Posted on 12/18/2005 1:01:43 AM PST by nickcarraway
I'm not a Christian, but I saw this film recently with my niece and it was wonderful. None of these holier-than-thou liberals would have condemned the film if it was a Muslim allegory.
Upfront, I am an agnostic and haven't seen this movie.
This article is a gag, right? (Or is it just meant to gag?)
Tilda Swinton is the least likely person to be with the Bible bashers? You're kidding, right? After mentioning Derek Jarman, she's the MOST likely. For her to say Lewis' books are anti-religious shows she is either actively working a revisionism campaign, or she's a bloody idiot.
The whole tone of this article is veddy upper crust, oh-we-don't-DO-that-sort-of-thing snobbery.
The idea that a movie having a strong subtext is somehow distasteful is beyond belief. The writer is saying it would be better if this were just mindless entertainment--is this REALLY what he means?
Popular culture has always been best when it pushes a strong subtextual message. The most common of these messages are "Be true to yourself" or "Do the right thing and you'll win". These are not things that turn out to be true all the time in real life, but they are lessons we must learn and relearn as we move through life.
But this boob keeps pushing that tired idea that the absolute worst thing one can do is wear their religion on their sleeve. Would he say this if Narnia pushed a POLITICAL message? Hell no. If Arslan were meant to be Karl Marx, he and the scary looking Swinton (or however she spells it) would be praising Lewis as being an intellectual.
To deny the religious content of these books is simply idiotic.
This was written by someone who neither saw the movie nor read the book. Aslan gives his life in place of one child, Edmund Pevensey, the betrayer. It is done before the battle with the White Witch, so the followers of Aslan have to battle the her forces without Him. The Stone Table if broken, and Aslan rises from the dead in time to resurrect the Narnians the White Witch has turned to stone. These reinforcements, lead by Aslan, turn the tide of battle.
By the way, Aslan is Turkish for Lion. That is why I have always thought of Edmund's desire for Turkish Delights as a double entente. The movie is really great, just as an adventure movie you can take the kids to.
I haven't seen it yet but I'm really looking forward to it. Interesting screen name by the way.
Unless I missed it, the writer of this piece fails to mention that the whole bloody movie was financed by an American millionaire who wants more "family" movies made. If I recall correctly, he is a Christian, and that was the main reason he financed this.
I guess the man most responsible for this particular film being made doesn't need to be mentioned in a piece on WHY this particular film was made, though.
And we wonder why MSM standards are in the toilet--because such basic facts are completely ignored in long, "in-depth" articles.
It's well worth seeing, Avenger, though remember it is primarily a kid's film. Some of the reviews here in Germany have been outrageous, speaking of it as a 'crusader's' film designed to brainwash the next generation of Americans into dying in senseless Christian wars led by the White House.
"There is none of that scary stuff about getting a child at seven and making him God's for life."
Heaven forefend! Or something.
"Tilda Swinton is the least likely person to be with the Bible bashers?"
I was thrown by that too, but I think you and I are being confused by the down-under slang. I could be wrong, but I think when the author says "bible bashers" she means what we would call "bible belters", folks who agressively advocate the bible, not bashers, as we'd say it, who deplore the bible.
"Outside America, however, even ordinary churchgoers are suspicious of a supposed children's adventure film that also serves as a Bible study aid; there is something horribly manipulative in that idea."
What is wrong with the world? The hatred in this woman's tone is just beyond disgusting.
No, mam, there is something horribly disgusting in the filth spewing from what have been Christian nations. No one is forcing you into a pew or ordering you to watch a movie.
Either way, this is one contrived piece of "journalism".
I daresay, this film will have a bigger following than "brokeback mountain." Disney isn't stupid.
..."I'm not a Christian, but I saw this film recently with my niece and it was wonderful. None of these holier-than-thou liberals would have condemned the film if it was a Muslim allegory"...
We went to see this film the first day..All the children with us loved it. The oldest was 12..The youngest was 5. I hope the leftists who want to censor out or shout down ideas other than their own will be rebuffed by the huge success of this work. Americans of all faiths and of all races should rebel against the oppression going on in this nation regarding the freedom of speech and the freedom of religion. All nations have one religion or another which enfolds a majority of the citizens. America is no different. In fact, without the practices of Christianity, America would not exist, enabling it's detractors to use the freedoms earned through Christian practice in their attempts to attack and destroy it. It is the responsible of freedom loving people, religious or non religious, to stop the insane move against our freedom of speech and of thought and ideas. Did anyone here see Ann Coulter shouted down at the University of Connecticut the other day? That is the perfect example of how these demons work. Bill O'Riley called them Nazis.
"The Chronicles of Narnia has done the unthinkable - it's put Christianity smack-bang in the middle of a pop-cultural debate. "
- - - resulting in more Pop Christianity.
Saw this with my two nieces and nephew - they were thrilled by the movie and haven't stopped talking about it. Even asked me to purchase the books for them.
I don't think Swinton was denying the truth in this movie, she was simply denying the religiosity of it. I saw the movie and the faun creature said "Aslan is not a tame Lion but He is Good."
Religions have a tendency over time to attempt to tame "The Lion of the Tribe of Judah" as the Bible calls Jesus. Lewis attempted to show Aslan as an untamed beast, wild and rough with the simple goodness of the Deep Magic! Picture it another way, as Jesus the furious son of God whipping the money changers for desecrating the temple. The truth of God in the end swirls around all man made religions and traditions, death itself could never swallow Him up!
Some would have thought this a bad sign of Character in Jesus, this temper he displayed at the polluting of his Father's house...but consider, with a word Christ could have struck them all dead!(so why didn't he...he certainly would have had the authority too?)
The Witch is a force of evil and Aslan is a force of good and they are absolutely in balance one with the other. >>
Then why does the Lion kill her?
She's great in the role, clueless about the obvious message that underlies it. Not as annoying as many in Hellywood, but still.....
For her to say Lewis' books are anti-religious shows she is either actively working a revisionism campaign, or she's a bloody idiot. >>>
I'm voting for "bloody idiot," and am willing to give the same cheery title to the author of this nose-in-the-air piece of yes, snobbery.
Pop Christianity glosses over the importance of the shed blood for the remission of sins...it is "milk" for the masses.
Christ the sinless one who in himself never trangressed the Law, or the "word"(Logos)...or shall we say "the Deep Magic", took on the penalty of our transgressions when he himself was not guilty of any transgressions. The penalty of sin is death...but the death of the "living fleshly embodiment" of the Logos(or the "deep magic") created a universal existential quandary. This actually was by God's design. Death's power was broken, and broken lives could be renewed with the power of the resurrection available to all who ask and repent. "Since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection....as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive!"
This movie and the book it sprang from is solid red meat for the chewing...and I can see from posts from some Christians and agnostics alike that they are choaking on it!
I took my 14 year old grandson, who does not read (except for Harry Potter books). We both loved it. The theatre was jam packed with every age group and was, once the movie began, dead silent and enthralled.
I read British childrens literature from that period and the Narnia books follow a pattern that you won't find in The Sweet Valley High books or any of the current "teen" books that focus on the tawdry, the sexual and the spiritual violence of satanic beings -- a lot of the secular whining is product of people who do not read and are focused on form rather than substance. The books are a product of their time, and I was most relieved to find that the producer and director had resisted the urge to 'update' them by moving the venue to California and changing Narnia into a reprise of 17 Magazine and the girls into Xena, Warrior Princess. (I have to confess that the tiresome "Susan" character, the whining older girl who always wails in favour of running away and going home, is the one character in all books of the period that I would like to drown -- but she existed and exists -- she's the prototype of Cindy Sheehan and only the presence of brothers and friends with backbone keeps her on the right path.)
After the movie Paul and I talked about a few of the things we had seen -- but not much, just enough to give him something to think about, and to indicate to me that he'd picked up a few of the messages. We have been discussing gambling (he knows I gamble and we talk about it honestly) and an occasion when I had to choose between a friendship and a $40 slot machine win. He said "Money is always important" and you ought to choose it over your friends; two and and I pointed out that he'd seen Edmund betray his brother and sisters for a box of candy, and what that caused to happen. For a 14 year old, things are very black and white -- and a few more words revealed that he'd grasped the idea. That movie gave him plenty to think about. I bought him the book and I hope he'll read it.she
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.