We are thinking of taking my nephews to a movie and they are asking to see “Narnia”. I have done a little search and I know opinions about this movie are heated.
I just want to know what the story is about.
I vaguely remember seeing something/reading something but it was many years ago and can’t remember.
Thanks
The land of Narnia has been usurped by Jadis (not our Jadis), the White Witch. She maintains the land in winter ice and snow. The Pevensey children, while staying in the countryside during the Blitz, discover a magical gate to Narnia in an old wardrobe. There they discover the problem with Narnia and also discover that they’re spoken of in old prophecies (as Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve). They meet Aslan, the lion son of the Emperor Across the Sea, who guides them in defeating the White Witch and rightfully ruling Narnia from Caer Paravel.
That’s the story in a nutshell, but there are a fair number of subplots and twists, as with any good story. Betrayals, sacrifices, defeats and victories, etc.
In a nutshell, imagine Christopher Robin’s Winnie the Pooh was amalgamated with all of Western Mythology and its native pandemonium of creatures and beings. It’s clearly the Christian story of virtue, sacrifice, salvation, and resurrection mixed with Grimm and Tolkien and sprinkled liberally with Arthurian archetypes. It is a very good book but only a typical movie…the translation suffered.
I also want to note that, yes, Narnia has an underlying Christian theme, but it’s not really knock-you-over-the-head-you-heathen-sinner.
The underlying Christian theme will not be a problem. The whole lot of us are Christians
:eek:
And you’ve never read any C.S. Lewis, not even The Chronicles of Narnia? :eek: You really should read at least the entire Narnia series. The space trilogy is good as well, as are The Screwtape Letters and The Great Divorce. (I’ll be honest, I haven’t yet read The Great Divorce, but I’ve read everything else I listed.) That’ll get you most of his fiction. He did a lot of writing, including some more fiction and a lot of theology as well as criticism of medieval literature. (I think that my parents have probably got the complete works of C.S. Lewis–Mom with the fiction and Dad with the non-fiction.) I’m sure someone else could easily give you a complete list and better recommendations.
Otherwise, yeah, the plot to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is pretty simple. Go. It’ll be fun. If your nephews are anything like me, Aslan will be their first experience of a Christ figure in literature.
Just in case you don’t know, the current Chronicles of Narnia film is based on The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, the first* of seven children’s fantasies written by C. S. Lewis about 50 years ago and collectively referred to as “The Chronicles of Narnia.” The central plot of TLtW&tW has many parallels with the story of Christ’s crucifixion/resurrection (deliberately—Lewis was a Christian and a writer about Christianity).
*first to be written, and, according to most Narnia fans, the one that should be read first, although there’s some controversy about this; The Magician’s Nephew occurs first chronologically and is labelled as Book #1 in many modern sets of the Chronicles.