Damn Your Anti Robot Bias, Lewis!

[krinndnz]

But in general, take my advice, when you meet anything that's going to be Human and isn't yet, or used to be Human once and isn't now, or ought to be Human and isn't, you keep your eyes on it and feel for your hatchet.

- - The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
My emphasis. Gee thanks, Clive. I was just having a quick reread of the Narnia cycle (

Comments

[prickvixen]

But in general, take my advice, when you meet anything that's going to be Human and isn't yet, or used to be Human once and isn't now, or ought to be Human and isn't, you keep your eyes on it and feel for your hatchet.

Translation: Kill all young children, senile old people and the mentally impaired. Aslan macht frei!

[bossgoji]

Yeah, I really wonder how hard he was thinking about that one. Lots of uncomfortable interpretations there BEYOND the obvious anti-science ones.

I've had little respect for Lewis as an author ever since I realized all his scientist characters were absolute strawmen. "Oh, of course they can't see Narnia, they're so caught-up in their maths and learning that they can't perceive the magic!" Yeah, well, I don't believe that rainbows have a pot of gold at the end guarded by leprechauns and pixies, is that why I'm usually broke?

The general tenor of his books are anti-intellectual horseshit and someone like Lewis should've known fucking better than that. Look at what happened, in his time, to all the people who refused to question their beliefs...

[prickvixen]

I don't really have a strong opinion about him. I liked Narnia when I was a kid, but the Christian symbology went right over my head; I'd be analyzing it through that lens too much to enjoy it as a pure adventure now. I didn't much care for the ending, though. I suppose it's meant to stand for 'You can live forever with Jesus,' but at the time I thought it was just a way of saying that the characters are going to have more adventures that I won't get to read about... I felt the way I did when my 'friends' ditched me.

[krinndnz]

I can still pick out things to like about the books, but sadly they're kinda narrow. But hey - narrower means easier to steal for my Nefarious Purposes.

[relee]

This is giving me some thoughts for a character I'm working on. I'll have to give her some good traits so that she's not just a strawman.

[krinndnz]

Even holding ourselves to just the Narniaverse, yeah, lots of problematic characters and tropes. Like the Calormen. I think that was actually the very first Problem I noticed with the Narniaverse, was, "uh, that's kinda racist."

[krinndnz]

This is such a good thread for Lion Jesus snark.