I just wanted to bring the upcoming film of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe to the attention of all of you LDS C.S. Lewis fans out there.
Some of you may remember CBS’s animated version of the story made for television in 1979 or the live-action version produced by the BBC in 1988.
The new film is being released by Disney in December of 2005. It is being directed by Andrew Adamson, who directed Shrek and Shrek 2. It will be his first live-action film. The sets, costumes, computer graphics, special effects, etc. are being done by WETA, the company that Peter Jackson helped found and that did the amazing work on The Lord of The Rings movies. The majority of the film was made in in New Zealand (Adamson, like Peter Jackson, is from New Zealand) and portions were filmed in the Czech Republic.
Go and watch the very exciting Movie trailer (high bandwidth).
And be sure to check out the official website for additional details (Warning: Flash intensive).
I wonder what kind of media discussion, if any, will be given to the Christian themes in the story (Aslan’s vicarious sacrifice on behalf of Edmund)?
This should also be interesting with the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire movie coming out in November. Discussions comparing and contrasting the use of “magic” in the Chronicles of Narnia to that in Harry Potter are sure to be rehashed. With The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe as an alternative, we are bound to see the re-emergence of denunciations of Harry Potter as pagan or satanic. We will also see some discussion about whether public schools should give the Christian themed book by Lewis equal time with the “pagan” book by Rowling.
I personally have enjoyed the Harry Potter books. I am still waiting, however, for them to become profound. I was disappointed in that regard by the 5th book. As Rowling brings her story to a close in the sixth book (due out in July) and the final book that is to follow, I’m sure I will be entertained, but will I be instructed or edified?
I find the Chronicles of Narnia not only entertaining, but instructive and edifying (that explains, perhaps, the reason why they are not emphasized in public schools!). Unless Rowling can pull off something absolutely brilliant in her final two books, I’m afraid that Harry Potter will never be much more than a fun read.
(It just occurred to me that perhaps none of you bloggernacle academics bother to even read “children’s” stories like the Chronicles of Narnia or Harry Potter. If that is so then all I can say is: it’s your loss… 🙂 )
UPDATE: I fixed the links above. You should be able to get to the trailer and official site now.
I always thought the Potter as Pagan was funny, since Rowling (while not noisy about it), since in many, many interviews she has said she attends the Church of Scotland faithfully (how faithfully, I don’t know).
Perhaps because the Anglican church is more “mainstream” Lewis is therefore more acceptable?
Also – Tolkein was a Catholic, yet I kno wmany protestants and Mormons who condemned LoTR as evil and pagan (my wife had to leave a play group laughing after the moms began riffing on how when their husband brought home a copy of the latest LoTR movie, they could feel the evil emenating from the disc).
I read them all. I wonder if that means I’m not academic.
I would take you up on Harry Potter not being profound, but as it turns out, I have an academic paper to finish right now.
I (and Orson Scott Card) also find Harry Potter to be very profound. But, as with Eric, I have 50 pages of academic prose due over the next five days.
Go check out Card’s comments on his website. That’ll have to do for now.
I’m not one for reading so much, but I like the HP movies and I vaguely recall the Narnia animation from the late 70’s. I do believe that Lewis’ use of Christian parallels in Narnia will result in more edification and instruction than the HP books but Rowling does include many good simple moral rules, at least what I’ve seen translated in the films.
Specifically in Chamber of Secrets. The entire film carries subtle themes of racism and demonstrates similar choices harry must make in being honest as those made by “another” before him. I think these can be good stories for kids to learn some of the simple truths but I would certainly not put it on a pedistal.
Apparently Disney lost out when they turned down the HP serries and I’m not sure if Jackson ever shopped LOTR to them, but I’ve heard they are pouring a lot of effort into Chronicles, hoping for a grand pay off. Keep in mind, however, this is Disney and they don’t historically support a lot of Christian themes in their projects. Some are skeptical that Chronicles will loose some of Lewis’ magic. I hope that’s not the case.
I am skeptical of Disney’s ability to do anything with the Narnia stories other than try to turn them into lowest common denominator cgi-ed subpar LoTR rip-offs. The trailer has not convinced me this is wrong.
I did not like HP, precisely because I loved the Narnia books so much. CS Lewis writes in such effortless, beautiful prose, evoking timeless, powerful images of love and redemption. I re-read the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe a few months ago during a weekend we were snowed in, and I was touched by the elegance and beauty with which Lewis spun his tale of Aslan and Lucy, et. al.
The HP books are in-your-face, loud, and larger than life in all the wrong ways. The underlying message in HP is, well, what? And the blatant commercialism and hype is distasteful (which are probably the real reasons I don’t like HP).
Anyway, I’m looking forward to the Narnia films.
I’m with John C. on this one. My wife and I watched the trailer, and while exciting, our first and last impression was “Their costumes are too bright…”
Perhaps I should clarify a little. I do see glimmers of profundity in the Harry Potter books, but for me much of it is still incomplete. Rowling is a very talented writer and a very smart individual. She has introduced themes and ideas that have the potential to be profound, but until I see how she completes them in the remaining two books I do not think that the her story is profound–not yet.
She only has two books left in which to make all of her threads of potential profundity come together. Frankly I think that the groundwork she has set down for herself is incrediblly ambitious and, after reading the fifth book, I’m not confident that she can pull it off. Her next two books will have to be astoundingly brilliant, in my opinion.
I love fantasy books and think the Narnia series is fascinating and profound. I predict the Christian media will pump up interest in the Disney movie and it will do quite well financially. I have never been able to get interested in Harry Potter, although my wife and oldest daughter have read them all. I’m not sure why I have no interest in HP, but I don’t. The Narnia trailer looks quite good, although it looks surprisingly similar to LoTR. I own the BBC versions of the books, which are good for children but not at all high-quality.
I’m not into the movies or shows, really, because I hate how they change so much of importance. But I LOVE the Harry Potter books and I LOVE the Narnia books. I have read them all and re-read them all. And I have already got my HP and the HBP paid for and waiting for it to be released to be sent to me in July. I can hardly wait :).
Well, remember the Narnia books were originally written with edification and instruction in mind. Harry Potter wasn’t. But at the same time, JKR does manage to get little bits of wisdom in, which I do pick up (but then I’m a girl). Like how being “pure blood” or in other words, a specific race or what have you, is better than anything or anyone else. I find some of it very profound and it appeals to my magical nature 🙂 Or the one I wanted when I was a child.
Harry Potter is meant to be fun. And sure, there is a lot of commercialisation, but it is modern day too, and these days almost anything popular gets inundated with commercialisation. I still don’t like the movies though. It bugs me when moviemakers rewrite good literature. And Harry Potter is excellently written. Also, it isn’t written FOR adults, it is written for children. Very correctly done too.
I have to admit I am a little worried about Disney taking Narnia over too…they really don’t so much for anything. I have never been much impressed with Disney’s capbalities to create quality viewing.
Incidentaly, I may be wrong, but is seems to me that in the soundtrack playing in the trailer the words are being sung in Latin. Is that right? If so, can any of you classicists out there pick out a translation?
Dude, you’re looking for profundity in all the wrong places. To steal a line from one of my BYU professors about Lewis: if you want profound, go read Aristotle.
I think the Harry Potter series is a fine piece of literature. I’ll line up to buy a copy at midnight on July 16. I love the Narnia books, too. But if you go looking for Meaning and Profundity in them, rather than letting it surprise you when you least expect it, you’ve missed the point.
After watching the trailer today, my prediction is that the movie is going to be awful because the children are all miscast. My fear–not based on the trailer–is that the movie will collapse under the weight of its attempted profundity, trying to make sure no one misses all that Christian Imagery and Allegory.
Another thing I should add, putting books in film never does them justice. I have yet to see any story or book improved by televising it or turning it into a movie.
Jonathan:
I enjoy young adult fiction — esp. YA fantasy. I completely agree with your assessment of the Harry Potter series. Althought it’s a fun read, it doesn’t hold a candle to the Dark is Rising series and the works of Lloyd Alexander.
As for Narnia… The books are one of my first literary loves. But I do find the entire series to be uneven. On the other hand, _The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe_ is pretty much a perfect novel.
William,
Cooper’s The Dark is Rising and Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain are wonderful.
I might also throw in Madeleine L’Engle’s The Time Quartet and George MacDonald’s The Princess and the Goblin books.
Also two little known gems by Alan Garner called The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and its sequel The Moon of Gomrath.
Ben, could you elaborate on what you mean by “Their costumes are too bright…”?
I guess what I would like is for Adamson to tell the story in a way that hasn’t been to sell the most action figures or the most t-shirts at Christian bookstores.
Speaking of Harry Potter, the first two movies were “faithful” to the books and, as an ironic result, utterly unmagical. You never felt like you were watching anything more than characters on a screen (albeit deeply cherished ones). The third worked because of a slavish devotion to the themes of the third book, but not to the story. The movie characters were allowed to develop differently than in the book and were, therefore, more fully realized.
I am scared that Disney will cave to pressure to keep the Narnia books exactly in the mint condition found in fanboys concepts of the book, or pressure to dumb it down for children, or pressure to make it more Christian than it is. I would like them to just tell the story the best that they can, but they have sunk so much money into it at this point that I believe marketing will destroy what could have been a good thing. Disney (Miramax and Pixar aside) doesn’t strike me as a company that can just let things be if a lot of money is on the line.
Mary (#13)–Off the top of my head, if you’re looking for a good movie based on a bad book, try “Legally Blonde.” The book, by Amanda Brown, is terrible. I’m not sure it was even published until after the movie based on it created a small demand. But clean up the story and put Reese Witherspoon in it, and it’s not a bad piece of entertainment.
I agree that Harry Potter is very entertaining, and also mostly superficial.
As for Narnia, I have higher hopes for it than some others here. Disney is not such a horrible monolith that the right director at the right time can’t wring out a fine piece of work. For an example of some very profound Christian themes in a somewhat sophisticated movie– see Hercules, one of my own personal favorites, but mostly unsung.
I also loved all of the lloyd Alexander and Susan Cooper books. How was my mom so good at keeping good, fantastical literature before me as a kid? No idea. Redwall also springs to mind.
Another thing I should add, putting books in film never does them justice. I have yet to see any story or book improved by televising it or turning it into a movie.
Mary, what about the Book of Mormon movie? 😉
“Like how being ‘pure blood’ or in other words, a specific race or what have you, is better than anything or anyone else”
Harry Potter can be a good read, but the ‘values’ in it all read like they were extracted from an EEOC handbook.
In other words, they’re virtues-lite.
But, of course, there are the inescapable virtues that characters in any good book have to have, and, all in all, the first few books were a good read.
But seriously,
A Beautiful Mind is an example of an utterly unreadable book turned into a good movie. Of course, the movie bears almost no resemblance to the book, other than the title, but that is another issue altogether.
I also loved Lloyd Alexander, the early Redwall books, Lewis, Tolkien, MacDonald, Le Guin, et al.
I’m suprised though that no one has pointed out ‘The Black Cauldron’ as one of Disney’s abject failures at turning a great series into a decent movie.
My personal favorite disney moment came shortly after my (then 11 yo) daughter asked why I complained about Hercules. I gave her a copy of Bullfinches Mythology and asked her to read about Hercules. She came back a bit later and asked “Did they do that to all the other stories they’ve made into movies? That’s awful!”
By the way, I hope the wardrobe doesn’t just show straight through to a brightly lit otherworld the second its door is opened, as shown in the trailer. I think Lewis’ subtle handling of the transition from our world to the next is much better. The trailer makes it look like just another time portal a la Stargate. Yawn.
I agree with you Pat. Disney’s The Black Cauldron really was abysmal, in my opinion. Richard Rich, who directed it, is a member of the church and a major part of the Living Scriptures series. He worked on Pete’s Dragon and co-directed The Fox and the Hound. Interestingly, The Balck Cauldron was the first Disney Animated film to receive a PG rating.
The books on the other hand are great. I wonder if the Lord of the Rings/Harry Potter film phenomenon, of which this Narnia effort is a part, will take on The Book fo Three and the Black Cauldron as at some point in the future?
Agreed, R. Bell.
Ryan, I was thinking the same thing. I hope the light effect in the trailer is only part of the trailer and not the movie. The animation on the official website has you move through the hanging coats, pushing them aside one by one until you find yourself in Narnia, as it is in the books.
Ditto on the bright light from the wardrobe.
Jonathan Max: When looking at the soldiers and animals, they looked like toys that had just been removed from their packaging, not things that actually lived and interacted with an environment. No dirt, no tears, no scuffs… too shiny.
John C. (#17), I’ve never known Hollywood, ever, to make anything “more Christian than it is”. Hollywood consistently removes anything remotely resembling a faithful Christian idea or theme.
I love the Harry Potter books, but not for the themes. Rowling is a very witty writer, and I enjoy reading her. I do think the books have a destructive subtext for children, however. It has nothing to do with paganism or magic; the protagonists are constantly accomplishing wonderful things by lying, stealing, and breaking virtually every rule there is. They show no remorse, and they are rewarded for it. While there may be times to bend the rules under extreme circumstances, the Harry Potter books make the exception the rule, and often, their behavior isn’t even prompted by extreme circumstances.
In my opinion, the objective content of books (and movies) is not nearly as destructive as the subjective context of how the content is presented. I am not opposed to any presentation of violence, just those that show unjustified violence in a positive context. Similarly, I feel that the Harry Potter books consistently show things that I would never want my children to do as either harmless or virtuous.
Hmmm.. Legally Blonde…havent’ seen it, but well there ya go, maybe some books CAN be improved!
Actually I didn’t find that the first two movies stayed true to the books at all (for HP)but I have to admit to being nitpicky. For example, Hermione could not have repaired Harry’s glasses before school started, it was actually Mr. Weasley who did that. Since Harry got a warning for the magic done in his house, Hermione certainly would have as well.
Book of Mormon movie…lol, haven’t seen it, but I have HEARD that it certainly doesn’t do the book justice 🙂
John C., (#29), again, see Hercules. Quite a Christian movie, from a rather, err, less than Christian text.
Jonathan,
What I meant was that they are going to play up the Christian angle in order to appeal to that market in the wake of “The Passion of the Christ”. Big Budget movie making doesn’t like subtle themes like Lewis’s understated Christianity in their movies. If there is to be a message, it must be slammed home repeatedly with a hammer. That will ruin the film.
I found the latest Potter book interesting, in part, because those very qualities you mentioned that appear to be championed in the first books wind up getting someone killed and several people injured in the latest. I think JKR has a subtle and interesting approach to rules and exceptions thereto that is getting more play as Harry starts to grow up.
Ryan,
I ascribe Hercules to my “Golden Bough” theory of filmmaking. Some themes (redemption from death) are so ingrained in the general culture that we can’t escape them no matter how hackneyed our original intent may be. Besides, the Greek Herc wouldn’t play well to 3rd graders.
But John, I think the Christian themes in Hercules run far deeper than that single point. The entire show runs like an allegory to the life of Christ, including divine heritage, miracles, dealing with disciples, and finally sacrificing all for an imperfect loved one, to the depths of hell. Hard to believe that’s an accident.
Ryan Bell –
Hard to believe that’s an accident.
Not if you’ve read Campbell’s “The Hero with 1000 faces” – basically, you’ve just described the mythic journey.
Basically, the Herc movie was directly cribbed from Campbell with little variation.
I’ve always felt the Harry Potter books fall into a certain pattern of very popular children’s books or stories — a pattern that convinces me most kids have fantasies about orphanhood, their parents not really being their parents, having secret powers, being famous, being the hero, having riches in a secret bank vault, a secret inheritance or a sudden benefactor, etc. The trick is the main character has to win our sympathy and our admiration.
Children’s books or famous stories that seem to fall into this category:
Matilda / James and the Giant Peach / Little Orphan Annie / Great Expectations …
I know there’s a whole bunch more of them out there. I just can’t think of them right now.
Interesting how the way distinct literary genres have developed (a phenomenon that for the better part of century has been driven primarily by booksellers and marketers) brings us to lump together books that really don’t belong together. People talk about Tolkien, Lewis, Lloyd Alexander, Susan Cooper, J.K. Rowling and all the rest in a single breath, mostly, I think, because we’re used to seeing them shelved that way.
Tolkien was writing a major work that consciously echoed very old dramatic styles. Lewis wrote fables and religious allegory. Alexander and Cooper wrote contemporary youth fantasy. Rowling is writing mainstream adolescent fiction that happens to feature wizards. But because they all have “magic” in them, we lump them together and compare them. But that’s a matter of apples and oranges. The Harry Potter books, profound? Not very, when compared to The Chronicles of Narnia, which weaves deep theological themes into every plot, sometimes into every character and scene. But then, the Narnia books (with the exception of, as William Morris notes, Lion and, I think, The Magician’s Nephew, also a great story) can’t compare with HP for drama and narrative, because they’re too busy featuring characters that teach and are taught. Very different strengths and weaknesses distinguish them from each other, and both from LOTR, etc.
As for the film version of Lion, I think it’ll “fail” (at least from my perspective; it still may make a bundle of money) not because I’m a Disney-basher, but exactly because the people making it clearly have what John C. mentioned in mind: the “fanboys’ concepts of the book.” That’s the thing–there never were fanboys of those books; they weren’t “geek” books in any sense. Every D&D player at one point or another ripped off Tolkien; I can’t believe hardly any ever did Lewis, because, again, he didn’t provide the dramatic material to do so. (What were you going to do–give Aslan, the God of the stories, a bunch of hit points and have him go beat up orcs?) So those stories really don’t sustain “fanboy” treatment. But Hollywood knows that fanboys are where the money is, and so that’s what they’ll shoot for–big battles, swelling music, scary monsters, swords and sorcery, the whole nine yards. Which will be wasted on these books.
Adam (21)
I agree — the first few HP books were very enjoyable. So are the others, despite becoming increasingly heavy-handed and didactic. Maybe she got too big to have an editor.
As somebody who’s been following this film forever I’d like to address a few misconceptions.
Firstly, though the film is being put out by Disney, they really had nothing to do with the making of it. They picked it up far into production, and according to good sources had little to no influence in the production. It would be more accurate to say that Walden Media is producing the film. Walden’s purpose is really to create films from books for the classroom (Because of Winndixie and Holes being examples). The producer is a life-long fan of Narnia, he grew up on it and really wanted to make the film.
Secondly, as far as how it will deal with the Christian themes, supposedly they are really being embraced, but not over-embellished. Disney is really trying to market this movie as a Christian movie (a long recording of a Disney marketing movie shows Eisner is keen on that idea). You can take that how you like.
I honestly don’t see them ruining the book with this one. I could be wrong, of course, but I’ve really been following it, and don’t see that happening.
That said, I can’t read Harry Potter, I feel too smart, maybe I’m prideful, but it doesn’t offer much to me. I’m going to watch the movies sometime this weekend.
Just don’t judge the books based on the movies. The books are vastly superior.
Aaron
I used to feel the same way, wasn’t going to read Harry Potter books (I felt too smart for them too), but truly they are superior to the movies and you should read them and I am glad I didn’t waste time. She’s a very good writer.
Jonathan Stone (#29)said re the HP books: “I do think the books have a destructive subtext for children, however. It has nothing to do with paganism or magic; the protagonists are constantly accomplishing wonderful things by lying, stealing, and breaking virtually every rule there is.”
I love the books, but I remember when I first read them, I was reading with the eyes of a mother, wondering if I would object to anything in them. I noticed the same rule breaking, and worried about it–probably because I have an uptight personality and try to keep rules, even when I think they are useless or silly.
But then I recalled a discussion I had with a faithful church member who is completely honest and trustworthy as an adult, but who mentioned that he had broken his share of school rules when he was Harry’s age. He looked at school rules sort of like he looks at traffic regulations–you need to have them, it’s usually a good idea to follow them, and if you break them, you’d better be ready to take the consequences.
He once drove over sidewalks to get through a traffic jam so that his wife could give birth in a hospital, rather than in the car. He broke the rules, but his wife says she was very glad they made it to the delivery room a minute before the baby came!
I’m not good at remembering the details of books I’ve read, but I believe that Harry was willing to take the consequences when he was caught out, and he thought it was necessary to break rules in order to effectively fight evil–sort of like adult spies do.
Perhaps this rule-breaking aspect of the Potter books could be a good springboard for a discussion of moral values, commandments, and rules with our children, and how we as church members might act differently because of our beliefs. We could also talk about why organizations (including families) have rules, why we should usually keep them, why and when we might choose to break them, and how we can’t complain if we have to suffer unpleasant consequences when we do. (Most of us don’t end up saving the school when we break its rules!)
Pay attention to Aaron Godwin’s comment #39 — I’m surprised no one else has commented on Walden Media. They’ve received quite a lot of press recently for their vision.
Disney has been coasting on its brand-name for a while, contenting itself with acting as distributor for other filmmakers (Pixar and Studio Ghibli come immediately to mind).
As for The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, I am curiously unexcited by the upcoming film. I’ve been reading the Narnia books to my oldest daughter — we finished The Silver Chair two weeks ago. I enjoy the books greatly, but they seem very uncinematic to me. They are stories that are meant to be read (and read aloud) in a way that Harry Potter is not.
As for movies improving on a book, I recommend both the book and the film versions of About a Boy The book by Nick Hornby is excellent, and the movie is even better.
From the Walden Media website:
Why hasn’t anyone commented on this board in nearly 2 years? That’s ridiculous.
Yes, that is ridiculous because The Voyage of the Dawn Treader cae out and nobody cared as much. As for whoever posted that comment about Redwall, The Dark Is Rising, Lord of the Rings, and Lloyd Alexander, well, that comment just made my day.
We do not have to bash HP to make Narnia look better. Narnia is awesome as it is.
Do any fantasy readers out there read what they read even though their parents oppose it? (Sorry for leaving suc a long comment)