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  • TUESDAY MARCH 8 2005 9:00 AM

'Narnia' to be très Chick?

Submitted by Jeff_Fries

Edited by Christopher

The Telegraph ran this piece yesterday claiming that Disney has hired a public relations company to market The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe directly to Christian organizations, with executives themselves attending private meetings to assure believers that the Christ allegory will be left intact.

Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ has taken than $600 million (£311 million) at the box office since its release last year, principally because of the large number of Christians who went to see the film. Similarly, the animated adventure The Polar Express, which received poor reviews, became a hit after producers emphasised its Christian credentials.

In an effort to ensure that the Narnia film reaches a similar audience, Disney has hired Motive Marketing, a public relations company that specialises in reaching out to faith groups and was widely credited with the success of The Passion of the Christ. It has shown clips from the film to representatives from church groups and religious media. The strategy has already met with enormous success.



My understanding of the novels was that Lewis came up with the characters first and later formed them into a Christian allegory, which is what made the Narnia books at least feel like more than just an Identikit petting zoo. Considering the recent track record of evangelical cinema, I doubt they'd jeopardize a $100 million production on anything too overbearing anyway; perhaps they're just kissing up.

Side note: I can't imagine a better actor in the world to play the White Witch than Tilda "Fahrenheit 9/11 is sophisticated cinema" Swinton.



Thankee: Portal of Evil News

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Comments
Rowan

Rowan

SUICIDEGIRL

Washington, USA

MAR 08, 2005 09:06 AM

I don't understand why it can't just be left as it is. Even though it is a story written with a religious context, we can still all enjoy and appriciate the idea of good vs. evil. No matter what religion you are. But this lowlife pandering of religion as a sales tactic puts a sick and sour taste in my mouth. The more the media appeals to Christian Isolationism, the more intolerant we as a whole become. ♥

xoxo
~Ro

a_ring_of_saturn

a_ring_of_saturn

San Francisco, CA
February 2005

MAR 08, 2005 09:24 AM

I agree with you totally. I think this kind of stuff is a perversion of christianity. After all greed is a sin right? And like you said promoting isolationism leads to racialism, sexism, and all sorts of other kinds of hatred that mostly comes from christians anyway. We don’t need more.

Ryan_Dipietro

Ryan_Dipietro

Naples, FL
April 2004

MAR 08, 2005 09:30 AM

Wasn't that the second book?

DigitalPilager

DigitalPilager

Hensley, AR
August 2004

MAR 08, 2005 09:34 AM

yeah its the second one, the 1st one i believe is the magicians nephew

_DictionaryGirl_

_DictionaryGirl_

NEWSWIRE

San Diego, CA

MAR 08, 2005 09:35 AM

When I first read the series, I didn't even know they were a Christian allegory until the last couple chapters of The Last Battle when it gets really blatant with the whole apocalypse part. Even after I knew, I always just thought of them as a collection of brilliant adventure stories that I loved. Why should a kid with any other belief have to be alienated from it?

My favorite part of The Last Battle was when they meet a clearly Islamic soldier going to heaven with them, and he explains that it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you're a good person. Obviously someone at Disney hasn't read past Book Two.

Ryan_Dipietro

Ryan_Dipietro

Naples, FL
April 2004

MAR 08, 2005 09:37 AM

DigitalPilager said:
yeah its the second one, the 1st one i believe is the magicians nephew



That's what I thought. I always liked that one, they should make it a movie.

FleurDeGuerre

FleurDeGuerre

United Kingdom
August 2004

MAR 08, 2005 09:38 AM

He wrote the Lion the Witch and the Wardobe first, the Magician's nephew was a prequel.

And it is a Christian allegory. So what's the fuss about?

AgentCdog

AgentCdog

Saint Paul, MN
October 2004

MAR 08, 2005 10:01 AM

So a Christian writer writes some Christian books, and Disney promises to keep it that way when they make the movie. And this is bad? Why can't we leave them alone? How can we expect to have our beliefs respected when we curse their excercise from others?
IMHO, the Narnia books are a great thing for Christianity. I think it exposes them to the essence of what they believe and forces them to deal with it.

diggity

diggity

Carrboro, NC
March 2003

MAR 08, 2005 10:01 AM

Older sets of the Chronicles, and (I hear but have no proof) British sets have them in the order of publication, putting LW,atW first, and MN second to last. It's the order I read them in the first time, and much prefer.

fraternemo

fraternemo

USA
October 2003

MAR 08, 2005 10:12 AM

DigitalPilager said:
yeah its the second one, the 1st one i believe is the magicians nephew



The first book is The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. Publishers just rearanged it into chronological order much to the chagrin of Lewis. The only book that is 'in order' the way Lewis wrote them is the Last Battle. I'm a Lewis dork. Sorry. Disney selling a christian story for money? Not that shocking. They'd copywrite Jesus if they could.

dem_z

dem_z

United Kingdom
June 2004

MAR 08, 2005 10:12 AM

I loved the series when I was a kid. I read them again recently and they're horrific. I imagine they'll have to be changed; they're practically a Nazi guidebook.

zenFish

zenFish

Vancouver, BC
August 2004

MAR 08, 2005 10:22 AM

demetrius_z said:
I loved the series when I was a kid. I read them again recently and they're horrific. I imagine they'll have to be changed; they're practically a Nazi guidebook.



how so?

Space_Travel

Space_Travel

Olympia, WA
February 2005

MAR 08, 2005 11:10 AM

If the books were already Christian allegories, then emphasizing that feature is just marketing (which I don't believe is a good thing). The only blatantly Christian part of the first book that I can remember is that Aslan dies and comes back to life -- but didn't Keanu do that in "The Matrix"? Why wasn't that marketed to Christians?

Cavatica

Cavatica

Raleigh, NC
August 2004

MAR 08, 2005 11:21 AM

Space_Travel said:
If the books were already Christian allegories, then emphasizing that feature is just marketing (which I don't believe is a good thing). The only blatantly Christian part of the first book that I can remember is that Aslan dies and comes back to life -- but didn't Keanu do that in "The Matrix"? Why wasn't that marketed to Christians?


I'm sure that, somewhere in the world, it was. Neo's resurrection isn't the only element of Christian allegory in the Matrix-- but there were so many bits of other religion and philosophy mixed in that it's not nearly as much of a Christian story as Narnia. I mean, I'm sure it could be argued that it is, but I'm not going to be the one to argue it.

Frankly, I don't have any issues with the movie having noticable Christian elements--because, yeah, even when I was a little kid, I noticed the parallels. But when such a huge chunk of the marketing scheme centers around that aspect of the story, I start to get annoyed. Just because Lewis included some Christian allegory doesn't mean he wanted it crammed down our throats. I mean, MAYBE he did; I'm not that familiar with Lewis. But I doubt it; I think more people would have noticed it sooner.

This is just another excuse for Disney to push its family-friendly agenda on the non-family friendly. And I usually LIKE Disney movies. But this idea of America: Rated G? It doesn't work for me.

[Edited on Mar 08, 2005 by Cavatica]

Tekky

Tekky

SUICIDEGIRL

Ontario, Canada

MAR 08, 2005 11:23 AM

ugh. can't anyone leave ANYTHING alone these days? frown

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