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Dec. 12th, 2005 10:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kingandyhttp://www.shortpacked.com/d/20051212.html
It's couched in comedy, but Willis makes a decent point, and one I had cause to ponder for myself as I watched the movie. What, exactly, makes The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe more acceptable to the hardline Christian community than, say, the works of Rowling or Tolkien?
Obviously, Potter has that whole thing about "encouraging" kids to dabble with "real magic". (Yeah, the actual magic in Potter is nonsense, but the argument is that kids will start researching the real-world analogues that Rowling obviously based it on, and start believing in good and harmless magic that can be used with no consequences when really all magic comes from the Devil and is evil, and so on and so forth.) But laying aside the part where we know Narnia is allegorical, what exactly makes it allegorical?
Let's take Lion by itself, because the later books are much more explicit in their exposition. (Though perhaps that can be used as a pro-Christian point in itself - Lion lulls you into a false sense of fantasy, then Dawn Treader slaps you in the face with lamb imagery, and before you know it you're in the land of Christian Doctrine. More on that later.) In this book, you have children entering a fantasy world, consorting with various supernatural beasts, taking arms and drawing blood to defend people they just met and learning that death isn't such a bad thing after all. Oh, and even making use of the magical items handed out by a certain pagan winter deity. And everybody worships a lion. The only thing vaguely Christian about this book, in and of itself, is the one scene with a sacrifice-resurrection trope that enables you to say "And that's a bit like Jesus, isn't it?"
Alright, a lot like Jesus. But one could say the same about Neo.
Perhaps it's the religious leanings of the author that makes the fantasy, magic and supernatural elements of the story acceptable? Apparently not, since Tolkien was a "strongly committed Catholic." And, indeed, in many ways the teachings actually propounded in the later (particularly last) Narnia books are perhaps at odds with the mainstream dogma. It was from the Last Battle that I first got the notion of one God by many names, and of your intent mattering more than in whose name you declare it. That it's possible to do evil in the name of good, and even good in the name of evil. Admittedly that's my personal interpretation - the intended one, perhaps, being that it's possible to do God's work in the name of Allah, or that Muslims inadvertently worship Satan, or something. But that's what I got out of it.
I had written more on the subject but I lost the text and can't remember any of it. Still, we need a conclusion, otherwise what's the point? So, in conclusion: There's nothing inherently good or evil about any work of fiction. People should be nice to one another. And Aslan kicks ass.
RELATED: NARNIA TOYS
It's couched in comedy, but Willis makes a decent point, and one I had cause to ponder for myself as I watched the movie. What, exactly, makes The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe more acceptable to the hardline Christian community than, say, the works of Rowling or Tolkien?
Obviously, Potter has that whole thing about "encouraging" kids to dabble with "real magic". (Yeah, the actual magic in Potter is nonsense, but the argument is that kids will start researching the real-world analogues that Rowling obviously based it on, and start believing in good and harmless magic that can be used with no consequences when really all magic comes from the Devil and is evil, and so on and so forth.) But laying aside the part where we know Narnia is allegorical, what exactly makes it allegorical?
Let's take Lion by itself, because the later books are much more explicit in their exposition. (Though perhaps that can be used as a pro-Christian point in itself - Lion lulls you into a false sense of fantasy, then Dawn Treader slaps you in the face with lamb imagery, and before you know it you're in the land of Christian Doctrine. More on that later.) In this book, you have children entering a fantasy world, consorting with various supernatural beasts, taking arms and drawing blood to defend people they just met and learning that death isn't such a bad thing after all. Oh, and even making use of the magical items handed out by a certain pagan winter deity. And everybody worships a lion. The only thing vaguely Christian about this book, in and of itself, is the one scene with a sacrifice-resurrection trope that enables you to say "And that's a bit like Jesus, isn't it?"
Alright, a lot like Jesus. But one could say the same about Neo.
Perhaps it's the religious leanings of the author that makes the fantasy, magic and supernatural elements of the story acceptable? Apparently not, since Tolkien was a "strongly committed Catholic." And, indeed, in many ways the teachings actually propounded in the later (particularly last) Narnia books are perhaps at odds with the mainstream dogma. It was from the Last Battle that I first got the notion of one God by many names, and of your intent mattering more than in whose name you declare it. That it's possible to do evil in the name of good, and even good in the name of evil. Admittedly that's my personal interpretation - the intended one, perhaps, being that it's possible to do God's work in the name of Allah, or that Muslims inadvertently worship Satan, or something. But that's what I got out of it.
I had written more on the subject but I lost the text and can't remember any of it. Still, we need a conclusion, otherwise what's the point? So, in conclusion: There's nothing inherently good or evil about any work of fiction. People should be nice to one another. And Aslan kicks ass.
RELATED: NARNIA TOYS
no subject
Date: 2005-12-12 11:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-12 12:19 pm (UTC)crucifixionsacrifice of Aslan must resonate pretty deeply.It could be that Harry Potter's thought crime is being rather vague about where all these "magic" powers come from. Even Buffy has the concept of "The Powers that Be" although I'm pretty sure it has been condemned as evil by the Christian Right. In TLTWATW is pretty explicit that spring is returning because Aslan is back.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-12 12:33 pm (UTC)but wait surely religious people don't just believe anything a vicar/priest/rabi/cleric/nutter with a hook for a hand tells them?????
I don't really see how it is more religiously sound than say LOTR because at the end of the day it is a bunch of kids going and helping a rebelion and overthrowing someone simply because they don't think that it is right for them to be in charge.....Oh wait NOW I see why christians don't mind it
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Date: 2005-12-12 01:59 pm (UTC)When kids IRL try to rebel against that... The shit hitteth the fanneth!
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Date: 2005-12-12 02:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-12 02:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-12 03:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-12 03:21 pm (UTC)