Posted on 10/16/2005 7:34:14 AM PDT by cloud8
As the UK prepares for a CS Lewis movie blockbuster this Christmas, a row has broken out about its Christian message.
To millions The Chronicles of Narnia are a childhood tale of wonder and triumph now made into a film that could inspire millions of children to read. 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.
Either way, one thing is certain: this Christmas, and perhaps the next six, depending on sequels, everyone will be talking about Narnia. Disney is already in the middle of one of the biggest marketing campaigns in recent cinematic history. It is trying to lure both mainstream filmgoers and evangelical Christians, who will respond to CS Lewis's parallels between his characters and the Bible. HarperCollins is set to publish 170 Lewis-related books in more than 60 countries, many of them Christian-themed works. Disney has hired Christian marketing groups to handle the film.
For Pullman, who is an avowed atheist and a critic of Lewis, that is bad news. 'If the Disney Corporation wants to market this film as a great Christian story, they'll just have to tell lies about it,' Pullman told The Observer
Pullman believes that Lewis's books portray a version of Christianity that relies on martial combat, outdated fears of sexuality and women, and also portrays a religion that looks a lot like Islam in unashamedly racist terms.
'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.
The Narnia books, Pullman said, contained '...a peevish blend of racist, misogynistic and reactionary prejudice; but of love, of Christian charity, [there is] not a trace'.
Certainly that is not the view of Disney. Film executives are eagerly anticipating repeating the success last year of Mel Gibson's Jesus biopic The Passion of The Christ, which was shunned by mainstream studios and then picked up by the evangelical churches. The movie then stunned the film world by raking in hundreds of millions of dollars by tapping into the previously ignored Christian market.
Already American evangelicals are planning to use the Narnia film as a preaching tool. A group called Catholic Outreach has advertised for 150 co-ordinators across the country to help promote the film. It is also organising 'sneak peak' events at which trailers will be shown to church audiences and executives from the film will talk about the project.
Other Christian groups and study centres are getting behind the film too. 'We believe that God will speak the gospel of Jesus Christ through this film,' said Lon Allison, director of the Billy Graham Centre at Wheaton College in Illinois.
Ted Haggard, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, said that the film was an ideal way for a Christian message to be brought to people who would not otherwise go near a church. 'Here is yet another tool that many may find to be effective in communicating the message of Jesus to those who may not respond to other presentations,' he said.
As well as a huge potential force at the box office, the other possible benefit for Disney is to heal its long troubled relationship with America's evangelical community. Many Christian groups have often boycotted the company over such issues as holding special theme days for gays at Disneyland. But in the run-up to the Narnia release date on 9 December, evangelical leaders have been generous in their praise of the company they have often reviled.
But it is not all about God. The Chronicles of Narnia seems to offer a 'perfect storm' combination of factors. As well as having the Passion's appeal to Christians, it has the special effects and fantasy-laden appeal of The Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson's box-office hit that also netted numerous Oscars. That film was also seen as a huge risk at the time, but Jackson's achievement confounded the critics and proved that 'swords and sorcery' movies could strike cinematic gold.
Trailers for the first Narnia film, called The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe after the first book in the chronicles, have already drawn comparisons to The Lord of the Rings' style and cinema presentation. It has the same powerful themes of a new world, complete with fantastic creatures and sweeping battle scenes against a beautiful landscape.
The final crucial element in Disney's planning is turning the Narnia films into a money-spinning franchise like the Harry Potter series. Lewis wrote a total of seven Narnia books, and if the first one is a huge hit the sequels will be inevitable. That means a new Narnia film could be released at Christmas, complete with spin-off merchandising and toys, every year until 2012.
But while Disney has bet big on Narnia and now waits with bated breath, there is already one winner in the saga. The film, just like The Lord of the Rings, was shot in New Zealand, which then reaped a tourism windfall. Now local tour companies are already planning to show visitors around the spot where the Narnia film's climactic battle scene was shot.
And these were the same people who scoffed at people who didn't want their children exposed to Harry Potter witchcraft.
Even as a youngster I recognized the temptation of Diggory.
Disneyfied it might be, but if it is stirring up this much hooha, I'd say it's got to be good. Great.
If Philip Pullman isn't possessed, it's not for lack of trying. What a creep.
Can't wait for the upcoming HP movie next month!
For those who have, how does C.S. Lewis compare to J.R.R. Tolkien? Are the C.S. Lewis books on par with LOTR or are they more for children?
2. Well, if this doesn't get him on that poor loon Michael Newdow's winter-soltice-card list, I don't know what would.
Well when I heard that Disney had made Reepacheep gay in this film I knew they had screwed up. Oh yeah Aslan is the lion of Islam too. ...............just kidding , but with disney all bets are off in my book,hoping for the best, preparing for the worst................
The Narnia books are geared for children but are some great writing anyway. You might try "The book of the dun cow" for some more adult good vs evil type fantasy reading. In it's original form it was part of a collection written by Irish monks in the early 1100s.
> ...if it is stirring up this much hooha, I'd say it's got to be good. Great.
It m-might offend the Moooslims.
I think the movie is made by Walden Media, with Disney as the distributor. Walden has made several good clean family-oriented movies like "Because of Winn-Dixie" and my favorite (but flunked in the distribution) "I am David".
I would love for him to give examples of how he interprets this from the movie.
LOL!
That's in the books. The writer lost his noun-verb agreement partway through the sentence.
"Racism," of course, is in the eye of the beholder, but certainly Lewis is not conciliatory toward his equivalent of the Turks.
> If Philip Pullman isn't possessed, it's not for lack of trying. What a creep.
He's just jealous that Disney isn't making a blockbuster out of His Dark Materials.
It's my job as a parent to teach my children the difference betwen fact and fiction.
That being said, we've read the "Lord Of The Rings" trilogy and all the"Harry Potter" books.
I think (IMHO) that some people live to complain about things. It's all they have in life.
Considered the stuff he writes he has no room to talk.
Philip Pullman is one of the reasons I caution the Potter Hysterics to tone it down.
He actually is everything they accuse Rowlings of being. His books are little more then anti-religious propaganda.
But with all the much ado over nothing that has been stirred up over the Harry Potter books you have a hard time convincing parents of that.
Exellent point! Somehow, children can see Harry Potter despite its depiction of "witchcraft" but C.S.Lewis' children's books are racist and "Islam-like?" Talk about totally lying about literature.
I will say to them the same thing they tell us when we don't like films that glorify sex and violence...Don't see it then.
But, their real fear is that they know that these films will be box office hits and perhaps C.S. Lewis' works will reach more people just as Tolkien's did. People who live in the dark cannot stand the "light"...and they fear the uplifting themes of Narnia will spread.
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