David Kehr reports on Disney’s efforts to ensure that, in adapting C.S. Lewis’ Narnia Chronicles for the screen, it does not “offend the many Christians who count among the books’ fan base” by taking a secular turn.
Leaving aside the fact that the film will almost certainly butcher all that is unique and good about The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, there’s no question that the Narnia books appeal to more Evangelicals than the Harry Potter series.
But Disney and Kehr may not realize that the Lewis fables, although conscious Christ allegories, enrage many members of the Left Behind set.
Here’s a sampling of representative objections:
Even the most faithful adaptation of the novels would highlight the White Witch and magic, and enrage a fair number of Potter-shunning Christians who don’t know or have forgotten about these plot elements.
So while some Evangelical Narnia fans will continue to see a distinction between Rowling’s books and Lewis’, many won’t.
Disney might as well just brace itself for the shitstorm. It’s always pretty entertaining. Unless you grew up with it.
Some follow-up from readers:
Some people seem to think that I began by asking myself how I could say something about Christianity to children; then fixed on the fairy tale as an instrument; then collected information about child-psychology and decided what age-group I’d write for; then drew up a list of basic Christian truths and hammered out ‘allegories’ to embody them. This is all pure moonshine. I couldn’t write in that way at all. Everything began with images; a faun carrying an umbrella, a queen on a sledge, a magnificent lion. At first there wasn’t even anything Christian about them; that element pushed itself in of its own accord. It was part of the bubbling.