Lathspell said:veryfuller said:
This thread feels like its venturing into some weird territory.
Narnia isn't the Bible. Its a story, with themes about redemption, good/evil, the nature of man, etc. that artists of many religions have been exploring for centuries. I don't think one has to be a Christian to make a great adaptation of the story, even if it was written by a Christian. One only has to have respect for the story, and for what is really being communicated by it.
Its clear that Gerwig loves the story. What she loves about it we don't know yet. She could totally be missing the pieces that many of faith love about the story and end up falling flat on her face with the movie. Thats a very real possibility. It could also be a really good adaptation. We just don't know. I think its ok to live in the uncertainty of that, taking in the promotional information and details, and deciding if its worth your time or not. It doesn't have to be more than that. Narnia isn't so sacred that adapting it poorly means one is evil/wrong or if people love it for some other reason than the reason you love it they are evil/wrong.
I say this as someone who does love the books, and is pretty nervous about some of the info coming out about the movie. But there is other info that intrigues me or sounds genuinely good to me.
Disagree.
The Lord of the Rings has "themes" about good/evil, etc. The Chronicles of Narnia are Christian allegory. Written by one of the most influential Christian authors in history. Allegory is not about "themes". It's one of the reasons Tolkien wasn't a fan of allegory and sought to keep his writings from being so. CS Lewis purposefully went the other way. To change his allegory to "themes' is to erase his purpose for the art.
Also, no one has said one has to be anything to properly adapt the story. Most would agree the 2005 movie was a fantastic adaptation. I don't know ANYTHING about the beliefs or thoughts of the director. All I know is he set out to faithfully adapt the book and he succeeded.
But feminizing the allegorical representation of Christ is in line with the post-modern deconstruction that Hollywood participates in, daily.
TCTTS said:
Exactly. I would love to hear if Lathspell believes the universe was created in six literal days, or if he, say, mixes fabrics, something that Leviticus explicitly forbids.
Quote:
Gerwig's love for Lewis' books goes back to childhood, when she apparently took the possibility of discovering Narnia quite seriously. She recalled pushing against her closet walls, hoping one might open into another world. "I don't remember a time when I didn't know the books," she said. "You go back there, and you believe that maybe there's a snow-covered world that needs you." It's a sweet sentiment, and a pretty good illustration of what drives her approach: recapturing that childhood feeling that anything might be possible.
That affection sent Gerwig far beyond the novels themselves. She traveled to Belfast, Oxford, and Cambridge to retrace Lewis' footsteps, immersed herself in his theology, and explored the literature that influenced him. "I read or re-read everything Lewis wrote. Then I tried to read everything he read," she explained. She even copied passages that gave her goosebumps, searching for the story's emotional foundations. For all the money and machinery involved, Gerwig approached the material as something personal rather than another intellectual property assignment. As she told Stephen Colbert, who moderated the event, "I only know how to make personal films."
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That spiritual curiosity carried through much of the discussion. Gerwig repeatedly returned to faith, community, and storytelling's ability to bring people together. She spoke about growing up in the church, where people gathered to sing and participate in something larger than themselves, and drew a connection to the communal experience of moviegoing. "For me, film and faith have always gone hand in hand," she said. The presentation sometimes resembled a particularly enthusiastic church gathering itself, albeit one with a blockbuster budget and a very expensive visual effects department. But Gerwig never sounded like she was delivering rehearsed marketing points. If anything, she seemed a little nervous and almost unable to contain her excitement.
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For all the grand pronouncements, the most appealing thing about "Narnia" remains fairly simple: Gerwig seems to be making the movie she dreamed of seeing as a child. She's approaching Lewis' world with the enthusiasm of someone who genuinely believes a closet might open onto an impossible landscape, and Netflix has given her the freedom to chase that feeling on an enormous scale. That's endearing, especially in a blockbuster landscape where filmmakers so often mistake emotional openness for navet. If nothing else, Gerwig looks determined to risk appearing foolish in pursuit of something extraordinary.
TCTTS said:
Exactly. I would love to hear if Lathspell believes the universe was created in six literal days, or if he, say, mixes fabrics, something that Leviticus explicitly forbids.
Heisenberg01 said:TCTTS said:
Exactly. I would love to hear if Lathspell believes the universe was created in six literal days, or if he, say, mixes fabrics, something that Leviticus explicitly forbids.
The Bible also says a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day to God. To take Moses interpretation of the beginning of the Earth as a literal interpretation of history is up to the individual believer (and the sequence of events is amazingly backed up by science for an uneducated man from 1500 BC even if the timeline wasn't literally 1 day each).
That is different than someone stating they are a Christian but that they are also uncomfortable with Jesus being their Lord. Jesus literally says you must call on his name to be saved. If you aren't willing to do that, then you aren't a Christian by definition.
TCTTS said:
And people say I'm easily rattled. Hopefully you'll be okay.
The trailer for Greta Gerwig’s ‘NARNIA: THE MAGICIAN’S NEPHEW’ is set to Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven.”
— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) October 13, 2026
Marking the first time the song has been granted permission by the band to be used in a film. pic.twitter.com/0e2LsBvBdD
The time setting basically destroys what comes. The entire reason the kids were sent to that home in the English countryside was to get them out of harm's way from the Nazi blitz in 1940-41. Without that, how do they even get to Narnia?veryfuller said:
An allegory is a type of non-fiction, and it has themes like any other work of art. You are mixing two different things.
You are arguing that, in order for it to maintain whatever allegorical integrity, it needs to be a straightforward adaptation? That is what it seems. Which is a fine stance to take.
I just don't agree with that 100%. Again, I am highly skeptical that given the choices Gerwig has made, that this will capture the complete picture of what C.S. Lewis wrote. I just don't think its impossible to maintain the integrity of the allegory while still making structural changes or tweaks to the story.
An example would be the time setting. I don't think it matters much when the events of the stories take place. The real world is not really impacting whats going on in Narnia, so changing the timeline from early 1900s to 1950s/60s is something that can add another texture without changing the meaning of the story.
Now the Aslan in the room is a different, harder pill to swallow. I am skeptical of that, but not hopeless, I guess.
