Came upon a site that has an actual letter from C.S. Lewis himself about his thoughts on The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
It was from a Prof. James E. Higgins who corresponded with Lewis in July 1962. His most interesting comment about Lewis' answers was:
Lewis does not ask his readers to search for meaning, and there is no promised deepening of appreciation for those who do. The reader is merely asked to open the eyes of his heart so that he can truly respond to the sufferings and joys of Aslan the Lion. And this the child can do perhaps far better than the adult. And this is the reason why The Chronicles of Narnia are children’s books, no matter who may read them.
Can you just imagine what C.S. Lewis would think of Narnia the movie? OK, sure, the screenwriter is an Emmy winner and for those who haven't read the book, it can be cute. Unfortunately, I've been in love with the books for 8 years. Couldn't help being a bit disappointed at the many details that were left out or, more horribly, changed. While the Christian element wasn't left out, the children were whittled down to ordinary kids who were temporarily orphaned because of the war and had personal issues to deal with.
In the book, the 4 children who were prophesied to be Kings and Queens in a land that secretly existed were larger than life because of the enchantment that the Wardrobe pulled them into. Narnia is far more vast and surprising than what the movie hopelessly tried to show with its itsy bitsy details of magic here and there.
I wish they just did away with the WW2 part at the start. It wasn't in the book and it wasn't important at all. If it was, Lewis would have gone back to that little detail through the whole book. Having the WW2 scene at the start destroyed the "suspending disbelief" element of fantasy. Thus, the kids were going back to their real Earthly lives so often throughout the whole movie. Now, if you really read the book, you'll see that once they all got into Narnia, they completely forgot about the lives they left for a minute outside the Wardrobe. And that is how it's meant to be.
When you were a kid, didn't you sometimes imagine yourself to be suddenly and mysteriously (no matter how, only you knew how) swept away into a secret corner in this world where you were the hero? First time I watched The Neverending Story, I could totally relate to it. See, I had this secret magic land (it had a map, too!) called Wonderland where I could go back to any time I want just by standing or sitting really still for a few minutes and then time would stop and a quick woosh of the wind would take me into this enchanted domain.
It was from a Prof. James E. Higgins who corresponded with Lewis in July 1962. His most interesting comment about Lewis' answers was:
Lewis does not ask his readers to search for meaning, and there is no promised deepening of appreciation for those who do. The reader is merely asked to open the eyes of his heart so that he can truly respond to the sufferings and joys of Aslan the Lion. And this the child can do perhaps far better than the adult. And this is the reason why The Chronicles of Narnia are children’s books, no matter who may read them.
Can you just imagine what C.S. Lewis would think of Narnia the movie? OK, sure, the screenwriter is an Emmy winner and for those who haven't read the book, it can be cute. Unfortunately, I've been in love with the books for 8 years. Couldn't help being a bit disappointed at the many details that were left out or, more horribly, changed. While the Christian element wasn't left out, the children were whittled down to ordinary kids who were temporarily orphaned because of the war and had personal issues to deal with.
In the book, the 4 children who were prophesied to be Kings and Queens in a land that secretly existed were larger than life because of the enchantment that the Wardrobe pulled them into. Narnia is far more vast and surprising than what the movie hopelessly tried to show with its itsy bitsy details of magic here and there.
I wish they just did away with the WW2 part at the start. It wasn't in the book and it wasn't important at all. If it was, Lewis would have gone back to that little detail through the whole book. Having the WW2 scene at the start destroyed the "suspending disbelief" element of fantasy. Thus, the kids were going back to their real Earthly lives so often throughout the whole movie. Now, if you really read the book, you'll see that once they all got into Narnia, they completely forgot about the lives they left for a minute outside the Wardrobe. And that is how it's meant to be.
When you were a kid, didn't you sometimes imagine yourself to be suddenly and mysteriously (no matter how, only you knew how) swept away into a secret corner in this world where you were the hero? First time I watched The Neverending Story, I could totally relate to it. See, I had this secret magic land (it had a map, too!) called Wonderland where I could go back to any time I want just by standing or sitting really still for a few minutes and then time would stop and a quick woosh of the wind would take me into this enchanted domain.
