I suppose this post may be considered heresy by some. But, while I didn’t mind Narnia, I didn’t really see the hype.
Today Kristen and I had the pleasure of taking Megan to see “the movie.” In my mind, the best part of the movie was sharing the time with my girls. I like that they liked the story. I liked that I got to sit by my girls and enjoy popcorn. I had a blast explaining to Megan who the lion was and that the witch was a really bad lady. I had fun seeing her joy when Aslan came back to life. I revelled in hiding her eyes from the battle scene. (OK, so my second favorite thing was seeing some LF folks and their families there… that’s wicked cool too.)
But the movie itself? Not to my palatte. I have long been a C.S. Lewis yawner. I think he was a clever guy with a great testimony. But I really struggle to put him in my top 25 “greatest authors” list and I cringe when I hear the Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe mentioned in folks lists of best books. It is a good story, it is a nice allegory, but it is not one of the great fiction books of all time in my life. Lewis is no Dickens, Twain, Dostievski, Hemingway, or any of the other great fiction authors out there.
Nor did the movie live up to the hype. It failed to provide a compelling impact on me or Megan. Before we got out of the parking lot Megan was singing the tune from Madagascar. Hardly a memorable event!
What’s wrong with it? To me, it’s too plainly an allegory. Too obviously an attempt at communicating the gospel to really be compelling or thougt provoking.
Why’s it so popular? Because the allegory is so clear, Christians love it! Afterall, they hardly have to think to see the message of Christ. It’s wrapped up in a bow!
Here’s my disclaimer. I’ve been a “Lewis-hater” for a long time. It’s not that I don’t care for him… in fact I think he’s a good writer. But I have always done my best to keep him in his place. For what he is, he is fine. I remember back in my Moody days I would love to mess with my fellow students by picking on their favorite books series. My first roommate proudly told his friends that he read the Chronicles of Narnia each semester. I would always tease him that this was the reason for his single status. Does this mean that I’m some sort of hypocrite for teaching the book? Not at all! I really, really do thing that teaching the series is important. There are a lot of non-Christians who may see the movie… and being prepared for a good spiritual conversation about the series is a good investment. Probably not what I would have wanted… but LF is rarely about what I want anyway.
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