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The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.
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KoshFan
Regular
Okay, geek alert: The Horse and His Boy takes place during The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, chronologically speaking -- due to the little hiatus we get at the end of the latter book. Other than that the chronological order above is spot-on.
My favorite one has changed over time; I was always fond of Prince Caspian, but Dawn Treader has grown on me a bit, and the last few chapters of The Horse and His Boy -- in particular the battle -- have always been exciting.
The Last Battle begins a touch slowly and is without question the most disturbing, but after a certain point late in the book things take a turn for the happier.
My favorite one has changed over time; I was always fond of Prince Caspian, but Dawn Treader has grown on me a bit, and the last few chapters of The Horse and His Boy -- in particular the battle -- have always been exciting.
The Last Battle begins a touch slowly and is without question the most disturbing, but after a certain point late in the book things take a turn for the happier.
colonyearth
Regular
They can't totally take the religious overtones out of it. It'd be like ripping the heart out of the piece, I think.
I mean, C.S. Lewis wrote Lion partly as a Christian allegory. Who do y'all think Aslan is supposed to represent, anyway?
No one is debating the religious allegory or its presence. And I never said to remove it, especially since you can't without it no longer being LWW.
What I said was that they needed to and most likely would find a way to downplay it and make it more subtle (think ET). That way it would be more able to reach more audiences worldwide. Not every filmgoer is a Christian. You can tell the story without bashing people in the head with the similarities. In fact, it makes the film more of a morality tale than a Christian propoganda type tale. People can learn and be moved without being turned off by the religion.
CE
hypatia
Regular
Fas: then no movie versions of books can ever be made. Period. It's just not that simple, I fear.
As far as downplaying the Christianity of the series, I only read the LWW one, I think. And so long ago I don't remember it at all, really. But if they want to market this movie world-wide, won't they have to downplay it a bit?
As far as downplaying the Christianity of the series, I only read the LWW one, I think. And so long ago I don't remember it at all, really. But if they want to market this movie world-wide, won't they have to downplay it a bit?
hypatia
Regular
It depends on how "Christianity-is-being-shoved-in-your-face" it is, I imagine. As I've said, i know almost nothing of the books, so I don't know.
But virtually all successfull moviemakers stress the need to rewrite books to be effective on the screen. They are simply different ways to tell a story. They have different strengths/weaknesses to play to.
But virtually all successfull moviemakers stress the need to rewrite books to be effective on the screen. They are simply different ways to tell a story. They have different strengths/weaknesses to play to.
There's an old saying "A picture is worth a thousand words". So by that logic it would seem to stand to reason that a motion picture would be worth hundreds of millions of words.
But as I’m sure we all here know that just ain’t the case.
When it comes to books like The Chronicles of Narnia, or Lord of the Rings, a large part of what makes them work (characterization not withstanding) is the imagination of the reader. And no matter how good CGI gets, there will never be a special effect that can substitute imagination.
Sadly the imagination of *John Q. Public* has been going the way of the Dodo for some time now. So frankly I can understand why there might be some reason to fudge on somethings in The Chronicles of Narnia. Case in point “The Wood between Worlds” in TMN (which I liked), I can’t see someone who doesn’t read books and has no imagination getting it.
Now as far as the Christian allegories in The Chronicles of Narnia go, I don’t see that being a problem as far as people *getting it*, but I have to agree with what colonyearth said
To us The Chronicles of Narnia and Lord of the Rings are art. To the folks with the bucks, they are products to be sold. Granted I doubt Disney wants to rip apart Narnia and totaly honk off the fans, but selling it to the most people possible so as to bring in the all powerful Euro/Dollar is of top priority, not art.
And I don't disagree with that premise. I'm only saying that I don't think what C.S. Lewis wrote has to be "toned down" in any way to gain large audiences. If people from all across the world weren't already comfortable with the themes of the book, it wouldn't have become the classic that it is. I guess I just don't see the logic in taking a book that has been immensely popular across the world for over a half-century and basically saying, "let's tone this baby down," when you start to make the movie. Why wouldn't you remain as faithful as possible to the book that 's been proclaimed a classic by audiences the world over?
And I agree with what you are saying as well. The porblem I see (this IS a generalization and MHO) is that there is a slow but growing discontent with religion as a whole, in that too many bad things have been done in the name of religion, 9-11 for example. This (again IMHO) kind of makes religion not taste as good as it may have back a few years ago.
Does this mean that this will inherently translate against a movie adaptation? Maybe not, but I can see how this *could* be a problem in the eyes of some people.
Does this mean that this will inherently translate against a movie adaptation? Maybe not, but I can see how this *could* be a problem in the eyes of some people.
hypatia
Regular
Actually, I'm curious as to just how "Christian" this series of books really is. I mean, parallels are one thing. Many stories are said to parallel the christian tale.
But, like it or not, to simply film a book as it is written hasn't usually led to much success in movies, has it? Usually some adjustments are needed, aren't they?
But, like it or not, to simply film a book as it is written hasn't usually led to much success in movies, has it? Usually some adjustments are needed, aren't they?
SPOLIER WARNING!!!!!
VERY "Christian" (being a Christian myself).
In the LWW: 1)Aslan's willing death/rebrith to save sinful Edmond, 2) the boys are called Son's of Adam and the girls are called Daughters of Eve
In the MN: 1)There is the corruption of early creation, 2) The two trees, 3)The witch eats from The Tree of Life and *lives forever*
And I could go on. But YES. VERY "Christian"
Now I guess we get to the heart of the matter. I understand what you are saying, but I disagree. I think religious fervor is as potent now as it has been at any point in my lifetime. We basically just re-elected a president that campaigned from the pulpit. Our congressional leaders are expousing Christian principles and verses on a daily basis and, apparently, the majority of us are okay with it. Islamic fundamentalism is sweeping through the Middle East. A billion Catholics across the globe waited for two days to catch a glimpse at the new pope ... and to mourn the old pope. The Passion of the Christ pulled in over $600 million worldwide last year (nearly $100 million of which came from Europe) ... I'd say religion is doing just fine these days -- better than ever, in fact.
I guess this is a matter of how *we* all see the world through different eyes. I understand where you are coming from, but from from where I stand all the things you've pointed out (save for the point about the pope and no I'm not Catholic) are real turn offs for me.
IMHO I feel many people are becoming sick of the things done in the name of religion.
But different strokes for different folks and all that I guess
IMHO I feel many people are becoming sick of the things done in the name of religion.
But different strokes for different folks and all that I guess
hypatia
Regular
Actually, that answers my main question right up front.
Yea, the movie sounds like it could do quite well, world-wide, with just the usual fan-angering changes that all movie directors make. Like leaving half of the characters and story out.
I know some Harry Potter fans whose favorite theory is that in the next film Harry will be left out because he's not really essential to the main story... :devil:
