Brilliant piece ...

... on C.S. Lewis and Narnia:

Into the Wonder - You won't understand the genius of C. S. Lewis's literary criticism, satire, science fiction, and theological essays until you spend time in Narnia.

This makes me realize what I didn't like about the Narnia movie. It was somehow missing the big picture. It's hard to describe. The movie succeeded in showing the childlike wonder that the Narnia books inspire, but then it tried to separate the fantasy world of Narnia from this one. The victory of Aslan and the crowning of the kings and queens were there, but somehow it didn't seem as dramatic.

They did a pretty good job of showing Narnia, but it just didn't seem big enough.

Sure, there were lots of Christian references, but they seemed too obvious. I get the sacrifice of Aslan in place of Edmund, what I want to see is Aslan "making all things new" (Rev. 21:5) He just seemed to show up in order to win an earthly war. The books show that meeting Aslan profoundly changes your life ... that's the Christian "symbolism" I want to see. Disney (or whatever powers made these choices) seemed to want to appeal to Christians in super-obvious ways so that they could get the whole "Christian thing" out of the way. Then they could make a LOTR-esque (the movies, I mean) action/fantasy.

This is getting longer than I planned it to be but ... Lord of the Rings (the book) is very Catholic. But the Catholicism is so deeply embedded in the story that you have to look for it. It's all there, but in the background. The sacraments ... Mary ... Christ's offices of priest, prophet and king ... and Divine Providence. It's a Catholic book.

In Narnia, on the other hand, Christianity is much more obvious. You should know that all of this is about God. But, Lewis doesn't just take stories of Christianity and change the places and names. He draws you into mysteries that you already know about in order to help you understand and celebrate them in a deeper way. Narnia isn't just a land to escape to and have adventures in, it is a life-defining moment for the humans who stumble into it. It is part of the Christian reality that they live in in this world. Aslan doesn't symbolize Jesus; in a real way he is Jesus ... being presented in a different way in a different world.

I've only read the second part of Lewis' Space Trilogy, Perelandra but it's more of the same idea. It's not a different world where things there stand for something here. It's all one.

I feel like I'm backtracking about the Narnia movie but this is what I think after a few days. I enjoyed the movie: it had some good acting (and a few cases of great acting); it was cinematically beautiful; and brought to life things that I had only been able to see in my mind. However, the movie missed the mark on the real Christian message. It makes me mad that it was marketed to churches. They got the obvious Christian ideas ... but the overall idea of the transforming power of God just isn't there.