Disagreeing on Narnia

I haven't seen the Chronicles of Narnia movie yet, although my 9-year-old nephew and I have a date to see it soon. I have seen the bazillions of  hostile internet exchanges on whether or not it's a piece of potent propaganda from the religious right, and thus hazardous to your child's mental and spiritual health (assuming you're a godless liberal like me). I don't think so, personally. Yes, Narnia is a Christian allegory, but given that I believe Christianity itself is allegorical, I really don't care.

But I wasn't prepared for one of my own personal media gods, Mark Morford, to ask the question, "Does Narnia Actually Suck?" And he didn't mean the movie. He meant the books:

Truly, I was of the mind that the "Narnia" books, to my dreamy, rose-colored memory, were these insanely rich and ingenious tales, dense and deeply involved anecdotes of children exploring a phenomenally magical world that was so utterly not of this grungy, terrestrial plane it might as well have been Pluto. Like many, my time-addled vision elevated the books to the status of utter genius, largely due to the feeling of unchecked awe I can still recall them providing. And I was absolutely sure Hollywood would rape that memory for all the pseudo-Christian bullcrap and Burger King tie-ins it possibly could.

I was wrong. Sort of. Hollywood didn't actually ruin "Narnia." Hollywood didn't cheapen it all that much, or reduce it down or remove much of the original majesty by injecting it with too much CGI and not enough heart. Rather, Hollywood has done something even more depressing: It's revealed "The Chronicles of Narnia" books to be what they actually are: a rather lean slice of delightfully wrought but fairly simpleminded, largely hobbled fantasy for the imagination-deprived single-digit set....

But here's the interesting thing: It doesn't seem to matter. Children still adore the books more than ever. And adults remain baffled to this day at the astounding magnetic pull they hold for children, and re-reading them again as an adult does little in the way of revealing their curious power. And the same appears true for the movie. Kids are enraptured and adults look and wonder what the hell happened to that sense of utter joy they felt when Aslan would appear at the top of a mountain.

Morford then lists a number of books that DO pass the adulthood test, and I don't like any of them. (Yes, that does mean I don't like Tolkein. So shoot me.)

I hate to disagree with Mark Morford (although I do recall a certain ode to an iPod that gave me pause), but not only did I love the Chronicles of Narnia as a child, I loved them as an adolescent, a teenager, a young adult, and at every subsequent developmental stage up to and including today at age 46. I must have read those books a thousand times.

I guess some of us just never grow up. Sorry, Mark.

Comments

[kim]

I too held the Narnia Chronicles in high regard, having read them at the tender age of 7 and thoroughly enjoyed them. This year for Christmas my bf bought me the entire series to re-read as an adult.

I was disappointed. The stories held none of their former glory, and I found them poorly written, horribly predictable, and I'm now struggling to finish them.

Of course, my usual reading is on pet health and canine behaviour, so perhaps my imagination is simply out of practice... but I do truly wish I had left the books as they were... preserved as one of my favourite childhood memories. As such, I'll be sure to avoid the movie at all costs.

[Leigh-Ann]

Like Mark Morford, I adore Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy, which I discovered a couple of years ago at age 37. I've since given the set to friends on gift-giving occasions. After finishing Pullman's books I was craving something similar, so I bought the complete Narnia series, as well as the "Wrinkle in Time" series by Madeleine L'Engle. Neither could compete with Pullman, and I stopped reading both before I'd finished all the stories. Pullman manages to be spiritual without being "religious" (as a matter of fact, he gets some good swipes in at Christianity), and the Narnia and Wrinkle series both seem so overtly pro-Christian. My sister read the Narnia books as a child and loved them, but this was my first encounter with them. I'll have to ask her how she feels about them now that she's old like me.

[Travis]

Morning,

I didn't read the novels until about a year ago. I liked them very much. I felt the Christian allegories at the first reading, and felt them even more at the movie, but honestly had no problem with them. Somebody actually had sent me a link to a website that was written by a very fundamentalist christian preacher about how very pagan the story was, which made me howl with laughter.

I thought the books were very well written, and I didn't find them predictable at all. I also loved the fact that CS Lewis wrote using a full vocabulary, didn't talk down to the intended audience (children), taught some really wonderful lessons, and broached subjects like death and honor and the afterlife (at least his version of it) with charm and grace.

I also liked the movie very much, although I did miss some of the richness of the details in the books. But I often have that complaint when a book is transferred to film.

Travis

[Gina]

I've been meaning to read the "Dark Materials" books, after a very thoughtful article in The New Yorker on Pullman.

Narnia ... loved them as a child. Don't have time to re-read them now. Hmmm.

[Gil.]

" I did miss some of the richness of the details in the books. But I often have that complaint when a book is transferred to film."

Travis,

Won't it be a day when they can tailor a film to each of us so we can imagine everyone else shares the vividness of our imaginations when they see a book like this brought to the screen?

I did have a hard time with the movie because it didn't reflect my experience of it, though I can't really say why except that (for one thing) I think the death of Aslan on the Stone Table was overblown. In my mind, it was dark and scary and...lonely. The gibbering creatures were too much. But the movie was visually rich, the actors were very good (although I didn't think the White Witch was as great a villain as the critics claim) and well worth seeing.

While Lewis isn't at the top of the pantheon of the literary gods of my childhood with Lewis Carroll and Kipling, whose "Kim" has the undisputed place of honor on my shelf, he's in there somewhere. "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" is a lovely book and it's a shame that some adults have nothing better to do than reduce it to a theological tract.

Oh, and Christie, I loathe Hobbits. (g)

Gil.

[Travis]

I loved the Lord of the Rings movie, but frankly couldn't get through the last book of the series. I rarely stop reading a book halfway through, but did with Return of the King.

Travis

[Cate]

Christie,
I never did like Tolkien and didn't go to the movies. I loved the Narnia books and am looking forward to the movie.
Cate

[Cate]

Forgot to say that despite the worst review in the world I would go to any movie with a deerhound in it. Even a tiny glimpse.
Cate

[Nancy]

I never read Narnia, never even heard of it until the movie started advertising. My husband was a bit shocked, that I hadn't, since I spent most of my childhood with my nose in a book.

Oddly, my own mother was amazed at how clueless I was and bought me the book(s)for Christmas. I still haven't cracked it.

I haven't seen the movie yet either, though the special effects in the previews definately captured my attention.

I never read Tolkien either and fell asleep during the first movie...in the theater, snores and all. The only thing that kept my attention was the elf, on horseback, slingin' arrows. All in all the movies entertained.

I guess I didn't have the same interests as a child, I did read Wrinkle in Time and thought it wonderful then. But my favorite stories usually involved big black horses or mythology.

I'll see Narnia eventually...
Maybe.