Exilian
Art, Writing, and Learning: The Clerisy Quarter => Arts, Crafts, Music & Drama - The Artisans' Guilds => Topic started by: Jubal on December 04, 2010, 02:58:01 PM
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I was discussing these with a friend recently, since the third one's coming out soon.
Who's seen them, and what did you think of the two so far?
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I've seen the first one, I think ... It wasn't bad...
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I've been rereading the books; they're hilarious, it's basically Christian Apologetics for Children. The stories are good, but there's too much biblical influence on them really.
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The stories are good, but there's too much biblical influence on them really.
Could you please give me an example? I don't remember much, and your statement surprised me a lot.
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If you read through them again, an obvious example is Aslan.
But yeah, the new films are good. They aren't brilliant, but they're better than the ridiculous stuff the beeb came out with before.
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Never bothered to see them, just like Harry Pothead. Give me LOTR or give me death. ;)
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The stories are good, but there's too much biblical influence on them really.
Could you please give me an example? I don't remember much, and your statement surprised me a lot.
Aslan is Jesus, the Emperor over the Sea is god.
In The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe Asland gets sacrificed to save a man and returns from the dead. Deja vu much?
At the end of Voyage of the Dawn Treader, he actually turns into a lamb (common Christian symbol) in front of the characters.
As to The Last Battle, it's basically just all about Judgement Day, where the Calormenes are unbelievers and the Dwarfs are damned for being atheist.
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Wow, nice metaphors. Never occured to me. Although I might consider reading them again (don't remember the one about the lamb in the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, nor did I read the Last Battle.
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Oh, and much of The Magician's Nephew, about the start of Narnia, is to do with apples and sin. There's a whole 2 or 3 chapters of Prince Caspian where the characters realise they could have solved their problem if only they had believed in Lucy's visions of Aslan, too.
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Yes, C.S. Lewis ladled the biblical references on with a shovel, but they were still good stories, providing the blatant biblicalism didn't irk you too much.
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The analogy is actually what I like about them. Because this is the point - the Bible wasn't written by wicked men. It has some objectionable things in it, but the teachings of Christianity are good values that apply to everyone whether you believe in God or not. I was raised a Christian, and am now atheist, but still I take much of my inspiration from Christian teaching. I will quote the Bible as readily as I will any philosopher.
Many people are put off the good teaching of the Bible by the fact it is tied to religion. What C.S. Lewis did with Narnia was to present those values and messages in a way that was accessible to all. I loved the latest Narnia film not only because it was a great film, but also because it has a message that is a message for everybody, not just those who believe in invisible masters. It's a more overtly analagous book/film than the others, because it lacks an antagonist. The enemy is the characters themselves. All of what is said in the film about temptation, self-worth, conquering your darker side, all these things are true to life, so do not dismiss them just because they are also true to religion.
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I agree with that - I'm from a fairly christian background, not family-wise but I went to a C of E school. Where it begins to rankle is only where Lewis moves from teaching the virtues of Christianity to declaring for things I disagree with. For example, the virtues of blind faith over logic (Lucy arguing with the others in Prince Caspian), or the horrific treatment of the Dwarfs in The Last Battle - they were being little armadillos, yes, but I feel Lewis directly links that to the fact they represent atheism and as an atheist with fairly strong moral views that rankles rather.
VOTDT is absolutely my favourite book though, and the idea of a book about conquering your own problems (which as you rightly point out is what it is) is a brilliant one. The Horse and His Boy is very good along similar lines.
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About what Andalus says, yeah, there are a lot of virtues in each religion. I adire many of the things that muslims have, like giving money to the poor, and other thing I can't remember right now
my 10 cents (in comparison to the super analistic comments made by the 2 past posters)
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I think you mean analystic? I noticed very few butt jokes in my own post, at least. :P
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Well, yeah sure. zetaboards didn't correct me so I supposed it was alright :P
Since when do you make butt jokes? I must be checking the wrong threads.
Or maybe it's the hidden megadux thread *hmm*
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I agree that the teachings are good, but I just didn't like his lack of subtlety.
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I liked narnia, before I figured out what/who aslan was (I was small kid back then)
after that it all went downhill. ending in the new movie made me sick
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Maybe to make it more obvious to the younglings (about subtlety)...
No, that doesn't make it better
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I haven't seen the ending of the new movie, but I assume it is the Lion/Lamb scene.
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No Marcus, he doesn't turn into a lamb. On the other hand, Reepicheep rows off in a little boat instead of jumping ship. And you can clearly see, "Aslan's Country" is really Surfer's Paradise, behind a massive wave. BTW Surfer's Paradise is a beachside city in Queensland.
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lol
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No Marcus, he doesn't turn into a lamb. On the other hand, Reepicheep rows off in a little boat instead of jumping ship. And you can clearly see, "Aslan's Country" is really Surfer's Paradise, behind a massive wave. BTW Surfer's Paradise is a beachside city in Queensland.
You're right, it's the other way around. Do they not include that scene in the film then?
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No not even a lamb turning into a lion. Nothing. To tell you the truth, I'd forgotten that Aslan turns from lamb to lion and not the other way around myself but it doesn't matter cause neither were in the film.
Was I the only one who felt that Eustace was extremely irrtating? I'm worried about the prospects of a movie with just him and another girl who we haven't seen yet i it. I mean even when Eustace was enlightened, he still annoyed the cr@p out of me.
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Still haven't seen it. Eustace being irritating pre-dragon is a plus, irritating post-dragon definitely a minus.