Friday, December 23, 2005

If Christ Saved Fairyland

This is the title of an essay I will probably never write. I would talk about how deeply satisfying stories of magic are to the imagination. That we will always have ghost stories to explain the shadows created by objects in the light. I would end it with something like how Jesus comes into our world not as a creature unlike us, lets say like a lion, but as a human, who was tempted in every way and remained without sin. I won't do it for now because I have too many thoughts, too little time and no reason to other than to rant and get the frustrations of a shallow attempt at bible interpretation off my chest.

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe was enjoyable. Half way through the movie I felt like I was watching a LOTR/Harry Potter combo, which is unfortunate because Narnia is wonderful on its own. Some of the fx could have used a little more time and if I had to listen to the girls cry too much more I would have shut off completely. I didn't pay for the ticket and I am glad, I think it is worth a DVD rent.

I am glad that the church is trying to engage the world in art, but I wish we would stop puting so much stock into the Christian values of Narnia and Middle-Earth. At heart they are faerie places created by Christian men who really like Arthur and Beowulf and wanted to write stories they enjoyed reading. They talk about doom and redemption through sacrifice but they both fall short, just like every other myth. And that is OK. Just step away from Aslan as Jesus.

1 comment:

Ryan said...

I agree with the Narnia review. It was enjoyable but definitely lacked the quality that we get from LOTR and Harry Potter. What makes me so anoyed is that churches have marketed this movie almost as much as the Passion of Christ and it simply is a stretch.