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The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe

Oh, there is no way I would see the movie without reading the books. I've only read The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe, and that was about 15 years ago.

A question: While looking at stuff about the movie, I noticed some conjecture about the order the books are supposed to be read in. People say that because Magicians Nephew was written at the end, it should be read at the end as a prequal. If you read it first it is a bit of a spoiler. What do you think?
 
If you read The Magician's Nephew first, it's a bit of a bore, is all.

The old order (in which they were published) was: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; Prince Caspian; The Voyage of the Dawn Treader; The Silver Chair; The Horse and His Boy; The Magician's Nephew; The Last Battle. Now they're numbered in chronological order within the stories themselves, so Magician's Nephew comes first and The Horse and His Boy comes after The Lion, the Witch.... But, while I love these books and have read the first 5 (old order) once a year or so since I was 11, I hardly ever read the last 2, and when I give them to people I of course insist upon imposing my own views and make them promise to read them my way. Anyway, the movie is based on The Lion, the Witch... so that's the one you want to read before you see the movie.
 
I'd be surprised if the films are quite as big as LOTR as they don't have the same inbuilt fan-base, at least among adults. And I notice that I just said 'films' there, but have no idea if there's going to be more than one. If this first one is based on The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, then they mustn't be making seven films anyway. This is probably a good thing as otherwise everyone would give up on the franchise after the impossibly dull The Horse and His Boy.

One interesting thing is that the Narnia chronicles come in for a lot of stick from Philip Pullman (and others) for being thinly veiled allegories of Christianity: so they are seen as covertly proselytising. Frankly I read the whole series at least twice when I was a child (my favourite was The Silver Chair, largely for the character of Puddleglum, I think), and it never once occurred to me that they were supposed to be reminiscent of Christianity. So I guess C.S. Lewis failed in one conversion anyway.
 
Kookamoor said:
A question: While looking at stuff about the movie, I noticed some conjecture about the order the books are supposed to be read in. People say that because Magicians Nephew was written at the end, it should be read at the end as a prequal. If you read it first it is a bit of a spoiler. What do you think?
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I can't remember the order I read them in the first time, but I know I started with TMN when I re-read them a couple of years later. I personally don't feel it is a spoiler in the slightest.

Shade said:
One interesting thing is that the Narnia chronicles come in for a lot of stick from Philip Pullman (and others) for being thinly veiled allegories of Christianity: so they are seen as covertly proselytising. Frankly I read the whole series at least twice when I was a child (my favourite was The Silver Chair, largely for the character of Puddleglum, I think), and it never once occurred to me that they were supposed to be reminiscent of Christianity. So I guess C.S. Lewis failed in one conversion anyway.
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I'm the same - I read the series several times and it never occured to me that Christianity was portrayed within the book.
 
The only thing I would say is that the wardrobe/lampost is such a wonderful introduction to Narnia itself that I would have a hard time not recommending the Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe to a first-time reader.

Ice said:
I'm the same - I read the series several times and it never occured to me that Christianity was portrayed within the book.
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I definitely don't think it's over the top but when
Aslan is sacrificed
it almost seemed to have some Christ-like connotations. Definitely not the only way to read it though.
 
Hey, pwilson - spoiler tags!! Not sure where that comes into the book, but I sure a heck didn't know that! But it does explain what the devil you're talking about with the christianity links. I do recall hearing this before. I will give my opinion when I've read the series.
 
I take it you have never seen the original version of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe film then?
 
Kookamoor said:
Hey, pwilson - spoiler tags!! Not sure where that comes into the book, but I sure a heck didn't know that! But it does explain what the devil you're talking about with the christianity links. I do recall hearing this before. I will give my opinion when I've read the series.
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Sorry Kook! :eek: I guess I got lulled into thinking everyone's read it! Stupid mistake and I hope I didn't ruin it for you!
 
i've only read lwaw. i actually just read it last summer. quick read. i had seen an animated version as a kid and loved the story. i agree with pwilson that the wardrobe and the lampost are such wonderful intro's to narnia, that i can't see starting the series any other way.
 
Ice said:
I take it you have never seen the original version of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe film then?
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I watched part of a BBC miniseries, which was based on either the LW&W book or the entire series. I had a few problems with the horrendous accent of the youngest turkish-delight eating boy. It set my teeth on edge!! Aslan was an animatronic lion, which looked pretty fake, but it was still okay. It just didn't grab my attention like this preview did, though.

pwilson, no worries. I asked my partner about the christianity links and despite the fact that he's a non-reader ( :( ), even he knew about what you said back up there. So I would have found out nonetheless!
 
What I love about the trailer (besides its general awesomeness) is its vibrant use of colours and (gasp!) daylight. We're so used to seeing films wrapped in darkness, and shrouded in rain and misery, that this is a breath of fresh air.

Of course, I'm only going by the trailer, so I can't be sure whan the rest of the film is like. but it looks mighty good.

Cheers
 
I read TMN when I was young, and I remember disliking the book. But I did see the similarities with Christianity - the apple and Aslan and the garden were too familiar.

But I didn't dislike the book because of this though. I didn't like the pace of the book, and it felt a little boring for me. I don't think I'm gonna pick up the rest of Narnia, myself.

ds
 
I'm looking forward to it. Always been a fan of the books and like Shade my favourite was The Silver Chair and for the same reasons as if you couldn't tell by my username.

I too never realised that they were a christian allegory. At the end of the day they are great books so who cares. I've read a few of C.S Lewis's other books including some of his Christian apologetics. The Great Divorce is a cracking book and The Cosmic Trilogyis well worth reading as well.
 
Chronicles of Narnia, produced by Disney

Had no idea that Disney was eyeing to make a film based on this work by C.S. Lewis. It is slated to open around christmas time and quite a few religious groups are planning material to use the film to help recruit younger followers. The film isn't without its share of critics who say it is misogynistic, portrays Muslims in a racist manner, as well as being a work that is nothing more than thinly veiled religious propaganda. Might be a film woth checking out.

U.K. Guardian article.

The only Lewis work that I've read is The Screwtape Letters which was an interesting work, but wasn't particularly moving enough for me to change my life.
 
I had never actually heard about the Christian take on the Narnia chronicles prior to this movie being announced. Someone on TBF actually told me about this when I posted a thread after seeing the first trailer for Narnia. This is perhaps because when I read The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe as a kid I wasn't exactly looking for anything beyond a rollicking good story.

I'm not quite sure what my take is because I'm not familar with the other books, and have never looked for overly religious undertones in the past. I saw the trailer and was in awe of the cinematography!! It really did remind me of the Lord of the Rings and I am very excited by the prospect. What does not excite me is the idea of the film being used as propaganda for various groups, or being boycotted by others because of its ideas and the way some interpret them. It'll be interesting to see how this all pans out. Hopefully it'll disappate and this franchise will be very successful and adored by children, but somehow I have my doubts that this will slip by without comment :(

This discussion may walk the TBF guidelines fairly closely, but if we keep it on track it promises to be *very* interesting!!
 
Kookamoor said:
I had never actually heard about the Christian take on the Narnia chronicles prior to this movie being announced. Someone on TBF actually told me about this when I posted a thread after seeing the first trailer for Narnia. This is perhaps because when I read The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe as a kid I wasn't exactly looking for anything beyond a rollicking good story.

I'm not quite sure what my take is because I'm not familar with the other books, and have never looked for overly religious undertones in the past. I saw the trailer and was in awe of the cinematography!! It really did remind me of the Lord of the Rings and I am very excited by the prospect. What does not excite me is the idea of the film being used as propaganda for various groups, or being boycotted by others because of its ideas and the way some interpret them. It'll be interesting to see how this all pans out. Hopefully it'll disappate and this franchise will be very successful and adored by children, but somehow I have my doubts that this will slip by without comment :(

This discussion may walk the TBF guidelines fairly closely, but if we keep it on track it promises to be *very* interesting!!
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Yes, it's within the guidelines. We are talking about it in relation to the book(and in this case movie as well) so it more than falls within the guidelines. Anyone would maintain otherwise hasn't read the user agreement.

In relation to the "propaganda" claim, I have no problem with churches using it as a teaching or recruiting tool. How is that so bad? I haven't read the works personally, my only C.S. Lewis experience was reading The Screwtape Letters which I didn't find all that motivating.
-SG:)
 
My family is very excited to see this movie coming out so soon. We've watched all the old Narnia films..repeatedly, and can't wait to see a non-bucktoothed Lucy! We've read the books many times, and have several sets of the entire series. All the older kids think they should have their own personal set all to themselves;) I imagine we'll take the whole family to see the movie in big screen. With my crowd, that could set us back a ton of money, and we may have to eat beans for 2 weeks, but if the film is as good as the trailers promise, it will be worth it.
 
SFG75 said:
In relation to the "propaganda" claim, I have no problem with churches using it as a teaching or recruiting tool. How is that so bad?
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I don't see using a film to help instill good values in people as being a 'bad' thing. I'm just concerned that the repercussions of religious groups adopting this film as an advertisement for their faith will turn other groups and individuals away from it. It's sort of "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction". I can't see any way around it, because many people beleive these books are parables (is that the right word?) of the Christian faith. But they are also wonderful stories that many children would enjoy. I'd hate to see kids miss out on a great story and the opportunity to engage in literature because of an association made by faith leaders.

I love this current trend where children's fantasy novels are captured in such beautiful cinematography. I really believe this is helping encourage acceptance of reading among young teens (see the why is reading dorky thread). I just don't like to see this controversy which may mean some children are prevented having access to this movie, and to the books from which it comes. It's like there's a big opportunity here for another Harry Potter-like reading boom... and the possibility that some kids may miss out on this opportunity to discover reading for pleasure is really sad to me.

Am I extrapolating too much? Making a mountain out of a molehill? I'm not sure. I can't tell at this stage how this will turn out. But I'm simply voicing my concern.
 
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