Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, rated PG, premiers in US cinemas on December 10, 2010.
For many of us, the films made of the Chronicles of Narnia are a pleasurable return to the adventures we enjoyed reading as children. If we grew up in a Christian home the stories – which combined ripping yarns with journeys of self-discovery – also contained the familiar ring of the Christian message: human fallibility and the need for a saviour; love that can overcome any wrong; unworthiness replaced by trust in one who is truly worthy.
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader has always been a favourite among Narnia fans. The two youngest Pevensie children, Edmund (Skandar Keynes) and Lucy (Georgie Henley), return to the magical world they love through a painting – bringing their tiresome cousin Eustace (Will Poulter) along for the ride as they embark on a seafaring journey with their old friend Caspian (Ben Barnes), who is now king of Narnia.
So far, so good. Yet seeing trailers and posters for the film over recent weeks I had qualms. Why was the (long-dead) White Witch bobbing up to torment Edmund? Did this mean the story was being altered to make it more accessible for those only familiar with The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe? And would this make the Dawn Treader film less effective or true to the book C.S. Lewis wrote, or the Christian message that he (intentionally or unintentionally) laid within its pages?
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4 comments:
C.S. Lewis? Lewis was no Evangelical and he certainly was not favorable to the English Reformation. His sympathies were with the Tractarians.
Charlie, I agree. But how much he delights is also questionable. His works frightens my daughter. I find him boring and to tell the truth, I can't even remember much of what he wrote that I did read. He is a kind of an anglo-catolic William F. Buckley. And Buckley was a Papist.
C. S. Lewis has a substantial Evangelical readership. His writings should not be dismissed solely on basis of his churchmanship but should be judged individually on their own merits. I read the Chronicles of Narnia shortly after they were first published and have reread them every six months or so since them. They are full of Christian themes. Note my use of the term Christian instead of Protestant or Catholic, evangelical or Anglo-Catholic. Those who chose not read someone because he is a twentieth century Anglo-Catholic, a seventeenth century Caroline High Churchman, a nineteenth century Evangelical, a seventeenth century Puritan, and a seventeenth century century Roman Catholic are turning their nose up at some of the great Christian spiritual classics. Their own spiritual life is the poorer for not reading them. One does not need to share their particular theological views to benefit from Brother Lawrence's The Practice of the Presence of God, John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, Jeremy Taylor's Holy Living and Holy Dying, Richard Baxter's The Reformed Pastor, William Gurnell's The Whole Armour of God,and J. C. Ryle's Holiness, to name just a few of these classics.
Well said Robin. I read Narnia shortly after my initiation in Christ as a teenager. Although I have later discovered much to complain about in Lewis, I learned from his Narnia books one great essential lesson which is very un-Roman. That lesson concerns election, predestination and justification by Faith alone. Whether Lewis intended to teach such doctrines or not, it is very clear that you can not "find" Narnia by searching for it; it finds you.
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