May 3rd, 2005

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Movies
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The Chronicles of Narnia

It’s the decade of much-loved movie adaptations. After Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings and Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, an adaptation of the Narnia books (wall-to-wall Flashness ahead) was pretty much inevitable. The first, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, is to be released this December. As Movie Marketing Update reports, the first trailer will be launched Sunday, May 7.

If you ask me, in the Battle of Authors With Initials, C.S. Lewis kicks J.K. Rowling’s sorry ass around the block. Lewis’s books draw heavily from mythology, but Rowling’s books draw heavily from Lewis’s (and sundry other twentieth century sources). Lewis also knows a thing or two about symbolism, a notion which seems to elude Ms. Rowling entirely.

I hope they do right by Lewis’s novels. They deserve the sort of respectful, passionate treatment that The Lord of the Rings received. They’ve started off well, casting a slew of unknowns plus Tilda Swinton as the White Witch (okay, Rupert Everett and Jim Broadbent have small roles, but they’re hardly household names). They’re shooting in New Zealand, the land that film forgot.

I hope they’ve got a little more edge or attitude or style than the antiseptic Harry Potter films. Given that Disney is the producing studio, this is unlikely.

UPDATE: Here’s a tiny, curious detail from the offical Chronicles of Narnia site. I downloaded one of their wallpapers for this posting, and noticed that the name of the file is “nn_wall_asiankids_1024.jpg”. I don’t see any Asian kids…do you?

Comments: 13 Responses so far

Boris Mann
May 3rd, 2005
12:26 pm

Likely a mis-type of “Aslan’s kids” — Aslan is the Lion that is the ruler of Narnia, no?

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heather
May 3rd, 2005
12:27 pm

oh… i really hope they don’t fuck it up. i’ll be devastated.

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Darren
May 3rd, 2005
12:29 pm

Ah, Boris, good point.

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Boris Mann
May 3rd, 2005
12:29 pm

A mis-type of “Aslan”, the name of the lion (and ruler) of Narnia.

(Darren, if this is going to an approval queue, just delete this second one)

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Tom
May 3rd, 2005
1:34 pm

Don’t forget Lewis’ SF trilogy - Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength. You want symbolism …

Excellent read.

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Travis
May 3rd, 2005
3:08 pm

Perhaps an overzealous spell checker made the change.

TTFN
Travis

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Chris
May 3rd, 2005
3:58 pm

I remember reading the Narnia books in school, I really hope they aren’t Potterised as a film series because Harry Potter seems a worthless cash exercise, but the Narnia books were wholy enjoyable and opened imagination without a few million pound of film making to do the work for me.

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daisy
May 3rd, 2005
6:11 pm

Oh God (aka Aslan) say it isn’t so! I read The Chronicles as a kid and nothing will ever do justice to the characters lovingly etched and zealously guarded in my memory.
In Canada a few years back, I think it was the CBC that made a meager attempt at a made-for-kids-tv series of The Chronicles. I saw part of an advert for it (they totally wrecked Aslan, and Mr. Tumnus? arrggh)but made sure I averted my eyes from any subsequent adverts.
I will stick with the yellowed, brittle pages to step through the wardrobe.

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Celia
May 3rd, 2005
9:29 pm

I am pessimistic on the movie adaptation. There was a straight-to-video series recently too, and I shudder everytime I think about it. *shudders*

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mike somers
May 4th, 2005
9:01 am

Darren, do you still write movie reviews for a that BC based newspaper ? Are you open for such work paid or unpaid?

Mike

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Darren
May 4th, 2005
9:10 am

Mike: Are you referring to Urban Vancouver, for whom I occasionally syndicate movie reviews for free? It’s not a newspaper–strictly a website. Or perhaps the Yaletown View (also the Kitsilano View and, oddly, in Long Beach, California), who pays me to write a technology column each month?

In either case, if you want to talk about my writing something for somebody, drop me a line.

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M.
May 6th, 2005
1:47 am

Draws heavily on mythology? Well, that’s one way of putting it.
In addition to writing literature, C. S. Lewis was an Anglican theologian. He very deliberately wrote books for young people that would imbue them with Christian values and the Christian story. And they were effective.
I could write at length about the Christian imagery, but here are a few examples: Aslan dies on the altar, bound, and is risen. The good ones go to Heaven. Susan doesn’t, because she stopped believing.
It saddens me to recognize that books I loved so well were propaganda bombs.
In my view, his books were sexist and racist. Independence in women is characterized as evil. For instance, what really is wrong about the queen from another world who comes to earth, except that she is a powerful woman? And when I say racist, I mean that in numerous cases, “the other” was ridiculed or demonized.
A couple of his best-known works that deal more openly with Christianity are Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters. Memorably, in the latter, the devil corresponds with his nephew about how to lead humans into sin. And in Mere Christianity, if I recall correctly, he uses the process of elimination to conclude that Jesus had to be the son of God.
Lewis created some sublime images–I have always loved the imagery of the Dawn Treader sailing towards the edge of the world, with a bright sky and glassy sea, with mermaids and mermen below. And the small warrior mouse Reepacheep valiantly choosing to leave the ship to keep going towards the light.
Another beautiful image is at the end of the world, when the children, animals, and Aslan, all rejuvenated, run freely and joyfully up the mountain to, well, Heaven.
The books are packed full of wonderful imagery. Obviously I have very mixed feelings about what is being conveyed.

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charlie
May 6th, 2005
4:19 am

Tolkien and Lewis were close friends and part of a small group of writers called The Inklings.

Tolkien was also very Christian, but did not like allegory for various reasons (he only used it once in ‘Leaf by Niggle’). Indeed, he and Lewis had a bit of falling out over Narnia (a blatant allegory).

Coincidentally, my son told me yesterday that he had just finished reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe at school - in Finnish.

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