’t help but think there will be plenty of demand. :)
As a movie, it was very well done. A few odd bits of camera work at the end, and one of Aslan’s roars was, though quite powerful, a little too short. It should have been a little more like Gandalf scolding Bilbo in *Fellowship*.
I think that having Douglas Gresham (Lewis’ step-son) in the mix was very good. I felt like all the key parts of the story were there, and the director plainly seemed to try to stay true to the underlying Christian motives.
I could never quite understand what all the hubbub was about concerning this movie having Christian undertones and churches being excited about it. I never heard a similar uproar about the *Matrix*’s neo-buddhism/post-modernism, or *Contact*’s humanism (Lilek’s fault that’s on my mind). Big deal. Can you think of a great story whose passions and meanings are not found in a worldview of some kind? As George MacDonald notes concerning “fairy tales” – and this is just a poor paraphrase – all good stories must be true to the world they create, and the greatest stories are also true to the deepest roots of truth in reality.
Lewis knew man’s sin and God’s redemption as true, and those things found their way in this story. Powerfully. Lewis’ friend Tolkien also knew those things as true, and even though he explicitly did not write an allegory to Christianity, the deep truths of Middle Earth reflect aspects of it. The exact same can be said of Lewis’ space trilogy; explicitly not an allegory, but, for example, Lewis drew on his early Christian life for *Perelandra*. Ransom learning to walk on Perelandra (Venus) is just wonderful.
All in all, I recommend seeing it. If you’re a Christian, you will be touched at what lies underneath the story. If you’re not, I’m pretty sure you won’t walk out a helpless, mind-numbed Christian. But you might end up with a better idea of what we think redemption is all about.
I have to say that I last read the books when I was about 8 years old, and I have little-to-no memory of them (except knowing that I enjoyed them), so when I saw the movie, it was with pretty fresh eyes.
That said, I really felt disconnected from the film. I think if I knew the story more, then I would have made some connections that were not made in the film. For example, I didn’t ‘get’ why the kids so suddenly were willing to risk their lives for these strange new creatures. Everything seemed very surface-level. Maybe this should have been a 3-hour Peter Jackson epic.
As far as the Christian undertones, they must have been waaaay under. You know me and my beliefs — I didn’t notice any kind of Christian influence, save for sacrificing yourself for others. That was about it.
Hi Jeep! :)
Interesting about feeling disconnected. Both Kenny and I had recently re-read the books, so the story was familiar and the movie kind of a “reinforcement” or “re-stating”. But I can totally get what you mean.
It’s funny… in many respects it is a book which moves along at a surface level. In a way, you don’t get a lot more in the book concerning the motivation of the kids except that the relationship to Tumnus starts it, then the need to get Edmund continues it, then I think just the sense of an important task of “moment” carries it through. But there is a fairy tale aspect to this children’s story where in a sense one never questions “why”. I think Lewis is like his mentor MacDonald that way.
AFA the Christian undertones, it’s certainly a movie which can be enjoyed without any reference to them. For a Christian who believes that the sinless Christ died to save sinners, Aslan’s sacrifice of himself takes on a meaning which is deeper than simple sacrifice for others because Aslan himself bears no guilt; indeed is portrayed as morally unassailable. The witch’s reference to deep magic, and Aslan’s knowledge of that magic deeper still, reflect Lewis’ belief in the real effect of sin and the deeper power of love to overcome it while still fulfilling justice.
The whole scene with Aslan being killed at the Stone Table is an image of what happened on a different level at Christ’s death; not from the perspective of men doing the deed, but the other forces which were at work.
I think a lot of media (books, movies, music) are like that. You can dig out stuff if you like – preferably if the author put it there! – but it’s not necessary to its enjoyment.
I thought it was good. I probably won’t re-watch the way I sometimes do the LOTR trilogy. It wasn’t that “deep” as a story. But still enjoyable for me and Kenny. Helen will probably see it soon, so I’ll be interested in her take. :)
I did see it and my take is on my blog, [ – Ken, can you make a permalink to my Narnia post?][here] but Jeep’s comment made me want to add a bit.
I loved what Ken said about not asking “why” in a fairy tale. But additionally, it never seems that strolling back to the lamp post is even an option for them after a certain point. Even in the movie, while they might have talked about going back, they would have been in too much danger to actually do it.
If I remember correctly, in the original story the kids don’t “decide” to risk their lives until they meet Aslan, which is another way in which the great lion mirrors Christ Jesus.
Just coming into contact with Him can be transforming by virtue of Who He is. And when He asks us to do something, He also enables us to do it.
I would have much preferred to see that process work out on screen, and then maybe more similarities between the Aslan and Jesus would have been noticed by the untrained eye.