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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
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Date: 2005-12-12 10:04 pm (UTC)Main objection to Harry Potter - uses the terms 'witches' and 'wizards' in positive light, kids want to find out what real witches get up to, so look on the internet and find a coven and join up (oh and the fact that Harry constantly disobeys those in charge of him, but always ends up winning the day - not a good role model).
Main positive about Harry Potter - teaches about sacrificial love.
Generally I don't think *real* witchcraft is a good idea, but I'm not really convinced that Harry Potter is that much of a route into it...
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Date: 2005-12-12 11:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-13 06:30 pm (UTC)Oh well, it's just another (minor) addition to the general encouragement for kids to lie, disobey authority and generally assume that 'they know best' (which for most kids, isn't always the case)... anyway not really my rant - just passing on someone else's rant, really.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-14 12:11 am (UTC)It's also, perthaps, important to look at the four houses and their supposed principles. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw are, I don't know, knowledge and wisdom or whatever, I don't know. But the point of Gryffindor is to do WHAT IS RIGHT, no matter the cost to oneself (including getting in trouble with the authorities), while Slytherin's bag is doing WHATEVER IT TAKES no matter the cost to others, for whatever goal you choose. (It's sort of Ends vs Means - Gryffindor concentrates on reaching a good End, while Slytherin doesn't care what your ends are must encourages you to use whatever Means you like. The best of this appears to be embodied by Snape, who uses whatever Means are necessary to reach a good End, as evidenced by his willingness to risk Harry to find the traitor, but the worst of them use evil Means to further their own selfish agenda.)
There's more I could say about the whole of Potter being in fact about Voldemort's downfall by his own wicked hand (if he hadn't been out to murder Harry at birth he probably would have won), but this is not about Potter, it's about Narnia. :)
ps, Alison wants to know if you're interested in coming over for New Year's Eve.