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December 6, 2005
A Movie I Won't See
I remember disliking The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis when I read them in fifth grade, though I dutifully made my way through all but the last book in the series of seven: the elementary school librarian, whom I trusted thoroughly, assured me that they were required "great" children's literature, and I wanted to read all such great works. But at some point I just couldn't stomach any more--I found Lewis's books creepy and preachy and mean, and they got worse as the series went on. It was largely because of those books that I was reluctant to read anything else by Lewis: in high school I steered clear of The Screwtape Letters; in college I ignored what he had to say about Mere Christianity.
This review from The Guardian of Disney's new adaptation of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, the first book in the series, describes some of the things I had the sense to be bothered by, even as a ten-year-old.
The headline reads, "Narnia represents everything that is most hateful about religion;" the review concludes
So Lewis weaves his dreams to invade children's minds with Christian iconography that is part fairytale wonder and joy - but heavily laden with guilt, blame, sacrifice and a suffering that is dark with emotional sadism.Children are supposed to fall in love with the hypnotic Aslan, though he is not a character: he is pure, raw, awesome power. He is an emblem for everything an atheist objects to in religion. His divine presence is a way to avoid humans taking responsibility for everything here and now on earth, where no one is watching, no one is guiding, no one is judging and there is no other place yet to come. Without an Aslan, there is no one here but ourselves to suffer for our sins, no one to redeem us but ourselves: we are obliged to settle our own disputes and do what we can. We need no holy guide books, only a very human moral compass. Everyone needs ghosts, spirits, marvels and poetic imaginings, but we can do well without an Aslan.
Pretty much.
Posted by holly at December 6, 2005 6:42 AM
I too didn't care for the Narnia books as a kid. I remember that a TV version of "Lion, Witch, Wardrobe" really caught my imagination (can't remember if it was animated or live action). But as I read the books, I got increasingly . . . I think bored is the word. I don't remember my response as well as Holly does. But I stopped reading about book 3 or 4. And I was a pretty avid reader, so I easily could have finished them if they kept my interest. I think I sensed that they were becoming increasingly religious, and that turned me off. I also have the dubious distinction of never having finished the 3rd book in the Lord of the Rings, though I read dozens of fantasy novels as a kid.
I also read LOTS of fantasy and science fiction as a kid--there are a couple of obscure novels I wish I could remember the names of, because I'd like to read them again. In elementary school and junior high I read lots of Ursula K. LeGuin (Earthsea Cycle) and Lloyd Alexander (The Black Cauldron etc) and I loved the Edward Eager books (Half Magic, Magic by the Lake). I must also mention one of my all-time favorite books: "The Search for Delicious" by Natalie Babbitt--if you know a 10-year-old who likes fantasy, buy this for him/her.
In high school I moved on to Isaac Asimov and Tolkein. I not only read all of "The Lord of the Rings" before I got my driver's license, I read it all again around the time I turned 39, in 2002, when the second installment of the movie came out. I was so into the movie that I wanted to see if the books were REALLY that good after all...and guess what? They were.
I've read the first two Harry Potter books but I'm not captivated by the series. I'm put off by the fact that anyone who opposes Harry (his awful aunt and uncle, or that Malfoy kid) ) is motivated by a simplistic dislike and is therefore simplistically dislikable. Not enough psychological complexity to keep me interested, especially since I know that children's books about magic are capable of great psychological complexity.
I hardly ever read science fiction or fantasy now, though I consume a decent amount of it in the form of TV or movies--I recently started ordering Farscape from Netflix, and I like it pretty well. Actually I hardly ever read anything these days that isn't for teaching--I guess it's a good thing I like the area of literature I specialized in.