Narnia

Jeannie and I went to go see "Chronicles of Narnia" on Friday afternoon. I reread the book about two months ago, to see how well the movie was adapted. I loved the book as a child so I wasn't sure how it was going to go over. I must say that the movie was very well done. They were able to expand on the characters, add backstory and bring the story together without losing the original feeling of the book. It was really great cinematography, great pacing, the CGI was fantastic, and the costuming for the queen was very sublime. There were some things that were changed from the book to the movie, but I was ok with them as they did a lot of things right. Another thing was that they added several scenes to the movie that were not in the book, or were barely mentioned in the book, which were really well done. I have no qualms about recommending this movie, and I hope it makes a ton of money and they make the rest of the series. All of that being said I do have one problem. Not with the movie, but with the marketing. Disney hired the same company that did "The Passion of the Christ" to do the marketing for "Narnia." They offered special marketing materials and previews to churches in order to get the viewership up. The preachers would then talk about the Christian allegory blah blah blah Aslan = Jesus. This is my problem. There are so many things that do not fit neatly or otherwise if you promote "Narnia" as a Christian story. If you put this story up as a Christian allegory then you must also take the congregation to go seeThe Matrix," lots of messianic stuff happening there, and you have to go and rent every "King Arthur" movie as well. As a matter of fact the self sacrifice part that the reverends like to talk about can be found in every War or Sci-fi film: "Go on without me, I'll hold them off..." There is a book that talks about all of the Biblical tie-ins in the "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe;" they actually write that one of the tie-ins is about how not every thing is as it appears. Another good movie that shows this biblical notion is "X-MEN," especially with the Mystique character - a great choice for the whole parish.
I know it may seem that I am protesting the use of the movie by religion even though its author C.S Lewis wrote about how Aslan represented Jesus. I don't mind the representation, C.S. Lewis may have been a Christian but he was also a big believer in fairy tales and the imagination. He loved J. R. R. Tolkien and Lewis Carroll. The Christian right groups that are flocking to see this movie are the same groups that protested the "Harry Potter" books because of their occult subject matter. The "Chronicles of Narnia" never even mentions God. The over arching force in that world is called the "Deep Magic." Magic, not God, not deity, not even intelligent designer. The sense that witches, giants and minotaurs could exist is as harmless in "Narnia" as it is in "Harry Potter," or "Lord of the Rings," or "Dungeons and Dragons," or "Charmed," or "Buffy," or Stephen King novels or whatever. AlI of these besides Narnia received scorn from churches in one form or another. It is this hypocrisy that I cannot stand, and I think C.S. Lewis himself would have been a reader or watcher of all of the above. I also think he would have been uncomfortable with the religious zealots that have tried to exert their power in recent years. The reason that "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" works as a story is not this stuffed down your throat idea of a religion that the Churches would like, instead it is the universal truth of family and forgiveness and sacrifice that anyone can relate to. So it is with that in mind that I recommend the movie and the books as well.