Narnia (again)

[altivo]

For those who have not yet been to see The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe because you feel the expected Christian religious content will be irritating or offensive to you, I offer this very amusing review from the Christian Childcare Action Project, which does NOT recommend that you let your children see the film. (Note that, like so many "experts," the reviewer admits he has never even read the book.)

http://www.capalert.com/capreports/chroniclesofnarnia-lww.htm

This reviewer really doesn't like the film at all. Given his arguments, I'd say it's all the more reason to go see it. Thanks to favouritewindow for tipping me off to this one. ;)

Comments

[chrissawyer.livejournal.com]

This is classic:

Offense to God (O)

half man, half goat character
characters of flame dancing in fire
magic to enter another world
magic to make hot drink and cakes
enticement of a child by evil
many characters "frozen" (killed) by witch, repeatedly, then some resurrected
magic potion to heal, repeatedly
half man, half horse and many other mythological creatures such as a man with a goat's head as characters
speaking character of wisdom created from the petals of tree flowers (Gaiaism?), twice
many demon-like characters
demon revelry

It's like... bringing a person from the 1300's to the present, and having them do a movie review.

And to think people probably look to this asshole for "guidance."

[altivo.livejournal.com]

bringing a person from the 1300's to the present

Well, yes. Exactly. That's what fundamentalism does to people. It doesn't matter what religion, actually. The idea of fundamentalism exists in Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, and other faiths just as much as in Christianity. Always the follower attempts to "fix" the whole concept of the universe at some point, usually the time at which the sacred scriptures were written (ignoring the fact that those usually take centuries to develop) and nothing that happens after that can be acceptable. God's law is god's law, it is written. If it is not written, then it is against the law. It becomes a mania, a fixation that cannot be overcome, a sort of dementia.

So the turmoil between Shi'ite and Sunni in the Arab world, the war between mainstream and evangelical Christians in America, and the never-ending controversy between science and faith (Galileo and DaVinci, the heretics) are really all the same thing.

[shadowtxhorse.livejournal.com]

Can you imagine taking notes wildly during the movie with little blurbs such as "demon revelry" while scowling and having the people around at you look at you weird? *laughing*

LOL !

[favouritewindow.livejournal.com]

*takes out his PDA*.

*mutters under his breath* "Offense...To...God...Section. Devon Revelry!" (click click click).

Yep, that would be very annoying :) I'm guessing that he just tries to memorize as much (of the "evil" stuff) as possible, instead.

[pioneer11.livejournal.com]

I thought they worked rather hard to excise the more overt christianity from the movie. Personally I'd not suddenly show up at Mass over this.

XD

[shadowtxhorse.livejournal.com]

Go figure .. he is based out of Granbury, TX, a small suburb southwest of Fort Worth. An area that voted OVERWHELMINGLY for the ban on gay marriage.

[kistaro]

As ridiculous as the linked review is (especially the "Offense to God" summary of the thoroughly conceptually amusing "WISDOM" scale), I have to respect it for what it is. If I had conservative Christian religious beliefs- not even fundie-conservative, just a lower-key sort of conservative (understands why creationism can't be taught in school, is only slightly to moderately homophobic, accepts science as beneficial rather than evil, etc.)- I'd want this information, and I'd agree with the summary. I'd probably discount the "O" category somewhat, but it is, on the whole, reasonable from its perspective.

The reviewer in the document is not suggesting a widespread boycott of the movie by any means, only that those with young children approach it with caution- and from a violence standpoint, that's perfectly valid advice in general. But from a Christian perspective, if the biblical references are clear enough for a youth to perceive, the sharp deviations from such (as referenced in the review) are potential cause for confusion. From an objective standpoint, a Christian has every right to be worried about his or her children getting confused by such pseudomisrepresentation (no overt attempt is made to draw this as What Christianity Is, but the references are strong enough that the deviations are a form of misrepresentation, but not a true one as it was never technically represented in the first place) and should at the very least be aware of it so he or she can clarify what the Bible actually says.

If those of Neo-Pagan beliefs, such as myself, can get offended and irritated by those representing us as baby-eating devil worshippers, Christians are more than reasonable to be personally concerned for themselves about potential religious problems with a show.

I'd have much less respect for the reviewer if he concluded that all good Christians should boycott the show and start a letter-writing campaign to get it pulled from the shelves, but he stayed far short of that and in fact gave a tacit endorsement of the show- just with warnings that its religious conclusions are not as consistent with Christianity as might be expected, and it contains content the religion disapproves of.

And if a Christian reviewer wants to say that Christians might find this offensive, I'd say he's given perfectly valid rationale to draw that conclusion.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

That's all quite rational and I won't argue with you at all. My focus was on the folks who are boycotting the movie because they think it's going to try to indoctrinate them into Christianity, which it will NOT do.

Frankly, I think the reviewer in this instance has built his own personal version of hell and must live a pretty unhappy life. But that's his problem, not mine. ;)

[rigelkitty.livejournal.com]

I'd have to agree with the reviewer. The film was extremely pagan and not very christian.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Hee hee. Wait until the SECOND book gets filmed (if it does.)

Familiar pagan gods (Dionysus/Bacchus, Silenus) put in physical appearances and are considered to be on the side of good. The "spirit of the river" speaks and asks Aslan to free it from its chains, which he does by breaking a bridge built over it. Human attempts to deny the pagan elements, the talking animals, the tree spirits, are condemned as wicked and an effort to usurp the rightful place of Aslan's creation, forcing it to conform to a human idea of "order".

I always found it very difficult to paint Prince Caspian as a "Christian" story, unless we take an extremely liberal-minded view of what Christianity is. ;)

[kamodragon.livejournal.com]

I thought it was a wonderful movie... I am so tired of the fanatics out there... They spend so much time poking and prodding at other peoples sins and making everything a big deal that they forget that they are far more full of shit and sin more than the average crack whore... Disturbing... Go see the movie.

Agreed :)

[favouritewindow.livejournal.com]

It was a brilliant movie - highly recommended (and thanks to Tivo for recommending it:P)

[nekura-ca.livejournal.com]

You know, it would be interesting to run the bible through that "WISDOM" system of theirs. Let's see how well it does.

Nekura

[altivo.livejournal.com]

That's certainly an amusing idea. ;P

Well...

[goldenstallion.livejournal.com]

Hello, Rider.

Both Bear and I want to see it on the big screen and will this coming weekend, probably Saturday if we can.

I have read many reviews not only of the film but of the books which I have never read (Never been much a fan of the author) but I am a huge fan of fantasy and am anxious to simply glory in the effects and how it is staged, directed and shown.

So I guess I do not have much more to say on the matter, huh? Grin.

Imperator your evermount

Re: Well...

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Whee! So nice to see you here. *hug*

Yes, I think you will enjoy the film a lot. It might even make you want to read the book. :) If you get that far, remember that the books get better the farther you go into the series. I think this one is a bit on the weak side and the author matured as he kept on writing the stuff. Also, he assumed that his audience was maturing, so ideas get much more complex as you go on. You will certainly like The Horse and His Boy which was book 5 out of the 7.

Your always loving, always glad to see you
Rider