Seems there’s a buzz surrounding the Gerwig film - “Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew” that opens in 2027 ( or maybe it’s just me getting algorithm’ed with these trailers). Feels like C.S. Lewis‘ works get some renewed attention every few years as studios seem to be making bets on known titles. Having watched the trailer, it does look like another dire loud and uninspiring adaptation incoming with some rock n’ roll thrown in to enliven otherwise dull proceedings and leads to appeals into the void like below.
Disney’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe that came out in 2005 was boring to me, though it has plenty of fans per the IMDB reviews. There are 7 books in the Chronicles of Narnia series and the stories are rich in mythology and some overt religious symbolism at times. I don’t try to read too deep into the personal beliefs of a lot of fiction writers from that time, because those beliefs usually just reflect the world they were living in and don’t hold up to scrutiny sometimes ( especially when viewed through a non-anglo lens) and tend to get preachy.
I first encountered C.S. Lewis’ works the unconventional way while listening to the King’s X 1988 album ‘Out of the Silent Planet‘. This one spun many times in my beat-up cassette player and as a side-effect drew me to the world of screwtapes, malacandra and lions.
My first read of ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ was as memorable as reading any of the usual classics like LOTR.
The most endearing part being the return to childhood after the years of Narnia behind them in the end and a few minutes gone in the house not to mention the return of Aslan the lion despite being killed in Narnia. Though at times, it did seem like too many myths to track in one fantastically unbelievable story as Tolkien apparently thought.
‘Out of the Silent Planet’ and ‘Perelandra’ were real headspinners, Mars and Venus, then back to England truly an interplanetary experience between sci-fi and fantasy. The National Institute of Co-ordinated Experiments (N.I.C.E) in ‘That Hideous Strength’ is reminiscent of our time with clandestine thought-policing prevalent in social media. That an institute can train people to want whatever it chooses makes me think CS had a premonition.
I wish studios would stop fixating on the Narnia stories and look at Lewis’ Sci-fi phase. Maybe start with That Hideous Strength or a cinematic larger-than-life experience of “Out of the silent planet’ will be a much needed respite from the Avenger reboots or even singing lions.
His style of combining ethics, religion and anthropology make his sci-fi works an engrossing mix especially with themes that deal with questioning how your culture defines you. ‘Out of the Silent Planet’ has Weston defining humans as the species that spreads and takes in a reference to colonization and what pushes humanity to act that way.
‘Narnia’ by Steve Hackett, off Please Don’t Touch, was another encounter.
Here’s my shot at replicating that intro.
