CS Lewis Probably Thinks The Narnia Movie Is Rubbish

So much has been made of the forthcoming movie adaptation of the CS Lewis Narnia books, people may have forgotten what dear old CS Lewis would have thought. Turns out he’d have probably hated it.

A newly-revealed letter by CS Lewis has shown that he was dead-against anyone making a Narnia movie, especially Disney - which got criticised for its "vulgarity." Ah CS, if only you were still alive and a bit less of a scary church freak we’d have happily given you a job here at hecklerspray.

For such a potentially enormous blockbuster movie franchise, the
Disney reworkings of the CS Lewis-written Narnia books - starting with next month’s The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe - are coming in
for a lot of stick. First to criticise was children’s author Philip Pullman, who called the Narnia books "racist" and "misogynistic". And now, brilliantly, CS Lewis (Books) is criticising the movies from beyond the grave.

Only this month, Douglas Gresham - the stepson of CS Lewis and unofficial guardian of the Lewis legacy, who is also co-producing the Disney Narnia movies  - was talking up the fact that the movies are incredibly faithful and true to the spirit of CS Lewis, saying that:

"The team that we have had on this film has been so good that there’s been very little that I’ve had to complain about."

But CS Lewis, according to a recently-discovered letter, would have been right pissed off by the movies. Following a 1959 BBC radio adaptation of The Magician’s Nephew - a prequel to The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe - Lewis wrote a letter to producer Lance Sieveking. Although Lewis approved of the radio version of his work, he complained about any potential screen adaptations of his Narnia books. The letter, published on the Internet by Nthposition, reads:

Dear Sieveking

(Why do you ‘Dr’ me? Had we not dropped the honorifics?) As things
worked out, I wasn’t free to hear a single instalment of our serial [The Magician’s Nephew]
except the first. What I did hear, I approved. I shd. be glad for the
series to be given abroad. But I am absolutely opposed – adamant isn’t
in it! – to a TV version. Anthropomorphic animals, when taken out of
narrative into actual visibility, always turn into buffoonery or
nightmare. At least, with photography. Cartoons (if only Disney did not
combine so much vulgarity with his genius!) wld. be another matter. A
human, pantomime, Aslan wld. be to me blasphemy.

All the best,

yours

C. S. Lewis

Read more:

Author ‘opposed live Narnia film’ - BBC

Blasphemy in Narnia - Nthposition

[story by Stuart Heritage]