I saw Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe last night. People, calm down.

I have no idea why the religious right would be promoting this, or why Disney would be doing screenings at churches except for the fact that C.S. Lewis wrote the story. The religious symbolism, much less Christian symbolism, is thin at best. Yes, Aslan does die and come back. The reason was because of the purity af his sacrifice in another's stead, and it was in accordance with the "Deep Magic" which is the basic rules of Narnia. Aslan knew he was coming back when he decided to be killed. It is a story of good, evil, friendship, family, and fulfillment of prophecies. In other words, it follows the patterns of all epic mythology that far predates Christianity. The parents are absent and the children must rely on their own wits and various animal guides. Even the trees get in on the act. Kind of pagan if you ask me. I'm Christian, and I enjoyed the movie. I did not get any major religious message from it. Maybe I wasn't looking hard enough.

One more thing. The evil of the White Witch is the lust for power regardless of the cost to the surrounding world, and getting people to betray their friends, family, indeed their own interests in service to her. That sounds very much like the bush junta. There is a message, but it may not be the one religious conservatives think it is.

what all the marketing jocks and newsreaders jump on to promote the film, and goofy church people make a big fuss too. I bet if I was younger and still in church, our youth group would have gone to see it too but we probably wouldn't have been militant or orgasmic about it--that wasn't really our style. It would have been just one more outing to go on.

It's a good story whether you know it's an allegory or not. I certainly didn't know that when I read the book as a kid and I loved the book (though I really don't remember too much of it now).

I'm with you on the "people calm down" request, by the way. :thumbsup:

in elementary school. I don't think I even knew the word "allegory."

If it weren't for people trying to market the movie as "Christian" many viewers wouldn't know either.

It is a neat story, though.

I too think people should chill out.

It will hit just in time for Easter, bet ya a nickle. I'd rather pay $5.25 than $10 and have to drive to the theater now. Same with Kong.

As for the big screen experience, people talk non-stop, phones ringing, screens dull, theater smells. Last movie was Jarhead, which I enjoyed, but I got tired of telling stupid brickheads to shut up and pay attention.

No thanks, I'll wait.

I agree that it is not the religious experience they tout. They are attempting to market to the religious community in an effort to gain more money.

It was a pretty good movie--we both decided we liked Harry Potter lots better.

with Christian symbolism.

Heck, even the Star Wars saga has an over-arching Christian symbolism, too, with the fall and redemption of Anakin Skywalker.

:evilgrin:

She had one expression through the whole film, most of her costumes were bad (though the one at the end was cool), and she just didn't seem to have more than one dimension as an evil witch.

Overall, I wasn't impressed with the film, and I will 100x over stick with the 1979 animated version which is much more loyal to the text and more heartfelt and interesting, and HOPEFULLY, the fundies will now forget about it (the animated version) as they cling to this Disney SFX extravaganza.

david

Many, many stories, especially stories for kids, borrow the resurrection idea.

I thought it was a pretty splendiforous film--since I never read "Lord of the Rings," this was MY "LOTR." (Hard to escape the commentary track in my head going "Check...check...check...oh, that's new/different....check" though.) Obviously done with care and love, and definitely coming out of the same mentality as Tolkien: in a time of war, there are absolute evils and absolute goods, and one must summon courage to stand with Goodness.

It's definitely worth seeing on the big screen--I'm glad I didn't wait. The guys behind us only got a little chatty at the very end of the battle. (They were troglodytes anyways; we saw a preview that opened with a guy in a cowboy hat, and they all FREAKED with terror that it was for "Brokeback Mountain." It wasn't, but their idiocy was almost amusing if it wasn't so pathetic. "No, no, please don't make we watch the gay cowboy preview! Anything but that!")

I wasn't sure about Swinton at first--"frosty" is definitely the adjective for her performance--but her resolute lack of emotion grew on me. And I liked how her eyes seemed completely black until the very last instant of her life, when they suddenly turned bright green. Interesting.

I dunno, I guess I'm just a purist. I can live without comic relief, and without added scenes to increase the dramatic tension (like the bologna on the frozen river).

I disliked Jackson's LotR for the same reason, but liked this much more as it was, for the most part, truer to the book - but gawd, the made up dialogue stuck out like a sore thumb.

LOL on your cowboy story! :)

david

For a "children's" or "Family" movie, it was pretty dark--the beavers were pretty much the only bits of comic relief in film, and only in the middle part; I thought it was a nice counterpoint when their chatty humor was contrasted with their bravery under attack. (Hence, the scene on the river.) Once the group met up with Aslan and co, they got relegated to the sidelines, as they should have been.

I've heard several other packs of guys outside of movies where the "Brokeback" trailer played, loudly and nervously proclaiming their incredulity, their contempt, and their somewhat desperate heterosexuality. I'm still thinking for a good comeback. ("Afraid you'll sport some wood there, bud?" "You know, it's always the closeted homos who make the biggest scenes like this." Etc.)

of passage...little that much to do with christianity imo

something hideous and odious. Before we know it, they'll be quoting lines from the movie and doing drive-bys against people they don't like...Grumble, grumble, grumble. I'm in a grumpy, achy, miserable mood tonight. Sorry. :hi:

I've read the book, and I'm fairly positive the move version could not do justice to the wonderful imagery Lewis painted in those pages, not with the company behind the production.

I love the work Lewis created, and to be perfectly frank, I'm quite sick and tired of zealots playing ping-pong with so it fits their own hate-filled agenda. And by "zealots" I mean both those fundamentalist evangelical types who are hawking this movie as somehow supporting their exclusionary point of view and those who have popped a cork about how bad it must be because the story itself was written by a Christian.

Christian philosophy is a loving, inclusive, progressive philosophy. A lot of people have perverted it into something horrid. That's not Lewis. Lewis' books are wonderful.