Lewis' Lion is not Mufasa

I haven't had time yet to write my own review of the film version of Prince Caspian, but my overall sentiments would reflect this commentary by Alex Wainer.

By beef is largely with director Andrew Adamson who, despite a fanstastic job with the visuals in both films so far, does not share Lewis' worldview an thus couldn't see Narnia from Lewis' perspective, like a child who hasn't yet grasped the moral of the story:

Adamson said, "I didn’t really think a lot about the religious aspect. I know C. S. Lewis never really intended it to be allegory, but he definitely wrote from a place of his own belief, and a lot of people get that from the book . . . People can interpret the movie the same way, they can apply their personal belief and interpret the movie the same way they interpret the book."

This soft-peddling doesn’t resonate well with the millions of readers who love the books precisely because they are intended to convey insights on the Christian life, like trusting in God contrasted with trusting in one’s own self. It should not surprise us that the films reflect this myopia. Adamson sees only a great series of children’s fantasy stories but misses the real magic.

Wainer brilliantly identifies the disparate treatment of "magic" in Disney's and Lewis' worlds:

Prince Caspian is a reminder that, despite Disney’s wholesome values, the Magic Kingdom hasn’t truly annexed Narnia as part of its vast empire. In fact, it’s not in Disney’s DNA to assimilate Lewis’ faith-based fairy tales into its collective consciousness.

... in the 1930s, Walt Disney, though raised by strict church-going parents, made the choice to use magic as a dramatic device for creating wonder and transformation rather than God and prayer. Thus, wishing upon a star became the central motif in Pinocchio and, thereafter, a sort of central mechanism of Disney narrative. In a practical sense, Walt Disney found that it made his feature films better able to cross cultural barriers in their translation into other languages. "Disney magic" came to describe the wonder and fun of Disney stories, characters and theme parks.

But in Lewis’s Narnia, magic becomes a clear symbol for spiritual forces of truth, and the way God works in this parallel world. In Disney’s world, magic is something characters call upon to obtain their dreams. In Narnia, magic is the way God governs the universe and in which inhabitants submit themselves. Naturally then, with two such incompatible concepts, to market the Narnia franchise across cultures, the lion had to be tamed and his magic diminished.

In other words, the standard Disney "Believe in Yourself" mantra was antithetical to Lewis.

Looking ahead to the next film, Wainer suggests a new director might put the series on track:

The next book in line, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, culminates in one of the clearest affirmations of Christian truth in the Chronicles, as Aslan exhorts the children to know him in their own world by another name.

Can spectacular CGI effects ... capture the eternal scope of this and the rest of Lewis’ Chronicles? Perhaps, but only if some with both talent and conviction are allowed to translate those stories.

I am so far hopeful, having read of the choice of director for the next film. In Amazing Grace, Michael Apted managed to portray a compelling story with clearly faith-driven characters.

Breakpoint: To Drill or Not to Drill

Chuck doesn't often take on economic issues with this fervor. In today's Breakpoint, he doesn't go into detail about the causes of rising food prices, namely grain diverted to biofuels and gas prices raising shipping costs, but he raises other points about why we need to push for energy independence.

I really hope McCain and other Republican candidates have the guts and the eloquence to portray the current drive for biofuels and the prohibition on domestic drilling as what they are - harmful to people, destructive to the economy, ineffective at cooling the planet, and perilous to national security:

In 1973, we imported 28 percent of our oil. Today, it is closer to 60 percent.

... "Most imports come from countries that are potentially insecure, unstable or hostile."

... As Frank Gaffney, a national security expert, wrote in the NATIONAL REVIEW, the war against terrorism and American energy security are inseparable.

Congress has, so far, failed to act because they want to pander to us. I say it is time for us to tell them to get busy. We need this for our national security, and for the sake of our economy. Some environmentalists believe that it would be a good thing to have eight-dollar-a-gallon gas. But it would be a disaster for ordinary, working Americans.

Fillmore Finds the Truth

I too often think it tragic when a kind-hearted, loving, faithful believer dies, but that is really only the finale to the first show. The sadness is only temporary for those of us left in the theater when the actor leaves the stage.

A real tragedy is when someone with God-given talent squanders that gift on bitterness and cynicism, even carrying it to his grave:
George Carlin dead at 71

Carlin could be insightful, entertaining, and extremely funny in certain venues. I did not hear (nor do I want to hear) the obscenity-laden stand-up routines that dominated his career. I heard sanitized versions of “Icebox Man” and some of his other well-known bits. I enjoyed him as “Fillmore” in Pixar’s Cars, and he was the best narrator the Thomas the Tank Engine series ever had. He had every reason to be happy and thankful for his success, yet he said in one interview:

"I don't have any beliefs or allegiances. I don't believe in this country, I don't believe in religion, or a god, and I don't believe in all these man-made institutional ideas,"

He claimed he “looked forward to an afterlife where he could watch the decline of civilization on a ‘heavenly CNN’: ‘The world is a big theater-in-the round as far as I'm concerned, and I'd love to watch it spin itself into oblivion…Tune in and watch the human adventure.’"

I feel only pity for someone so steeped in disdain for goodness as to be blinded to the good in his life. He had such potential to bless, and even his cursing didn’t poison his best work. He really made me laugh. God gave him potential to speak life, and he wasted his life’s energy ridiculing Him. I pray that somehow in his dying moments God showed him mercy and that George wasn’t too proud to accept it.