The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe

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Elzee

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I don’t know if this is the right forum, but since discussions on the movie might come up with our Protestant or even atheist friends I thought I’d start a thread on the Christian and Catholic symbolism in the Narnia movie. What symbolism did you see, what did you like/not like about the movie? If you’ve read the book, how does it compare?
 
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Elzee:
I don’t know if this is the right forum, but since discussions on the movie might come up with our Protestant or even atheist friends I thought I’d start a thread on the Christian and Catholic symbolism in the Narnia movie. What symbolism did you see, what did you like/not like about the movie? If you’ve read the book, how does it compare?
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I haven’t seen the movie yet, but thought I’d direct you to some of the threads over on the “Popular Media” forum.
 
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe has many allegories to the Gospels. Some of them are:
1: Aslan = Jesus
2: Edmund = Fallen man.
3: The Stone Table = curtain in the temple.
As for the movie, I enjoyed it immensely and may even see it again. I will probably buy the DVD when it comes out and I am also thinking of buying the Audio CD’s of the whole series.

PF
 
Kristina P.:
I haven’t seen the movie yet, but thought I’d direct you to some of the threads over on the “Popular Media” forum.
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I didn’t realize this…Mods - I understand if you want to close this thread.
 
I walked out with my Protestant friend, who had invited my wife and me to a free showing with his church. I said, “So, this Aslan, Christ-figure guy leaves and, in his place, he leaves these kids, but the one who is definitely in charge, the oldest kid, is named PETER. And he lives in a big palace, where all the land pays tribute to him … wow, this is the most Catholic movie I’ve ever seen!”
 
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awfulthings9:
I walked out with my Protestant friend, who had invited my wife and me to a free showing with his church. I said, “So, this Aslan, Christ-figure guy leaves and, in his place, he leaves these kids, but the one who is definitely in charge, the oldest kid, is named PETER. And he lives in a big palace, where all the land pays tribute to him … wow, this is the most Catholic movie I’ve ever seen!”
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Sadly (maybe) C.S. Lewis wasn’t ever a Catholic. He was Atheist then he converted to the Anglican Church. (His good friend and helper in his path to become Christian, J.R.R. Tolkien, was Catholic.)

C.S. Lewis obviously was Christian by the time he wrote the books.
 
I saw it opening night with my entire family, me hubby and 4 kids ranging from 10 to 18 years. We all loved it! The funny thing is, we all started comparing notes and each of us noticed things that we attributed alligorically to Christianity. Here are a few of the things we noticed:
  1. Peter is the oldest brother and as such is the “major” ruler of the 4.
  2. Jesus is portrayed as a lion, as in the “king of the jungle”
  3. Lucy, was given the gift of healing (Notice that not everyone had that gift)
  4. Edmund was the betrayer (Judas)but then was given the title of Edmund the Just.
  5. Aslan says “It is finished” (the battle was won)
  6. Aslan told the white witch not to quote to him from the deep magic because he was there when it was written…(This was really cool)
  7. White witch was allowed to lay claim to the blood of traitors.
  8. Aslan “breathes” life back into the statues.
  9. Always winter but never Christmas until Aslan (Jesus) comes.
  10. Even the lowly creatures like the beavers had a part in the coming of Aslan and the kingship of the children.
These were just a few. Like I said, we really liked it. Then again, we own the British version of the Cronicals of Narnia on DVD and it was fun to compare the two different versions as well.
 
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Chele:
Sadly (maybe) C.S. Lewis wasn’t ever a Catholic. He was Atheist then he converted to the Anglican Church. (His good friend and helper in his path to become Christian, J.R.R. Tolkien, was Catholic.)

C.S. Lewis obviously was Christian by the time he wrote the books.
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Oh, I know all this. I’m not implying that the “Catholic” portions of the book were Lewis’s idea … wink, wink. Might have been a little divine intervention at work.
 
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awfulthings9:
Oh, I know all this. I’m not implying that the “Catholic” portions of the book were Lewis’s idea … wink, wink. Might have been a little divine intervention at work.
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Maybe Lewis agreed with Peter’s primacy, but thought “infallibility” was going a bit too far.🙂
 
One I just remembered was the subdued conversation Edmund had with Aslan when he repented. Even Peter and Susan kept Lucy from running over because of the sacredness of the moment. I just thought: “What a beautiful picture of the Sacrament of Reconciliation!”

It’s an interesting fact that Lewis, though an Anglican, believed in a type of Confession and regularly confessed his sins (to his pastor, I think).
 
I saw the movie yesterday and I was not overly impressed. I don’t want to get into why I didn’t like it very much because I don’t want to give too much away to others who haven’t gone to the movie.

I will say the witch was one of the best witches I have ever seen. She was almost rejoicing in her evil doing. Plus, she was a darn good sword-fighter, too.

It’s really embarrassing to be one of only 2 people on 2 different forums to not be thrilled with the movie. :o And even the other poster on the other forum liked it more than I did. :bigyikes:
 
www.decentfilms.com has an interesting review - some things I didn’t consider in terms of how Aslan was portrayed and the relationship between Aslan and the Witch. I think he makes some good points.

I agree that Lucy was cast perfectly - and also the man who played Tumnus. He was awesome. Did Peter’s looks remind anyone else of Prince William? !

I also thought it was ironic that the boy who became the leader after Aslan leaves was named ‘Peter’ - very Catholic! We also thought about the Precious Blood of Jesus when Lucy gave Edmund a drop of the red ‘potion’ to drink in order to ‘save’ him.

I think the confession scene with Aslan could be taken both ways - possibly as a symbolism of the sacrament of confession, but Edmund is actually confessing *DIRECTLY *to Aslan. Any thoughts on this?
 
I heard on Catholic radio that Lewis once wrote a young fan saying that the Narnia story is how he imagined God might save a world of talking animals (if an animal world existed). Since the Lion is the king of the animals, Jesus came and took this form. Just like he took human form to save us . . .
 
Mom of one:
I saw the movie yesterday and I was not overly impressed. :bigyikes:
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I was disappointed by the movie too. I think they failed to explain needed back-story. The movie seemed to happen is a cartoon-ish fashion - without real depth. Perhaps it was made solely for children and not for adults.

Can anyone who read the book comment?
 
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JGheen:
I was disappointed by the movie too. I think they failed to explain needed back-story. The movie seemed to happen is a cartoon-ish fashion - without real depth. Perhaps it was made solely for children and not for adults.

Can anyone who read the book comment?
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I wish I would have seen the movie and THEN read the book because I constantly found myself thinking - ‘oh, it would have been so much better if they hadn’t changed that dialogue or left out this part or changed this part’. I enjoyed the movie, but I think I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn’t read the book first because I wouldn’t have known what was missing.

One politically correct change I noticed is when Father Christmas hands the children their battle gear. In the book, he makes sure to tell the girls that battles aren’t for girls, but they had them in case they needed them. They left this part of the dialogue out of the movie and it was assumed the girls would be fighting alongside the boys.
 
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JGheen:
I heard on Catholic radio that Lewis once wrote a young fan saying that the Narnia story is how he imagined God might save a world of talking animals (if an animal world existed). Since the Lion is the king of the animals, Jesus came and took this form. Just like he took human form to save us . . .
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Yeah, but Jesus didn’t come as a king into this human world; in fact, he came as the exact opposite.
 
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JGheen:
I was disappointed by the movie too. I think they failed to explain needed back-story. The movie seemed to happen is a cartoon-ish fashion - without real depth. Perhaps it was made solely for children and not for adults.

Can anyone who read the book comment?
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I am hoping that this is because they want to make the rest of the chronicles. The back-story is a whole different book and was written last. So I am hoping that they make all of the books and we will get the last book/movie tying it all together.
I, for one, loved the movie. We took our kids to see it for their birthdays and they were allowed to invite some friends. The kids just loved it, they were pointing out the Christian themes all the way through, and they can’t wait to see it again. For those who want more depth, watch the Lord of the Rings. Narnia is more on a kid’s level.
 
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Ahimsa:
Yeah, but Jesus didn’t come as a king into this human world; in fact, he came as the exact opposite.
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Actually, Jesus *did * come as a king into this world, it was just that those who were of the world did not recognize it. The evil rabble that was allied with the White Witch in the movie saw the same lion as did his followers, but they didn’t recognize him as king, either.
 
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