Posted on 12/10/2010 8:00:31 AM PST by ZGuy
The studios behind the new "Narnia" movie are walking a tightrope in their quest to promote the third film in the fantasy franchise to a Christian audience and to general moviegoers.
But they also are going out of their way not to pigeonhole the film as something that will appeal just to the world's 2.2 billion Christians.
Case in point is Liam Neeson, who voices Aslan, the resurrected lion in the upcoming film. The actor said at a news conference last week that his character doesn't necessarily represent Christ. That might be news to Lewis, though, who wrote the opposite before he died in 1963.
"Aslan symbolizes a Christlike figure, but he also symbolizes for me Mohammed, Buddha and all the great spiritual leaders and prophets over the centuries," Neeson said.
"Dawn Treader" producer Mark Johnson agrees with the, shall we say, more inclusive analysis from Neeson, telling The Hollywood Reporter that "resurrection exists in so many different religions in one form or another, so it's hardly exclusively Christian."
"We don't want to favor one group over another ... whether these books are Christian, I don't know," Johnson added.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
CS Lewis was a Christian apologist. They need to read “The Last Battle”. He makes it pretty clear.
I won’t be seeing this movie then.
Doesn’t the estate of CS Lewis have any say in how his characters are portrayed?
Apparently neither Johnson nor Neeson has ever read the Chronicles. There is a representation for the Muslims in those books. Their god’s name was Tash.
Neeson is just another idiot Hollywood person who will say or do anything for money. I wouldn't let his stupidity ruin a good story by Lewis.
I never figured Neeson for a bimbo.
No.
Lewis dropped the ball in the “Last Battle”, when he says that service to Tash, if done sincerely, or some such blarney, is rendered to Aslan.
Sorry, Lewis wrote an entertaining, but flawed book. “Narnia” is not Scripture.
Neeson is actually quite close to Lewis’ original flawed misrepresentations.
The way they’re portrayed in the film is fine. Its the way the people involved in the movie try to describe it that’s the problem.
What it “means” to Neeson is irrelevant.
What it means to the story line and to those who know what C.S. Lewis stood for is.
If they haven’t “corrupted” the character of Aslan, then it shouldn’t matter.
Trouble in Narnia
The Occult Side of C. S. Lewis
by Mary Ann Collins
February 2006
http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/006/narnia-trouble.htm
“This universalism shows up in some of Lewis’ fiction books. In “The Great Divorce,” Lewis is in Heaven. He speaks with George MacDonald and asks him about universalism, and MacDonald answers that Lewis cannot understand such things now. In the last of the Narnia books (“The Last Battle”), a pagan makes it to Heaven (“Aslan’s Land”) because of his good works and his good motives, in spite of the fact that he did not believe in Aslan and he worshipped Aslan’s enemy, a false god named Tash.”
I understand. But there must be some legal defense against misrepresentation by those closely associated with the project, which I imagine has been licensed for use in some manner.
So much for Neeson’s reputation as a theologian.
Maybe I’m alone in my opinion, but....it’s just a movie..
I prefer the books anyway..
“Apparently neither Johnson nor Neeson has ever read the Chronicles. There is a representation for the Muslims in those books. Their god?s name was Tash.”
EXACTLY. Liam Neesom (sp? who cares) is just another illiterate Hollywood moron...
It strikes me as amazing that, with all the fabulous roles, and all the fabulous dialog, that Liam has been privileged to play and speak, none of it sinks in. He had some fabulous speeches in LOTR, but still leans to the left.
Yep, I had a big problem with that as well.
Before Jesus, Abraham’s faith was counted as righteousness,
but AD, Jesus is THE Way, not A way.
When reading to my kids, I had to “correct” the doctrine of the idea that a follower of Tash was going to the same salvation as those who were followers of Aslan.
However, at the beginning of the book, when the false prophet and the false Aslan (anti-Christ) were being introduced, as well as the “ecuminicalism” heresy was being promoted by the antagonists, I was all over it, giving them the parallels we see in our world today.
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