narnia

So, I've been meaning to post a few words about The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe all weekend, but I was busy, then sick. We went to see it on Friday, and I thought it was FANTASTIC. I thought everyone was extremely well cast, and it goes a little bit beyond that. Very seldom do I see a movie based on a book that I've read that has actors that look the way I pictured the characters to look. This movie was exceptional; Edmund looked exactly how I had always pictured him, and Lucy was pretty damn close.
I think the movie followed the book quite well. There were a few minor changes, but they were warranted. I was reminded by a friend that Aslan actually tells the girls in the book that their weapons are for defensive purposes only, that they were not meant to fight. These lines are left out of the film, and Susan actually gets to fire a shot, which didn't happen in the book if I remember correctly. Taking that into consideration, the film does make an attempt rectify the extremely gendered nature of the book. I still found the gender roles (the girls were nothing but healers) tiresome and slightly offensive, but I believe they did what they could without completely altering the story.
That said, the only thing that I didn't really like was what they did with the white witch. The actress was perfect for the role, no problems there. I just wish that they had done a little bit more to play down the pagan woman vs christian man aspect in the film. This was definitely present in the novel, but they could have toned it down a bit. To be more specific, the witch didn't need to have dreadlocks. I was actually really torn because I thought they looked really cool, but they also represent a very specific subgroup in our culture.
I am not Christian, but I love this story, and I recommend the movie whole-heartedly to just about anyone. I think it's interesting that the majority of blogs that I've read about the movie say they wish they'd played up the Christian connection a bit more (funny because CS Lewis doesn't mention Christ in the novel at all), or that the film is the best thing to happen for Evangelicals since The Passion of the Christ. I don't think it's even comparable to the Passion, which I have not seen on principal. The story is valuable, whether you believe the Christ was the Son of God and should be worshipped as such, or not. It makes me sad that people are looking to this film as a tool to bring more people to Christ. Perhaps I'm being controversial... but then, that's why I have this space, to voice my opinions. I also think that if the book had been writen by anyone other than Lewis, people would not be making as big of a deal out of the allegory. Lewis is well known as a Christian writer, so people pay more attention to the allegory in his other works. I suspect that some people who are celebrating the movie as an evangelical tool might have taken issue with the lord of the rings... magic, etc. But the Lord of the Rings was every bit as much of an allegory as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, if not more. Maybe not. But I definitely didn't hear people praising LOR as an evangelical tool.