Narnia Movie Gets Slagged
Then buzz it up
October 18th, 2005 at 16:30 by Stuart Heritage
You probably know that there’s a Narnia movie coming out soon, with up to six more in the works. And you probably also know that in a few weeks you won’t even be able to breathe for all the spiralling hype surrounding the first Narnia movie - The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe.
The Narnia publicity campaign isn’t going flawlessly, though. Children’s author Philip Pullman has recently jabbed a big spanner in the hype machine. Pullman thinks that the films are a bad idea; not because they’re so obviously pinching ideas from Lord Of The Rings, but because they’re "racist" and "misogynistic."
The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe (Books) will be released on December 9th. Many people watching it will think that it’s a movie about a bunch of kids who bugger off down their cupboard, eat some Turkish Delight and then help a lion kill a woman.
But that’s not the case, according to Phillip Pullman (Books). He has been a long-time critic of CS Lewis and says the Narnia books contain:
"…a peevish blend of
racist, misogynistic and reactionary prejudice; but of love, of
Christian charity, [there is] not a trace".
The book has long been recognised as having strong Christian themes. It’s claimed that Aslan represents Jesus, the Witch represents Satan and the wardrobe is probably a bloody church or something. Or a vicar. Look, we don’t know.
And if there’s one thing that American cinemagoers love, it’s Jesus-y films. The Passion Of The Christ: Die Harder took an incredible amount of money at the box-office, despite being nothing more than a relentless procession of screaming and guts. Disney must have noticed this, because they seem to be marketing the Narnia films as a kind of kiddie Passion.
Evangelists are already organising the use of The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe as a preaching tool - even going as far as using exclusive trailers to draw audiences to church. But Philip Pullman isn’t convinced:
"If the Disney
Corporation wants to market this film as a great Christian story,
they’ll just have to tell lies about it… It’s
not the presence of Christian doctrine I object to so much as the
absence of Christian virtue. The highest virtue, we have on the
authority of the New Testament itself, is love, and yet you find not a
trace of that in the books."
We’re not sure that we’ll go and see the Narnia movie - not because of any Christian doctrine, but because the film looks like a lot of wannabe Harry Potter franchise cock in a bowl, and it’s already been used to sell washing detergent. And that won’t do.
Read more:
Holy war looms over Disney’s Narnia epic - The Observer
[story by Stuart Heritage]
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October 18th, 2005 at 7:45 pm
Dear Mr. Pullman,
You seem to take a rather large amount of liberty in assuming to know what is the best reading or viewing material for myself or my family. I have done my own research on you and in my opinion, which I expect you to respect as much as you do of everyone else of yours, you, sir, are a hypocrite. After reading your quotes in the media it seems quite obvious that you plainly dislike the man and will go to almost any extent to smear his works. That aires of jealousy.
You speak of the, “lack of love” in your critisisms of Lewis’ work and the irony is, in your chastising of “The Chronicals” you show that you have no true understanding of what love really is either. There is no openess, acceptance or forgiveness, which are all essentials of love, in the way which you characterise CS Lewis or his work. I would dare say that you are doing this for the free publicity the, “Fantasy author and atheist Phillip Pullman” gains in order to get his own works exposed.
Control is what comes to mind when I think of how one author allegedly wants to censor another author’s works. That reeks terribly of mid-20′th century socialist views.
October 19th, 2005 at 2:52 am
I have heard Philip Pullman’s opinions and criticisms of the “Chronicles of Narnia” before and he is clearly someone who takes little snippets of the stories to work in his arguments favour, rather than reading the whole book(s) in CONTEXT.
It rather reminds me of those kind of people who used snippets of Bible to promote slavery and to suggest that black people were less pure than white people (which of course was all rubbish!) and more recently people use snippets of the Bible to suggest that homosexuality ISN’T a sin and that aborition is perfectly acceptable. Well, these things are just wrong - the Bible ISN’T racest, nore is it homophobic or whatever other untrue labels someone might try to put on it. And I’ve got news for Philip Pullman - nor are the “Chronicles of Narnia”!
October 19th, 2005 at 3:43 am
To say that Disney is “marketing the Narnia films as a kind of kiddie Passion” is just plain false. That was a characterization of the promotional campaign that came from a cynical journalist, and the sound bite was so good and juicy that it’s been repeated ad naseum for the last year. Neither Disney nor Walden Media have compared the Narnia film to Gibson’s Passion.
It’s certainly true that Disney has employed the same publicists and tactics that Gibson did: but that’s marketing, not content.
Also it’s a bit odd that you find the Narnia films to be Potter ripoffs since the Narnia books predated Rowlings’ books by nearly fifty years. It’s pretty safe to say, in fact, that Rowling owes an immense debt to Lewis.
Just so you know — I’m not nitpicking you because I’m some big fan of Disney or Lewis. I’m not. I just think that you have, in your haste to be hip, been pretty sloppy in both your reportage and your editorial commentary.
October 19th, 2005 at 7:25 pm
Mr. Pullman, I really don’t know why you despise C.S. Lewis so much, but it is clear that you do. Your comments about his books are nothing but hateful insults, which arent’t even based on facts. I wonder how you can say there is not a trace of love in this story (if you really read it and didn’t just say that to attack the author), because love is one of the central themes of the Chronicles of Narnia. It is rather of racism or prejudice that I cannot find a trace… I think you do not understand Lewis’writings, or simply know nothing about them. Your very harsh criticism of Narnia, without any understandable reason, make me wonder if you’re not simply fed up with Christian movies and shouting your anger against the next one. Of course, you’ll object and say it isn’t so, but what are we supposed to think? If the Narnia series were so bad, I don’t see why the seventh volume would have won the Carnegie Award!
October 20th, 2005 at 12:33 am
piss off pullman!
take all your stupid ideas publish them in one gigantic volume chain the book to your wrist take a long walk off a short pier abd whille your at take falwell and billy graham with you.
October 20th, 2005 at 1:23 am
I think everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I, myself, are a huge fan of The Chronicles of Narnia but not everyone has to like. I also love Philip Pullman’s work. He is entitled to say whatever he likes about the novels. I thought everyone had a right to freedom of speech.
December 9th, 2005 at 4:15 pm
Freedom of speech is why we can tell Pullman to piss off. He just wants attention, and knows that trashing C.S. Lewis will do it. I don’t think he actually believes what he says. He just knows that it will get into the press. He uses all the hot sensitive terms like racist, sexist, etc. Thing is, he has no basis for them, and although he will get the attention, I don’t think he will get the attention he wants. He sounds angry, small, and stupid. I have yet to hear about anyone supporting his accusations. He probably thought atheists might join the bandwagon without thinking. People just aren’t stupid enough to agree with him.
February 24th, 2007 at 9:00 pm
the chronicles of narnia sucks