Homocon

I know I keep repeating this (probably to the annoyance of a number of people who read this blog), but while I grew up in a Christian household, I consider myself a firm atheist and don't harbor any secret mystical beliefs that make me consider there might be a god or a heaven or a whatever/whomever out there directing the fate of the cosmos. That said, I nonetheless find it tiresome when I read criticisms of the Chronicles of Narnia for allegedly being "too Christian", as if the opening book in the series, the aforementioned "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" is some subterfuge on the part of C.S. Lewis to trick young minds into falling into the trap of the Western world's most powerful spiritual symbols by disguising the whole thing as a children's fantasy.

Steven Den Beste (one of my new regular stops in the blogosphere) makes this observation regarding "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" and those who are already complaining that its spiritual themes are a bit too Western for their comfort: "'The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe' is the scandalously politically incorrect story of four British children who discover that a magical wardrobe opens up into an entirely new world, where they meet Jesus. OMGWTF! . . . This film doesn't have to be "secular enough for" those who are politically correct in order to make money. In fact, I can think of no better way to destroy this series and make sure it loses money than to make it "secular enough" for the politically correct Hollywood elite."

I mean, I didn't hear anyone in the New York Times complaining about the spiritual content of "Seven Years in Tibet" or "Little Buddha" or even "The Matrix", and yet dare to introduce into the theaters a talking lion that sacrifices its life in order to save a young boy who has unwittingly betrayed his brother and sisters into the hands of an evil witch, well -- run for your lives! The Christians are coming!

I think it's terrific that the Chronicles of Narnia are finally going to receive their big budget due. They're all bang-up stories which focus far more on fantastical adventures and lessons in loyalty, bravery and trust than any particular religious theme. There have been several times as I've been listening to these audiobooks off my iPod when I've been brought to near tears as I huff away on the elliptical trainer. C.S. Lewis knows how to throw one heck of a clean, emotional punch, and I think the success of the entire Narnian series has more to do with their imaginative story-lines, their lack of sexual violence and their decided emphasis on character growth rather than because they were written by a Christian author or because they might have a passing semblance to Christian themes running throughout.

Ross Douthat at The American Scene (a blog that has been on my roll for a while now), has posted his own thoughts regarding the Narnia dust-up among secularists who consider the stories a danger to the minds of impressionable children: "But there's a reason that the West fled from the world of magic into the "necessarily straitened and punitive morality of organized worship," at least for a time, and it has everything to do with what makes Lewis's Narnia books so marvelous - namely, that the fairy story of fauns and talking horses and silver chairs does "bring another message, beyond itself," which is that this myth might be not only beautiful and magical, but true as well. There really is an Aslan - because there really is a Christ."

I don't agree with Douthat's concluding point, but I do like the path he took to get there. "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" is so potent a story precisely because of its liberal use of Western theology. It feels like truth, but only because the story rings so familiar to denizens of a culture that has been steeped in Christian symbols and myths since its inception. What C.S. Lewis did that was so maddeningly (at least to his critics) successful is take an old story and make it absolutely new. But really, when you get right down to the bare facts, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" is less about Jesus and more about how loyalty to an ideal that's larger than yourself can make one stronger, how true conviction in the sense of one's own worth may actually be the one thing that saves you at your darkest hour, and that redemption from wrongdoing is possible, but only if an individual truly desires to be redeemed.

The critics notwithstanding, I doubt very seriously that Christianity has a corner on the marketplace of these particular themes, so carrying on as if it does, or complaining that advancing a story-line which employs a familiar mythology in order to make a point is somehow dangerous rather than simply entertaining or educational, only cheapens the vast creative expanse of the psyche into which Christianity, and all religions across the world, have so successfully tapped. As Den Beste stated later in his post: "(E)ven if it may be true that 'The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe' contains a retelling of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, it's hard to see how anyone could interpret 'The Voyage of the Dawn Treader' (another book in the Narnian series -- ed.) as being directly derived from the gospel in any obvious way, let alone 'A Horse and his Boy'. . . . Speaking as an atheist, I'd really like to see Hollywood stop despising Christianity. Wouldn't that be nice?"

Speaking as another atheist, I'd have to agree.