The Chronicles of Narnia

I love these stories. Apparently, they've gone ahead and produced The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, leaning heavily on CGI technology. Plans to make the rest if the first movie does well (how can it not?).

http://www.narniaweb.com/

I must have read the books 20 or more times as a kidling. I just re-read them for the first time in perhaps 15 years. Strange that I had never paid mind to the allegorical nature of the stories. In Lewis' own words:

(taken from http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/exposes/lewis/cs-lewis.htm)

The Magician's Nephew tells the Creation and how evil entered Narnia,
The Lion etc. - the Crucifixion and Resurrection,
Prince Caspian - restoration of the true religion after a corruption,
The Horse and His Boy - the calling and conversion of the heathen,
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader - the spiritual life (especially in Reepicheep),
The Silver Chair - the continuing war against the powers of darkness,
The Last Battle - the coming of Antichrist (the ape). The end of the world and the last judgement.

In re-reading the stories with this knowledge, I thought I might not enjoy them as I once did.

I thought wrong.

Oh, I did notice Lewis' characterization of Islam as "Cruel, Proud, Barbaric, etc" in the form of the Calormenes. I also thought Lewis' choice of a Lion for the Christ-figure also a bit odd, and the subtle proselytizing with the promises of eternal happy life after death. Do any Christians (esp. Catholics) find the allegorical portrayal of christian faith objectionable, given that it includes high magic, talking animals and generally depicts Christianity as an esoteric belief system?

Couldn't have a better representative of Sol than Aslan eh?

Originally posted by David C
I also thought Lewis' choice of a Lion for the Christ-figure also a bit odd...

...well, he is often called "the lion of judah"...

Originally posted by David C
I love these stories. Apparently, they've gone ahead and produced The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, leaning heavily on CGI technology. Plans to make the rest if the first movie does well (how can it not?).

http://www.narniaweb.com/

I must have read the books 20 or more times as a kidling. I just re-read them for the first time in perhaps 15 ...[text shortened]... des high magic, talking animals and generally depicts Christianity as an esoteric belief system?

I don't see why one would find them objectionable. The key word is "allegory". If you ask me, Lewis did a far better job than most/many/any mainstream churches.

I see a whole lot of "allegory" these days with main characters who speak in tones like they were from an 80's enlightment cult, dancing in flowery fields, blue eyes in a constant state of maximum shimmer in endless sunshine and rainbows. Then some mean person or unfortunate event that would be easily conquered by any person of modest means is blown way out of proportion, cueing drawn out scenes wherein the still incessantly shining blue eye are now producing puppy dog effects and everyone stands around wallowing in self pity and expressing a complete inability to cope with natural day to day challenges many/most/all people face. Then, inexoriably, a person with even shinier eyes and an unending botox smile shows up singing "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow" with various aspects changed to reflect generic dogma, producing a seemingly miraculous trasformation, turning the mass of incompetent left wing liberal welfare families into harcord right wing conservative with tremendous skills and prowess. Hence forth, the "bad guy" returns only to see that his malicious plans to hurt the peace loving hippies is ruined. Everyone sings and dances in the rain, laughing hysterically, singing some horrible parody of a hymn. Same similar trend in most/many/all of such church affiliated "allegorical" entertainment (i.e. propaganda via symbology).

My apologies for the rant. In summary, I like Lewis, wish we had more people with that kind of talent producing similar.

Best Regards,
Omnislash

Hey Yo!
I am also rereading this classic, and the allogories seem fairly evident. It seems to me that Mr. Lewis was also pointing a finger at the church(which denomination I'm not sure). Maybe he was Idealising christianity. He also seems to believe in a more natural worship.

The movie looks awesome. Well yes it does use a lot of CG, a story like this would have to. Even though its from Disney, they seem to have taken their cue from Peter Jackson. The scope of the flick is immense.

Stangely enough when I tell people that I'm reading this book many people have not heard of it. Young and old. I must have seen the animated movie a dozen times and the BBC productions on TV. What a SAD SAD world we live in.

Sure to be a masterpiece - magnificently filmed and seamless CG work and under the masterful hand of the director of Shrek... It'll be a winner, despite the Disney-cheese label 😉

I sure hope it'll bury the tragedy of BBC's futile attempts.

Originally posted by RatX


I sure hope it'll bury the tragedy of BBC's futile attempts.

You're right about that.

They made the chronicles for BBC TV when I was young, every Sunday evening around six o'clock. I used to watch them with eager excitement, though I was too young to pick up on Lewis' Christian undertones. I loved them then, I love the books still. Regardless of the theism woven into the stories, they are written with Lewis' usual and dumbfounding control of character and language. Much of my ghildhood imagination was fed by his stories, I had a very Victorian upbringing and he was considered a prominent author in the education of young men.

Originally posted by RatX
Sure to be a masterpiece - magnificently filmed and seamless CG work and under the masterful hand of the director of Shrek... It'll be a winner, despite the Disney-cheese label 😉

I sure hope it'll bury the tragedy of BBC's futile attempts.

I think your being sarcastic, but I'm not sure. The tone is lost in translation. Nevertheless biases aside here is a teaser if you haven't already seen it.


http://movies.aol.com/franchise/exclusives/chronicles_of_narnia_movie

Originally posted by Canadaguy
I think your being sarcastic, but I'm not sure. The tone is lost in translation. Nevertheless biases aside here is a teaser if you haven't already seen it.


http://movies.aol.com/franchise/exclusives/chronicles_of_narnia_movie

Yeah, I also grew up on the TV series - unfortunately, they look like a film-school attempt... I really enjoyed the trailer and teaser of the upcoming one, and I wasn't sarcastic, I think it's gonna be great!

Originally posted by RatX
Yeah, I also grew up on the TV series - unfortunately, they look like a film-school attempt... I really enjoyed the trailer and teaser of the upcoming one, and I wasn't sarcastic, I think it's gonna be great!

Cool. It's just that I know so many movie snobs who detest CG. Feel that it a lazy way of filmmaking. I think its a fabulous tool in opening up the imagination and will revitalise an almost stagnent medium.

The problem lies with the filmmakers not the tool. Peter Jackson showed us that CG can be an effective tool. Because he used EVERY trick in the book to make LOTR, not just CG, as many scenes in LOTR could not have been done without CG, and the movies might have sucked.

Originally posted by Canadaguy
Cool. It's just that I know so many movie snobs who detest CG. Feel that it a lazy way of filmmaking. I think its a fabulous tool in opening up the imagination and will revitalise an almost stagnent medium.

The problem lies with the filmmakers not the tool. Peter Jackson showed us that CG can be an effective tool. Because he used EVERY trick in t ...[text shortened]... G, as many scenes in LOTR could not have been done without CG, and the movies might have sucked.

In reality, CG is as big a jump in film as sound or color was... And with my dabbling in animation, I know it's certainly not a lazy way!!! And Pete did a fabulous job and created what was impossible - and used every trick in the book. I think films aren't really about how they're made, they're about telling a story using the medium to the best one can.