Thanks for linking that typically fabulous Morfordian rant. God, it would be a travesty if they murdered the Narnia books.
My pleasure. You know, it's interesting: I used to pray that all my favorite things would get adapted into movies (Neverwhere, sigh) but now I dread it. I think about Constantine and I quake and I dread it. Stupid Hollywood! Grr.
The thing is, they really are tacky Christian allegories (even as a nine year-old I noticed, and re-reading them as an adult I was amazed that I overlooked it so much)
They really are. I almost can't re-read them anymore. I re-read The Silver Chair recently and was shocked at how thin a lot of it is, and even how narratively ridiculous it is that Eustace and Jill do practically nothing. (I still like Puddleglum, though. He and Marvin could probably convince an entire village to kill itself.) But you're right that The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe still works for its "pagan" parts, and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader remains spectacular. (Reepicheep!)
The bile is due to the fact that it is no longer possible to buy the books in the order they were written; all the sets now start with The Magician's Nephew. I think starting with that book instead of TLtWatW presents a completely different reading experience, and that inserting The Horse and His Boy before Prince Caspian likewise interrupts the narrative flow of the series. Yet that's now the "official" way that the series will be introduced to a whole new generation of readers. And that makes me mad! (As you can see, I am able to get ridiculously mad about anything.)
I'm freaked by Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I'm not sure I want to see it--even for the Johnny. (And for the record: I don't like the old movie, either.)
I'd heard about Spielberg's 1972 Olympics movie, but I didn't know that it was being written by Tony Kushner. Now I'm intrigued too! Thanks. ;-)
Re: Mark Morford for President!
My pleasure. You know, it's interesting: I used to pray that all my favorite things would get adapted into movies (Neverwhere, sigh) but now I dread it. I think about Constantine and I quake and I dread it. Stupid Hollywood! Grr.
The thing is, they really are tacky Christian allegories (even as a nine year-old I noticed, and re-reading them as an adult I was amazed that I overlooked it so much)
They really are. I almost can't re-read them anymore. I re-read The Silver Chair recently and was shocked at how thin a lot of it is, and even how narratively ridiculous it is that Eustace and Jill do practically nothing. (I still like Puddleglum, though. He and Marvin could probably convince an entire village to kill itself.) But you're right that The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe still works for its "pagan" parts, and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader remains spectacular. (Reepicheep!)
The bile is due to the fact that it is no longer possible to buy the books in the order they were written; all the sets now start with The Magician's Nephew. I think starting with that book instead of TLtWatW presents a completely different reading experience, and that inserting The Horse and His Boy before Prince Caspian likewise interrupts the narrative flow of the series. Yet that's now the "official" way that the series will be introduced to a whole new generation of readers. And that makes me mad! (As you can see, I am able to get ridiculously mad about anything.)
I'm freaked by Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I'm not sure I want to see it--even for the Johnny. (And for the record: I don't like the old movie, either.)
I'd heard about Spielberg's 1972 Olympics movie, but I didn't know that it was being written by Tony Kushner. Now I'm intrigued too! Thanks. ;-)