{"id":2479,"date":"2005-11-29T10:42:00","date_gmt":"2005-11-29T10:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/11\/are-narnia-movies-blasphemy\/"},"modified":"2005-11-29T10:42:00","modified_gmt":"2005-11-29T10:42:00","slug":"are-narnia-movies-blasphemy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/11\/are-narnia-movies-blasphemy.html","title":{"rendered":"Are Narnia movies “blasphemy”?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I don\u2019t know how legitimate this \u201cpreviously unpublished letter\u201d is, but the website nthposition<\/a> has posted this item, purportedly written by C.S. Lewis, author of The Chronicles of Narnia<\/a><\/i>:<\/span><\/p>\n

The Kilns,
Headington Quarry,
Oxford
18 Dec. 1959<\/p>\n

Dear Sieveking<\/p>\n

(Why do you \u2018Dr\u2019 me? Had we not dropped the honorifics?) As things worked out, I wasn\u2019t free to hear a single instalment of our serial [The Magician\u2019s Nephew<\/i>] except the first. What I did hear, I approved. I shd. be glad for the series to be given abroad. But I am absolutely opposed \u2013 adamant isn\u2019t in it! \u2013 to a TV version. Anthropomorphic animals, when taken out of narrative into actual visibility, always turn into buffoonery or nightmare. At least, with photography. Cartoons (if only Disney did not combine so much vulgarity with his genius!) wld. be another matter. A human, pantomime, Aslan wld. be to me blasphemy.<\/p>\n

All the best,
yours
C. S. Lewis<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Having recently reviewed two versions<\/a> of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe<\/i> \u2014 the 1979 cartoon version and the 1988 live-action version \u2014 I can agree with Lewis. Cartoons, like plays and radio and books, allow for the engagement of the imagination, whereas audiences always approach films looking for \u201crealism\u201d \u2014 and certainly in Lewis\u2019s day, there was no way to create a realistic portrayal of Aslan. Even in the 1988 version, Aslan might not be a human in a costume, but he still comes across like an oversized doll. So, as far as I\u2019m concerned, the cartoon, as over-the-top and panto-like as it is, is infinitely preferable to the BBC version.<\/p>\n

The interesting thing about the new<\/i> film, of course, is that it is produced with computer-generated images \u2014 that is, the Aslan of this<\/i> film is a cartoon, but a photorealistic cartoon! So, Lewis\u2019s concerns might not apply to the new film.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I don\u2019t know how legitimate this \u201cpreviously unpublished letter\u201d is, but the website nthposition has posted this item, purportedly written by C.S. Lewis, author of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Kilns,Headington Quarry,Oxford18 Dec. 1959 Dear Sieveking (Why do you \u2018Dr\u2019 me? Had we not dropped the honorifics?) As things worked out, I wasn\u2019t free to […]<\/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-2479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nAre Narnia movies "blasphemy"?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I don't know how legitimate this "previously unpublished letter" is, but the website nthposition has posted this item, purportedly written by C.S. 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