"Rant One of Three"
Man, am I ever sick and tired of people complaining about the so-called "Christian overtones" of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I can't say the same for the other books in the series, but I've recently re-read the book itself twice and saw the movie yesterday (hence yesterday's post) and I can't suss out precisely what makes the book so severely Christian. The most Christian thing in there is the various creatures of Narnia referring to humans as "Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve". And calling it a Christian movie because of that is like calling Home Alone a Christian movie because it had that one church scene in it, and calling Fight Club a romance because it had Marla in it.
And what's the other big "Christian" element to it? The death and rebirth of Aslan? Um, excuse me if I didn't catch it, but isn't the death and rebirth symbolism a major part of a lot of literature? I didn't see anyone crying Christian because Frodo had a near-death experience at the beginning of The Return of the King. Didn't Horus do the same thing several centuries before Christ? I mean, they even live in the same neighborhood. Jesus is seriously illin' on Horus's thang. I can't believe I just typed that. Holy crap.
To summarize, go see the Narnia flick. If you don't have the cash or hate theatres, download it. The movie is seriously a work of art, and you'd have to be so anal a fan of the original book that you crap black holes to not like the few, mostly cosmetic changes they made. I mean, c'mon, DUAL WIELDING CENTUAR MAN! I <3 ye. And it had my old favourite Narnia character, the Fox, play a small but notable role. It was Rupert Everett too. So awesome.
One of the changes that I particularly like is playing down Edmund's assholery. In the books it makes him seem so much worse than the movie makes him seem. That was what bothered me the most about the book after re-reading it recently, the fact that Edmund was the only character who really questioned Aslan and co's motives (I mean, really, should you ever trust talking animals right away? Didn't Little Red Riding Hood teach you anything?) and that be became the "bad guy".
Anywho, I'll rant some more later. As the title suggests, I have two other rants in mind, and you'll see them soon enough.
And what's the other big "Christian" element to it? The death and rebirth of Aslan? Um, excuse me if I didn't catch it, but isn't the death and rebirth symbolism a major part of a lot of literature? I didn't see anyone crying Christian because Frodo had a near-death experience at the beginning of The Return of the King. Didn't Horus do the same thing several centuries before Christ? I mean, they even live in the same neighborhood. Jesus is seriously illin' on Horus's thang. I can't believe I just typed that. Holy crap.
To summarize, go see the Narnia flick. If you don't have the cash or hate theatres, download it. The movie is seriously a work of art, and you'd have to be so anal a fan of the original book that you crap black holes to not like the few, mostly cosmetic changes they made. I mean, c'mon, DUAL WIELDING CENTUAR MAN! I <3 ye. And it had my old favourite Narnia character, the Fox, play a small but notable role. It was Rupert Everett too. So awesome.
One of the changes that I particularly like is playing down Edmund's assholery. In the books it makes him seem so much worse than the movie makes him seem. That was what bothered me the most about the book after re-reading it recently, the fact that Edmund was the only character who really questioned Aslan and co's motives (I mean, really, should you ever trust talking animals right away? Didn't Little Red Riding Hood teach you anything?) and that be became the "bad guy".
Anywho, I'll rant some more later. As the title suggests, I have two other rants in mind, and you'll see them soon enough.