{"id":2456,"date":"2005-12-16T14:51:00","date_gmt":"2005-12-16T14:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/12\/is-the-narnia-movie-empowering-or-not\/"},"modified":"2005-12-16T14:51:00","modified_gmt":"2005-12-16T14:51:00","slug":"is-the-narnia-movie-empowering-or-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/12\/is-the-narnia-movie-empowering-or-not.html","title":{"rendered":"Is the Narnia movie empowering, or not?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Narnia<\/a><\/i> director Andrew Adamson has said that he really, really wanted his film to be \u201cempowering<\/a>\u201d to girls in a way that C.S. Lewis\u2019s original story was not. Two weeks ago, in the Globe & Mail<\/i> \u2014 I think it was this article<\/a>, though I\u2019m not entirely sure, now that it\u2019s gone to subscriber-only status \u2014 there was this item:<\/span><\/p>\n

The filmmakers did make one significant alteration to the source material. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe<\/i>, which was written in 1950, is run through with the sexism common for its time. It includes a scene in which Father Christmas distributes weapons to a trio of children in anticipation of battle. \u201cBattles are ugly when women fight,\u201d he tells the girls, Susan and Lucy.<\/p>\n

The line caused some consternation for Adamson and led to a discussion \u2014 characterized by the producer Mark Johnson as a \u201cfight\u201d \u2014 with [co-producer Douglas] Gresham over the director\u2019s desire to change the line. \u201cThat may have been acceptable in the 1940s,\u201d recalled Adamson, \u201cbut after doing two movies that I think are empowering for girls [he co-directed Shrek<\/i> and Shrek 2<\/i>], I didn\u2019t want to them turn around and say: \u2018Susan, you don\u2019t get to use that bow, you have to rely on your brother.'\u201d Gresham, who is the protector of C. S. Lewis\u2019s words, accepted a compromise line that doesn\u2019t single out the girls.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, even after the movie version of Aslan says \u201cIt is finished\u201d \u2014 a line that appears nowhere in the book, and a line that, as far as Adamson was concerned<\/a>, had nothing to do with Christianity and everything to do with Aslan\u2019s sadness that he had to commit acts of violence \u2014 the film still throws in one extra, gratuitous scene in which Susan kills a dwarf. So it seems that, contrary to what Aslan said, the violence wasn\u2019t quite<\/i> finished. All hail empowerment!<\/p>\n

But now Stephen Hume writes in today\u2019s Vancouver Sun<\/a><\/i>:<\/p>\n

Mind you, it\u2019s writ small and seasoned with some dated misogynystic prejudices. For example, the notion that too much thinking and assertiveness is a detriment in a girl like Susan and she should take her lead from a handsome (although not overly smart) boy of action like her chivalrous older brother Peter.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What\u2019s amusing about this comment is that the film\u2019s insistence that logic and intelligence just get in the way is original to the movie, and is, if anything, contrary<\/i> to the spirit of Lewis\u2019s books. So much for Adamson\u2019s \u201cempowerment\u201d, then? Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that this film celebrates visceral thrills over intelligent thought, for both boys and girls alike.<\/p>\n

Of course, any and all concerns about the portrayal of women in Lewis\u2019s stories must take into account his clear admiration for Lucy, if these concerns are to have any merit.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Narnia director Andrew Adamson has said that he really, really wanted his film to be \u201cempowering\u201d to girls in a way that C.S. Lewis\u2019s original story was not. Two weeks ago, in the Globe & Mail \u2014 I think it was this article, though I\u2019m not entirely sure, now that it\u2019s gone to subscriber-only status […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nIs the Narnia movie empowering, or not?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Narnia director Andrew Adamson has said that he really, really wanted his film to be "empowering" to girls in a way that C.S. Lewis's original story was\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/12\/is-the-narnia-movie-empowering-or-not.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is the Narnia movie empowering, or not?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Narnia director Andrew Adamson has said that he really, really wanted his film to be "empowering" to girls in a way that C.S. Lewis's original story was\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/12\/is-the-narnia-movie-empowering-or-not.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FilmChat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2005-12-16T14:51:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter T. Chattaway\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Peter T. Chattaway\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/12\/is-the-narnia-movie-empowering-or-not.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/12\/is-the-narnia-movie-empowering-or-not.html\",\"name\":\"Is the Narnia movie empowering, or not?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2005-12-16T14:51:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2005-12-16T14:51:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/5759ddf28b81af08b29eb15b4e071fde\"},\"description\":\"Narnia director Andrew Adamson has said that he really, really wanted his film to be \\\"empowering\\\" to girls in a way that C.S. Lewis's original story was\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/12\/is-the-narnia-movie-empowering-or-not.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/12\/is-the-narnia-movie-empowering-or-not.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/12\/is-the-narnia-movie-empowering-or-not.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Is the Narnia movie empowering, or not?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/\",\"name\":\"FilmChat\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/5759ddf28b81af08b29eb15b4e071fde\",\"name\":\"Peter T. Chattaway\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c4b809df092b410d749a6995bcf4f3e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c4b809df092b410d749a6995bcf4f3e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Peter T. Chattaway\"},\"description\":\"Peter T. Chattaway was the regular film critic for BC Christian News from 1992 to 2011. In addition to his award-winning film column for that paper, his news and opinion pieces have appeared in such publications as Books & Culture, Christianity Today, Bible Review and the Vancouver Sun. He has also contributed essays to the books Re-Viewing The Passion: Mel Gibson\u2019s Film and Its Critics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), Scandalizing Jesus?: Kazantzakis\u2019s The Last Temptation of Christ Fifty Years on (Continuum, 2005) and The Bible in Motion: A Handbook of the Bible and Its Reception in Film (De Gruyter, 2016).\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/author\/peterchattaway\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Is the Narnia movie empowering, or not?","description":"Narnia director Andrew Adamson has said that he really, really wanted his film to be \"empowering\" to girls in a way that C.S. Lewis's original story was","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/12\/is-the-narnia-movie-empowering-or-not.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Is the Narnia movie empowering, or not?","og_description":"Narnia director Andrew Adamson has said that he really, really wanted his film to be \"empowering\" to girls in a way that C.S. Lewis's original story was","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/12\/is-the-narnia-movie-empowering-or-not.html","og_site_name":"FilmChat","article_published_time":"2005-12-16T14:51:00+00:00","author":"Peter T. Chattaway","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Peter T. Chattaway","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/12\/is-the-narnia-movie-empowering-or-not.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/12\/is-the-narnia-movie-empowering-or-not.html","name":"Is the Narnia movie empowering, or not?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#website"},"datePublished":"2005-12-16T14:51:00+00:00","dateModified":"2005-12-16T14:51:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/5759ddf28b81af08b29eb15b4e071fde"},"description":"Narnia director Andrew Adamson has said that he really, really wanted his film to be \"empowering\" to girls in a way that C.S. Lewis's original story was","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/12\/is-the-narnia-movie-empowering-or-not.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/12\/is-the-narnia-movie-empowering-or-not.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/12\/is-the-narnia-movie-empowering-or-not.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Is the Narnia movie empowering, or not?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/","name":"FilmChat","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/5759ddf28b81af08b29eb15b4e071fde","name":"Peter T. Chattaway","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c4b809df092b410d749a6995bcf4f3e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c4b809df092b410d749a6995bcf4f3e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Peter T. Chattaway"},"description":"Peter T. Chattaway was the regular film critic for BC Christian News from 1992 to 2011. In addition to his award-winning film column for that paper, his news and opinion pieces have appeared in such publications as Books & Culture, Christianity Today, Bible Review and the Vancouver Sun. He has also contributed essays to the books Re-Viewing The Passion: Mel Gibson\u2019s Film and Its Critics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), Scandalizing Jesus?: Kazantzakis\u2019s The Last Temptation of Christ Fifty Years on (Continuum, 2005) and The Bible in Motion: A Handbook of the Bible and Its Reception in Film (De Gruyter, 2016).","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/author\/peterchattaway"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1116"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2456\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}