who really owns "Chronicles of Narnia?"

I recently read an interesting artical on Narnia
God or fantasy? – The Denver PostSince it is coming out within the next few weeks I thought I'd ask everyone about it.Does Hollywood own Narnia or can the Evangelicals claim it?For me I feel that Narnia shouldn't be claimed by the christians, why?
because most people unless told do not even realize it has christian themes in it, unless you tell them so, I didn't even know lewis was alluding to jesus till I read it somewhere.It is one of the best fantasy series ever written for children and to me it seems like a way for people to claim something they shouldn't, just because Lewis was a christian.

Thread moved here from the Proposed New Topics forum.

If Evangelicals read the Chronicles they certainly wouldn't want to claim them.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

But that wouldn't stop them from pulling out oneliners to make their point, which is easy since most people probably haven't read the book.In the end, the one who holds the copyright holds the rights.

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Nobody can make you feel inferior without your permission. -Eleanor Roosevelt-

well, c.s. lewis is a noted christian author, and there are elements of christian allegory. (but the same is true for a lot of stuff)but aslan is clearly a christ figure.

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אָרַח

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Does Hollywood own Narnia or can the Evangelicals claim it?

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Why must it be owned or claimed by either?What is read becomes personal property of the reader forever, whether Christian or Hottentot. The Bible, too, may be read as literary offering by anyone who wishes to do so, and if you show it to someone who has never associated it with its designated meaning, it means no more than that.Beethoven's Mass in C Major appeals to many listeners, not just the Christians, etc.

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but aslan is clearly a christ figure.

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And Lewis knew Christ as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.

well, yeah.but it's not exactly one big jesus-fest, either. i know i didn't pick up on it all when i read it in elementary school.

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i know i didn't pick up on it all when i read it in elementary school.

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I believe that is as it should be.When you were a child, you spoke as a child, you thought as a child, you did as a child, but when you grew up, you put away child things and started the meat and potatos stuff.

Thing is, Lewis did mean it as a Christian allegory. He would sit in the "Eagle and Child" pub in Oxford and listen to Tolkien and friends, and listen to Tolkien's interpretation of good and evil as being mainly a secular struggle and then produced what he thought was an unambiguous struggle of Christian good and evil. (oddly enough it was Tolkien that led him to his conversion to Christianity - conversion being a strong word, he became an Anglican as he was already Christian). As all converts are wont to do, his work is an affirmation of his apologetics of Christianity, surrounding the themes with a complex and believable setting so as to cushion any heavy-handed attempts to convert non-believers.Sorry to sound so geekish, but I am currently re-reading with my son.Postscript - Lewis is a better writer, Tolkien a better storyteller.

way to ruin a perfectly good metaphor. now i'm hungry.

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tolkien was a better linguist. but yes, you have good points. it's well know to be christian allegory, but i don't think that encompasses the whole of it either. but then again, i haven't read it in a LONG time.

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ReverendDG writes:

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It is one of the best fantasy series ever written for children

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(*Gag!*)Oh, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is fairly decent, but there's a reason everybody remembers TLtWatW and nobody remembers The Silver Chair.He started out fairly well enough but he couldn't keep it up. The stories become more and more pedantic, more "just so" plot drivers, more pathetic characters, all the way through to the end.

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to me it seems like a way for people to claim something they shouldn't, just because Lewis was a christian.

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Why don't we let Lewis be the judge of what Narnia is about, shall we? I mean, really. The series beats you over the head with its Anglicanism. Yes, you need to be up on the symbology of Anglicanism in order to recognize it (I'm reminded of the movie, Hero, where each flashback has a distinct color scheme: Brown, green, red, blue, white. I know that Japanese culture has distinct cultural meanings for those colors and that death is related to white (and indeed, everybody died in the white scene), but I don't know what they are.) But to say that because a person who isn't up on Anglican symbology can read Narnia without getting the symbology means it isn't there is silly. If you have no idea who Jesus is or simply don't think in that way, you won't get the connection between Aslan and Jesus. That doesn't mean it isn't there.It simply means you don't understand the symbology.Narnia is a handbook for Anglican children not because Lewis was a Christian but because Lewis directly said it was.

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Rrhain

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Thank you for your submission to Science. Your paper was reviewed by a jury of seventh graders so that they could look for balance and to allow them to make up their own minds. We are sorry to say that they found your paper "bogus," specifically describing the section on the laboratory work "boring." We regret that we will be unable to publish your work at this time.

arachnophilia writes:

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but it's not exactly one big jesus-fest, either.

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Did we read the same book?It's nothing but one big Jesus-fest. I read the whole series (this time in "reading order" rather than in published order) and it is relentless.The Magician's Nephew is Adam and Eve, even down to the mythology of Lilith and the serpent. There is a reason that Digory brings back an APPLE and that he is told not to eat it.A Horse and His Boy is the demonization of Muslims and the triumph of the Saints over non-believers.The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is clearly a Passion play.Prince Caspian is an Old Testament tale of Abraham.The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is the work of the Apostles.The Silver Chair is the oppression of Paul.The Last Battle once again demonizes Muslims and brings up Armageddon, Rapture, and Salvation.Again, if you don't know these symbols, then you won't get them but not because they aren't there; only because you don't know the symbols.

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Rrhain

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Thank you for your submission to Science. Your paper was reviewed by a jury of seventh graders so that they could look for balance and to allow them to make up their own minds. We are sorry to say that they found your paper "bogus," specifically describing the section on the laboratory work "boring." We regret that we will be unable to publish your work at this time.

well, considering the last time i read most of this series was in elementary school, i don't think i got the symbols. i was a bright kid, but not THAT bright.

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