Monday, January 02, 2006
Childhood series
This was a long time ago, but I remember going home from school one day and switching on the TV for an afternoon of fun. I cannot be more than ten. A show was coming on, British by the looks of it. The first image I remember from the show was that of a train pulling away from a station. The shot then changed into the interior, where we were introduced to two brothers and two sisters, on their way to the countryside. What followed after that was a story about a land frozen in snow, a witch that was responsible for it, a lion that appears to save the land and a piece of furniture that ties everything together.
That was my first introduction to C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I didn't even know it was based on a book then, just that it was a fine piece of storytelling. It was also only much later that I realised that there were more to the tales of Narnia when I picked up a copy of Prince Caspian and saw the word Narnia in the blurb on the back cover. Sad to say, I did not read the series in its entirety until many years later, at an age where C.S. Lewis remarked that we are too old to read fairy tales, yet not quite old enough to read them again yet. The tales themselves did not have that impact that the first one did on me; if anything, The Last Battle only serves to leave a slight bitter feeling in my mouth in an admitably bitter period in my life when it comes to this sort of thing.
Comparisons between Lewis and Tolkien are frequent, given not only that they were contemporaries, but also successful writers of children's books and also members of the Inklings. What is probably less known among the general public is that Tolkien was a strong influence in an atheist Lewis' conversion to Christianity. The irony was that Lewis became an Anglican, something that would drive a rift between him and his Catholic friend in due time.
Having not watched the movie yet, I can't say for sure that it does justice to Lewis' works. Reactions from the people I've polled were mixed, mostly from a difference in expectations. One complained about the battle scenes, expecting a repeat of LotR presumably. Another reviewer called the appearance of Father Christmas an "aberration in the flow of the story". *rolls eyes* There is never satisfying some people I suppose. ¶ 1:42:00 am
That was my first introduction to C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I didn't even know it was based on a book then, just that it was a fine piece of storytelling. It was also only much later that I realised that there were more to the tales of Narnia when I picked up a copy of Prince Caspian and saw the word Narnia in the blurb on the back cover. Sad to say, I did not read the series in its entirety until many years later, at an age where C.S. Lewis remarked that we are too old to read fairy tales, yet not quite old enough to read them again yet. The tales themselves did not have that impact that the first one did on me; if anything, The Last Battle only serves to leave a slight bitter feeling in my mouth in an admitably bitter period in my life when it comes to this sort of thing.
Comparisons between Lewis and Tolkien are frequent, given not only that they were contemporaries, but also successful writers of children's books and also members of the Inklings. What is probably less known among the general public is that Tolkien was a strong influence in an atheist Lewis' conversion to Christianity. The irony was that Lewis became an Anglican, something that would drive a rift between him and his Catholic friend in due time.
Having not watched the movie yet, I can't say for sure that it does justice to Lewis' works. Reactions from the people I've polled were mixed, mostly from a difference in expectations. One complained about the battle scenes, expecting a repeat of LotR presumably. Another reviewer called the appearance of Father Christmas an "aberration in the flow of the story". *rolls eyes* There is never satisfying some people I suppose. ¶ 1:42:00 am
