Just watched Narnia (Possible spoilers)

[Dark Jezter]

As any English major will tell you, what do the author's know? An allegory need not be intentional to be an allegory. Shakespeare's works are the best example, he would have had no idea of the ways his work has been interpreted over the years.

Yes, I'm sure all those english majors knew Tolkien's intentions better than he did.

Allegory and personal interpretation are two seperate things. In particular, I find the claim that Gandalf is allegory of Christ to have more holes than an old fence. So unless some kind of note or journal written by Tolkien claiming that anything in LotR is an allegory is found, I'm going to have a hard time thinking any claims of allegory to be valid.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

I won't dispute that the allegory is obvious (to those who look for it), but when I read the series as a child (aged around 8-10 IIRC) I never once made the connections between the Chronicles and anything in the Bible. Of course, there is the bit about referring to humans as 'Sons of Adam' and 'Daughters of Eve', but I understood that as a simple epithet with no deep religious significance.

I took that just to mean "humans".

I read the book and watched the cartoon when younger and it wasn't until seeing a play version in college that the Aslan = Jesus thing hit me. Of course once it did, it was like with one of those magic pictures where the young woman is hidden in the old crones hair and after an hour of staring you say "Duh! how the heck did I miss that?!?"

 

[Storm Raven]

Maybe not a physical one. Heck, you said it yourself in this very post:

His temptation in the desert is not the contest that leads him to the sacrifice. His sacrifice is entirely willing - that's the point of the excercise. For your analogy to work, Jesus would have to fight a demon, and die in the process. Jesus triumphs over temptation in the desert and then goes on to his ministry, and later is killed at the hands of men, without a fight.

 

[David Howery]

As some of you know, I work part-time as a projectionist. As part of my duties, I often have to watch movies we have put together to insure there are no bad splices or other problems. Tonight, I once again sacrificed my time to watch Chronicles of Narnia.

On the one hand, I envy you, as you get to see a lot of good movies. OTOH, I pity you... how much drek do you have to watch as well?

 

[Mark CMG]

Glad to hear the news about Narnia. I'm looking forward to seeing it!

 

[replicant2]

I've been talking about this book for a long time (my first exposure was a performance by an acting troupe at age 8 in my church) and it's been my experience that virtually everyone needs it explained to them. Adults especially. In fact, the pastor at a local church has asked us to cut the sound when the credits roll so he can explain it to his congregation after they see it. Must be his experience too.

"In our world too, a stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world." -- Lucy.

I guess I'm an aberration then, because quotes like this hammered into my head again and again that the Chronicles of Narnia are an extremely obvious Christian allegory, spelled out very plainly by Lewis. Still very good books though.

 

[spacemonkey]

On the one hand, I envy you, as you get to see a lot of good movies. OTOH, I pity you... how much drek do you have to watch as well?

[shudder] ... "Runaway Bride". Twice. (regular and open-cap). /[shudder]

But you have to understand, once you climb the ladder a bit, then you just shove the crap movies onto the newbs, and watch what looks good

.. least that's how it worked when I was a projectionist.


Having said that, Narnia looks pretty cool

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Well, ruining it would telling us that the witch killed the lion, with a knife, on the stone table; or something like that.

thanks for the opinion. It was already on my must-see list, now I feel better about it.

No, it was Col. Mustard, with the monkey wrench, in the conservatory.

The Auld Grump

 

[Captain Tagon]

No, it was Col. Mustard, with the monkey wrench, in the conservatory.

The Auld Grump

I'll get you Col Mustard, if it's the last thing I doooo

 

[Cabled]

or perhaps...

it was Col Playdoh, with a pit trap, at the first intersection in the kobold lair...