Holy war looms over Disney's Narnia epic

Guardian Unlimited ^ | Sunday October 16, 2005 | by Paul Harris

[SuziQ]

Just checked out those Narnia on Tour dates. Turns out one is at the Borders Books in our town, and another is at a Borders books not too far away! We have our choice; cool!

[hosepipe]

[ To others, including the celebrated fantasy author Philip Pullman, they are stories of racism and thinly veiled religious propaganda that will corrupt children rather than inspiring them. ]

He's right it is a thinly veiled propaganda.. not to speak of being a classic.. and one of the most important literary works in English literature..

Stands to reason the left would want to gut it for fear that anything good and decent would "get out".. The Guardian is a toilet of leftist scat..

[rightwingreligiousfanatic]

I have to re-read the space trilogy. I've got my original copies around here somewhere, but I think I might have lost one of the three. It's been many years since I tackled that. I still have vivid memories of Perelandra. What a dazzling intellect that man had to be able to create the worlds he did.

I can't wait for the movie. It looks like it will be fabulous, on a par with LOTR. Maybe we should start a Hobbit Hole-like thread focused on the Narnia movies. We could call it the Lamp Post, or Aslan's How, or Mr. Tumnus' House, or Cair Paravel, or.... ;^)

[rightwingreligiousfanatic]

I'm so glad you found that site useful! I hope you can make it to one of the events.

The one I went to was about Lewis as a "Transformer of Culture" and was presented by an English professor at a local Christian college. He really knew his stuff and there was an interesting question and answer session after his talk.

Also, everyone on this thread should check out the official C.S. Lewis website: www.cslewis.org which features some really cool stuff for Lewis fans.

[Sam Cree]

How are you? Great to see you around.

[Skooz]

I have never read the Narnia books, but Lewis' non-fiction books are brilliant. Virtually without peer.

[cloud8]

> The Guardian is ...leftist...

Regardless of the Guardian's politics, there are articles on its website some of which are worthy of posting here because they provoke thoughtful discussion.

> not to speak of being a classic.. and one of the most important literary works in English literature...

Whoa there, English major.

[hosepipe]

[ not to speak of being a classic.. and one of the most important literary works in English literature... Whoa there, English major. ]

English major.?.. LoL.. not hardly..
I was an English Barely major..

[FrdmLvr]

You can be sure it will be Disneyfied and I am going to go on record predicting that it will flop.

I saw the previews and it looks awesome, didn't look Disneyfied in the least. I predict it will be bigger than the Lord of the Rings.

[Cowboy Bob]

To others, including the celebrated fantasy author Philip Pullman, they are stories of racism and thinly veiled religious propaganda that will corrupt children rather than inspiring them.

And Mr. Pullman's opinion is important because...?

[GatorGirl]

It's not the presence of Christian doctrine I object to so much as the absence of Christian virtue. The highest virtue, we have on the authority of the New Testament itself, is love, and yet you find not a trace of that in the books,' he said.

????????????
This athiest goofball's strongest criticism of CS Lewis' series is complaining about the "absence of Christian virtue". Since when does an athiest care about Christian virtue?

[Joe Republc]

Oh, THIS Mr. Pullman??

http://www.pfm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=BreakPoint_Commentaries1&CONTENTID=11895&TEMPLATE=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm

"... one of the major themes in His Dark Materials is the foolishness and wickedness of Christianity and the need to get rid of it. The characters essentially re-enact the story of Satan’s rebellion against God and the temptation in the Garden of Eden. But this time, the choice Eve made in the Garden is portrayed as the right choice, leading to increased wisdom and happiness for humanity. And this time God is destroyed, ending what Pullman depicts as centuries of God’s tyranny over the world. Pullman’s hatred for religion is so great that he deliberately creates a distorted picture of it, which has already misled many people who are unfamiliar with Christianity. The films have the potential to do this on an even greater scale."

'nuff said!

-- Joe

[Joe Republc]

I LOVED Perelandra, and thought very well of Out of the Silent Planet. That Hideous Strength had some strong material, but overall was weak, IMO, compared to most of C.S. Lewis' work. But That Hideous Strength was actually the most relevant to today's world.

My two cents,
-- Joe

[Cautor]

Buy the BBC produced DVDs of the Narnia story. Excellent for kids.

[TomSmedley]

Philip Pullman is one of the reasons I caution the Potter Hysterics to tone it down.

Pullman shows up in the Potter books, I believe, as the insanely narcisstic professor Gilderoy Lockehart. "Remember Cedric Diggory." Rowlings sees herself, I believe, as the heir of the Inklings, or at least as one who benefitted from their legacy.

[cloud8]

> Pullman shows up in the Potter books, I believe, as the insanely narcisstic professor Gilderoy Lockehart.

WoW! That is one excellent observation.

[TomSmedley]

Gilderoy (false gold/gilt) king Lockeharte (with the bitterly self-enclosed heart). Not an original observation, I read it somewhere. The wild reception given the Harry Potter books is, I believe, a hopeful sign. Despite a century of effort dedicated towards purging public school kids of fealty to any god higher than The State, the hunger for transcendent meaning remains.

[twntaipan]

Here is a review of the Narnia film from someone who has seen the film: http://churchofthemasses.blogspot.com/2005/10/narnia-deep-magic.html

[pgyanke]

Aslan doesnt really make it plain that he is Jesus until the Last book.

Reread the end of "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader".

[wideminded]

Are the C.S. Lewis books on par with LOTR or are they more for children?

I read all the Narnia books in third grade. I was probably an advanced reader, but I don't think I would have been old enough for LOTR at this time. I didn't get to these until eighth grade. There are some other science fiction books by C.S. Lewis such as Perelandra that are aimed at an older audience.