{"id":2544,"date":"2005-10-19T10:19:00","date_gmt":"2005-10-19T10:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/10\/childrens-stories-and-fat-children\/"},"modified":"2005-10-19T10:19:00","modified_gmt":"2005-10-19T10:19:00","slug":"childrens-stories-and-fat-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/10\/childrens-stories-and-fat-children.html","title":{"rendered":"Children’s stories and fat children"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I have been re-reading C.S. Lewis\u2019s The Chronicles of Narnia<\/a><\/i> lately \u2014 for the first time in years, if not decades \u2014 and I hope to post more substantial thoughts on the books here at some point. But for now, I just want to note one little detail that jumped out at me as I was finishing Prince Caspian<\/i> last night.<\/span><\/p>\n

To wit, I am intrigued to see how Aslan and Bacchus and the Maenads and all the other \u201cOld Narnians\u201d, in their quest to revive a sort of baptized paganism<\/a> and to defeat modernity in Narnia, destroy a couple of schools. And I am intrigued to see how Lewis describes the children at those schools as being very fat.<\/p>\n

The girls at the girls\u2019 school \u201cwere mostly dumpy, prim little girls with fat legs.\u201d And the boys\u2019 school is attended by \u201ca number of boys who looked very like pigs,\u201d and who seem to be turned into actual<\/i> \u201cvery fine little pigs\u201d by Aslan just a few paragraphs later (though Lewis does allow that this<\/i> detail might be a legend \u2014 to the extent that anything<\/i> is mere legend in Narnia, at any rate).<\/p>\n

I am intrigued by this because J.K. Rowling\u2019s mercilessly comical depiction of Harry Potter<\/a>\u2018s fat cousin Dudley, including the bit where Hagrid gives him a pig\u2019s tail, was one of many, many things that Richard Abanes criticized her for, in his book Harry Potter and the Bible: The Menace behind the Magick<\/a><\/i> \u2014 an impressively thorough collection of reasons to dislike Rowling\u2019s books. And this was one of the few Abanes criticisms that I actually thought might have some merit! To quote my review<\/a> of Abanes\u2019s book:<\/p>\n

Although he makes some valid points, Abanes is so determined to find evil in Rowling\u2019s books that he neglects their better qualities; and when he assesses Lewis and Tolkien, he has nothing but praise \u2014 even though their writings contain many of the things he finds so offensive in the Potter books.<\/p>\n

References to pagan gods? Juvenile heroes who use words like \u2018damn\u2019 and other mild profanities? Centaurs who practice a form of astrology? Narnia<\/i> has them all. Disrespect for authority? Lewis hilariously mocks both modern English schools and the British parliament in the closing pages of The Silver Chair<\/i>. Blurring the line between reality and fantasy? Tolkien playfully wrote as though hobbits still lived among us, albeit in hiding; and Lewis \u2014 who was not above making himself a character in his own fiction \u2014 was quite clear that the Aslan of his books was no mere symbol for Christ but, within the framework of his stories, was actually Christ himself, in Narnian form.<\/p>\n

Some of Abanes\u2019 criticisms, however, are worth considering. Rowling\u2019s sometimes merciless depiction of Harry\u2019s fat, cruel cousin Dudley could pose problems for younger readers who are overweight. . . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So I guess my critique of Abanes was not as thorough as Abanes himself, and I can now add fat-children-as-comic-relief to the list of things that Narnia and Potter have in common, and which Abanes found so problematic in Potter yet was oh-so-ready to overlook in Narnia. Fascinating double-standard, that.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have been re-reading C.S. Lewis\u2019s The Chronicles of Narnia lately \u2014 for the first time in years, if not decades \u2014 and I hope to post more substantial thoughts on the books here at some point. But for now, I just want to note one little detail that jumped out at me as I […]<\/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-2544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nChildren's stories and fat children<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I have been re-reading C.S. 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