Hey Netflix, Here's How to Do NARNIA Right
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- Опубликовано: 28 сен 2024
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I'll confess, as soon as I started editing this video I felt like I was too harsh on Prince Caspian. The continuity between the first two movies is pretty solid, save for the grimdark lore and convoluted royalty subplots. Voyage of The Dawn Treader though? Oof, man. It's rough. Anyway - which Narnia movie is your favorite, and which book would you like to see adapted in the future? Animated or live-action? I wanna hear all the ideas.
The fam over on Patreon got to see this video 2 weeks early! Go check out the Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/user?u=1017531
I always have a soft spot for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader because that was my favorite book when I was a kid. When Reepicheep leave at the end, that's the first time I remember crying while reading a book.
I haven't seen these movies in years, but I remember being pretty disappointed about Prince Caspian. They ignored much of what was in the book in favor of new material, and the stuff that was adapted from existing material missed the tone of the original completely. I think aging Caspian up to make him more of an adult to generate conflict between him and Peter was a mistake.
Voyage of the Dawn Treader is my favorite book, but it almost felt like they converted it into a video game plot (collect the seven swords) instead of doing anything substantial with it. That one is admittedly a series of vignettes with each chapter being more or less its own separate story, so it's harder to adapt.
The BBC miniseries were pretty cheesy, but I feel like they captured the tone of the stories better than anything else so far.
My favorite movie is the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe but, sometimes it's Prince Caspian. I would love to see all of the books that haven't been adapted yet. The Magician's Nephew, The Horse and His Boy and The Last Battle.
I liked all 3 movies. Just wish the Dawn Treader had a bigger budget and less green.
I want to see The Horse and His Boy. Fifth book in the series and my personal favorite.
"Do not recite the deep magic to me, witch! I was there when it was written"
My favorite movie opening of all time is still the opening of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The moment when the train is traveling through the meadows and that music hits all those perfect notes as the beautiful title card appears.. I tear up every time.
I grew up on the movies and the actors who played the characters, so to see someone else play Lucy or someone else voice Aslan would feel so wrong to me. I'm all for giving things chances, but I can't see this series hitting the mark. I really, really hope it does, but anytime GoT is mentioned with Tolkien or Lewis, I get cautious.
Spectacular video, Houston. I'm loving the topics you've been talking about lately.
I also love the opening and the music, so awesome! 😀
Lewis would be proud that Houston got his take on allegory and mythology right. Calling Narnia allegory cheapens it immensely...
I'm pretty sure C.S. Lewis has some criticism of alagory.
@@brickercustom I haven't heard about that but his friend tolkien said that
@@christaacree9759 I was wondering if it was actually the the case. Thanks
@@brickercustom no problem I know kinda useless/full nerdy info like that
@@christaacree9759 Hey, that why I watch videos like this.
I like how the core concept of the series is simply; if all-powerful Creator, therefor Multiverse. If Multiverse, therefor Multiverse Jesus.
Exactly.
Yup, The Mighty Creator of All
"Wait, you're saying there's a multi-verse?" -Spiderman
@@ellugerdelacruz2555 Yeah There is with different Alternate Realites.
@@Ponakalaranjit456
Looks like Narnia was more meta than we thought.
The Horse and His Boy is highly underrated, imo. Such a great story! I've always wanted to see more of those "in between" stories that took place between the books
I agree! At this point, those "in between" stories interest me more than the Pevensie stories. (Although I still love those very much too.)
I would love to see that story on screen
Honestly I don't really care about the entire series, if they adapt The Horse and His Boy like a Never Ending Story movie, I swear that will be the shape of water of the decade
Pd: now that I think about it, Guillermo del Toro should totally direct this.
It’s my favorite of the book series!
Facts
So, I'm not particularly confident in the direction Netflix is taking, but I think the Christian influence is vital.
Let me try to explain as a Christian. In Lewis' vision for the other worlds, they often play out like a literal interpretation of Genesis through to Revelation. God exists in a void of emptiness, He speaks Creation into being, Creation rebels, introducing evil, God takes on a mortal form to save Creation through Resurrection, later a false god appears, and God steps in to save those who believed, and Creation ends.
It's a lot more nuanced than that, but that's the basics. Also nothing happens by accident, it's all preordained. The White Witch is the evil that conquered a Fallen Creation, to set up the stakes of Sin. Aslan/God allows these children to witness this evil, and even allows Edmund to give in to temptation to work on the childrens' faith, to teach them (and by extension the audience), a decipherable way to understand the importance attributes of Christianity. But it's up to the children to accept or deny what they learned.
For example, and spoiler alert!
Susan stopped believing (didn't get saved), so she never enters the wonders of Aslan's realm (heaven). And the lion wasn't random either. In Christian Iconography, God is often depicted as a Lion and a Lamb. Many other parallels reside in the books. Reepicheep is like Enoch from Genesis, who was so faithful to God that, instead of dying like everyone cursed with Sin, was called by God to live with him in Heaven.
Long Story short, C. S. Lewis justified his multiverse to abide by the rules established in the Bible to help teach kids some the most important lessons and themes of the Bible. The kids only visit the important benchmarks of Narnia's history to enlighten them about the crucial aspects of the Christian faith.
In that way it's kind of like the Magic School Bus, media that's very purpose is to make the aspects of their world more digestible for children, whether it be faith or science.
Also it explores the premise about God's Omnipresence; if infinite universes exist, and it is possible for God to exist in just one of those universes, then, by being Omnipresent, He exists is EVERY universe simultaneously.
No
@@sanai97 Why did you say no?
@@taqresu5865 idk why that dude said no, but that was a wonderful explanation brother and I really appreciate it!
@@AndrewHenderson23 Thanks. What confuses me more is that I didn't really get a reply. If someone disagrees and follows it with an argument or explanation, there can at least be a conversation. Just saying "no" with not further context does nothing.
See thats what always turned me off from the Narnia books. See, I am pagan, and to me, the books especially the later books, always felt, for lack of a better term, preachy. There is stuff I enjoy, don't get me wrong. I love the fact that instead of using what would become the standard fantasy creatures (elves, dwarves, orcs, etc), he used more greco roman creatures like Satyrs, centaurs, minotaurs, et cetera. But the whole "Jesus lion" shit is really grading on me, and feels like those bad christian movies, except here there are good things, so it becomes hard to read to get past so I can enjoy the other aspects. Now, I wouldn't omit it entirely. But I can only hope the netflix series does a Prince of Egypt. See, I can enjoy Prince of Egypt, even though I am not Abherhamic, because its trying to tell a good story in creative way, with dramatic characters, stunning visuals, et cetera, without coming off as preachy.
Great video, Houston. You get Narnia.
My favorite Narnia Quote is when Lucy asks if Aslan is safe and Mr. Beaver tells her "He's not safe, but he is good."
They should re-film the ending scenes of the first movie now that the actors are the right age.
that'd be so sick!!
Narnia is very precious to me growing up and as a Christian it grew on me immensely when I found out that Aslan is Jesus, everything in the books and the movies began to make more sense and I think it has a beautiful way of introducing Jesus especially to young kids with Aslan always having great purpose in everything he does. It gives someone a sense of wonder and the perspective of choice and choosing to be good never gets old. Netflix better not screw this up.
Gotta say my favorite book is The Horse and His Boy. Those Focus on the Family Radio Theater dramatized audiobooks were my CHILDHOOD.
Horse and His Boy is my fave too. Legitimately crazy good story
focus on the family adaptations of Narnia books are amazing! David Suchet was a great voice actor for aslan. gentle where he needed to be, fierce where he needed. Stephen Thorne, though a great actor, was not the best voice actor for Aslan in the bbc long form radio adaptation. Thorne couldn't do gentle Aslan, and gentility is as much part of Aslan's character as being a fierce lion.
I think the way Netflix should do it is maybe with 6 episode series for the "core" books in the series, and then maybe have films (and maybe even shorts) alongside for other characters, so The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is a series, but then The Horse and His Boy is a film, and maybe if they want a smaller story, have a 20-40 minute short their story, maybe in an anthology series.
Just a thought, and to give you some engagement.
As a Christian, this is one of the best things I have loved about Narnia. Aslan is the Narnian form of Jesus and he talks to the humans about how they need to know him in their own world. This is why Narnia is always so special to me. I am also LDS and a little known thought in our expanded theology is that we are by far not the only people out there. We believe that there are worlds without number out there that are all God’s children and Jesus’s atonement applies to them too. You can see why this would then connect with me on an even deeper level, as when I read this as a child I was just thinking “yep, this is a fictional manifestation of this doctrine” that at the time I didn’t know other mainstream Christians including Lewis didn’t necessarily believe.
I dream with a good adaptation of The Magician's Nephew, I don't know why but that's my favorite narnia book, maybe because the adventure is a lot smaller scale and personal.
Magician’s Nephew is one of my favorites too! The idea of seeing the creation story in such an abstract, musical, expressive way has always been intriguing to me. Seems like something best achieved with animation for sure.
The only book I've read from the Narnia series is The Magician's Nephew, and I love it so much. I'll have to read the whole series at some point. I really hope they start the netflix adaptation off with The Magician's Nephew rather than with The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.
The “Wood Between The Worlds” is very well written!
Same... I also expect Digory's uncle to look like old Digory in Disney adaptation of TLTWATW 😂😂😂
They should get Studio Gibli to animate, that'd be something
YES! I'd actually pay and not leech off my friend's Netflixs accounts to watch it.
Trystn waller what about cartoon saloon, I think they could make a very good lion, the witch and the wardrobe.
@@calumarter I don't know them but I'll take your word for it! A serious(ish) animated version would be so awesome in my opinion, especially after watching the videos on this channel with their amazing artwork 😁
Yesss
If they did do it animated they probably use the same studio as son of Zeus and castlevania which in my opinion would be interesting to see
My favorite is The Silver Chair! I love when Puddleglum stands up to the witch and everything he says about Aslan's world being better than her world even if it's not real. I also found Jill to be a very relatable protagonist.
Your discussion on allegory is _so_ spot on! I think Lewis would agree.
When I tell people I'm writing my thesis on Narnia, I usually hear something like "Oh, yeah. Wasn't the lion supposed to be Jesus?". Gotta say, it's super refreshing to hear a more nuanced discussion on the whole thing. Really appreciate your work here. 👍
I hope it all works out for you guys. Me? I wrote off the Netflix live action ATLA remake.
Same for me, as both an ATLA and Narnia fan. xD
@@debzykvids is it so hard for them to work with the OG crew?
@@katherinealvarez9216 I really don't know, but I personally think Netflix's diversity quotas and demands for a darker, adult tone are to blame - which is what I worry could happen with Narnia too, unless the Lewis Estate get involved to moderate the creative decisions in development.
I haven't read the books personally but I do have the complete set that plan to read someday, as for my favorite line from the movies t's not word for word but when Peter says to Susan that the Beaver said he knows what happened to Mr. Thomson or whatever his name was and Susan's reaction
"He's a Beaver! He shouldn't be saying anything at all!"
Lol that line gets me every time I might go rewatch all 3 films now tat I'm reminiscing.
I never read them as a kid, the book cover with the unicorn with blood on it's horn always skived me out. Yes I know it was the cover of the last book now.
The only book I managed to read as a kid was The Magician’s Nephew and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I’ve always been fascinated by creation stories and myths in general, so reading the book after having watched The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe gave me a lot more insight to the world of Narnia. I do honestly want to read the whole series someday, but it has been hard to make the choice between picking up a book or picking up the tv remote to watch something.
My favorite adaptation is the BBC one. The Special effects don't hold up of course and they are a bit uneven as to the quality of the acting but even with a limited budget they managed to make Narnia feel as magical and wonderful as the books while the Walden movies felt a bit flat.
My favorite scene in the books is in The Last Battle despite the book as a whole coming in 6th. It's when Aslan explains that helping others and doing good is the important thing, not what religion you follow.
My favorite book is The Horse and His Boy. The four main characters are all really interesting and fun to spend time with. They are all flawed in different ways and we see them learn and grow as people. The story is exciting and fast paced. It was really great to see a little of Susan, Edmund, and Lucy as adults. I wish that we had gotten more of that.
The lion the witch and the wardrobe is one of my favorite movies of all time, even now that I'm *technically* an adult, and I absolutely think it's a perfect adaptation (the first one) so I'm really nervous for the Netflix adaptation, but I guess I'll be *cautiously optimistic*. :)
Also, I think the reason The Horse and His Boy is not as popular is because of the fairly racist stereotypes present in some of the Caloremen characters.
Also also, I love the marvel connections😂 Good video!
"the enemy kingdom"
The ones that start out as pirates are actually the Telmarines, and from Caspian X on to the end, they are converts, and even before that they have been somewhat close to Archenland.
The "enemy kingdom" as such is Calormen, and they are a kind of outcast from the Telmarines.
If you look at the Tash video or videos in Into the Wardrobe, there is a suggestion on how they became outcasts too.
Excellent points! I've always felt that the inclination to realism was a drawback in the earlier film adaptations. The wildness and joy of Narnia is one of its best features. The Horse and His Boy is my favourite of the Chronicles. I've thought about how it could be adapted quite a bit. I even tried to make a claymation version when I was in high school (The part I finished is on my channel.) and I'd like to write a stage play version since it's public domain in Canada.
Man you nailed this. Appreciate the time and thought out into this and how accurate and well spoken it is.
Thae Magicians Nephew is a great story of world building and how accidental it can be either by magic or random chemistry.
The Last Battle is freaking awesome and I can’t immediately think of a more satisfying ending. Great video dude!
I really don’t understand haters of the last battle. The ending was so unexpected and creative!
The silver chair is by far my favorite book in the series!
Horse and his boy is my favorite as well!!
i grew up watching the lion the witch and the wardrobe, and i have to say i would not want narnia to be an animated show, if they just did what the first movie did (actually being faithful to the books and keeping that wonder) then i would be down 100%
This was a really cool video and you’re one of the first RUclipsrs I’ve seen to talk about Narnia in this way 😯
My favorite Narnia book is The Silver Chair. I loved the description of Underland which made me think of a Skyrim/D&D type dungeon. Would be interesting to see how they will adapt Underland!
The Magician’s Nephew was my favorite book. I owned the boxed collection as a child with the gilded covers and occasional illustrations, but I read the Magician’s Nephew all the time. The other books slip from my memory, but the Magician’s Nephew was such a key part of my childhood. I was so fascinated by the Woods between worlds, and it still influenced a core concept in my own writings.
Wait you’re making tea, not coffee. I’ve been thinking this whole time it was coffee.
Wow I need to stop drinking coffee so much lol
TEA GANG ALL DAY LONG
@@houston-coley ALL MY HOMIES LOVE TEA
I would like to see more of the other countries in Narnia. That really intrigued me when I read The Horse and His Boy. It would be interesting to see different cultures emerge that are entirely different from anything we have on Earth.
Love the half live action, half animation idea!
THE SILVER CHAIR, that is such a great book, it would be great movie to be done, and the Horse and his boy, so nice...
Why aren’t there more views on this video? There’s too little for what is exactly what I’ve been thinking for years yet have been unable to articulate until I discovered this video. You reached into my brain and expressed perfectly what I’ve tried yet failed to explain about these books ever since I read them in 4th grade.
Goodness I hope that Netflix does the books justice, and your animated world idea is intriguing and I like it. Gotta be a 2D animation too, like in the style of Book of Kells or other stylized otherworldly animation.
Well both Tolkien and Lewis had allegories on their writings. But Lewi's allegory is far more known because Tolkien's allegory is written in the Silmarilion
Wow. Amazing examination of Aslan 🔥
Here is a list of what Netflix should not do for Narnia:
1. Netflix should not take the overall plot too far from the books. That was an issue with Walden's Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Instead of being about sailing into the unknown and finding seven lords, they made it about finding seven swords to fight the Green Mist. Now I expect changes to be made because that's what adaption does. However, Netflix should not make the Narnia stories about saving the world. For instance, while The Horse and His Boy is kind of a saving the world story, the overall plot should be about Shasta making this journey to Narnia and the North to learn more about himself. "Oh, I am not the son of this fisherman Arsheesh. Who am I then? Am I son of a Tarkaan or the Tisroc?" "Oh, I must be something Northern." That's what The Horse and His Boy be about.
2. Netflix should not include the Green Mist in Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Silver Chair. Walden had the Green Mist as a set up for the Lady of the Green Kirtle. Also, no green mist when Tash is coming into Narnia in The Last Battle. We don't need to tie the Green Mist to Tash; having to it to the Green Lady as was bad enough.
3. Now whichever actress Netflix get to play the White Witch, they should not put her in The Silver Chair to allude to this whole idea that the White Witch and the Green Lady are the same person. I mean, it should be made clear why they're not the same person, kind of like, "Oh, why aren't Prince Rabadash and Rishda Tarkaan the same person? Do I need to list the reasons?" It is such a huge concern for hard-core Narnia fans because it seemed that Walden was trending in the direction of setting up the White Witch to become Lady of the Green Kirtle in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. No, the Green Lady needs to be her own villain. It would almost be like casting the same actor to play Prince Rabadash in The Horse and His Boy and Rishda Tarkaan in The Last Battle, which I don't want either. I'd like Rishda to be his own villain. I mean, you can have two evil witches in Narnia history, but they don't have to be the same one. You can also have two arrogant princes or Tarkaans or whatever in Calormen history, but they don't have to be the same one.
Good points especially about the universe crossing weirdness. The straight allegorical elements start diverging by the second book, anyway. Someone just needs to adapt the 7 stories in one way or another and call it a day. And unlike with Lord of the Rings, The Witcher, Game of Thrones, whoever adapts these needs to think of themselves as a child playing with toys rather than someone creating a massive epic. There is a feeling of an unseen someone driving everything that goes on in these stories, and I do think that's on purpose.
Yo, how come I haven't found you before?
Hight quality, super asthetic background and at the same time it just felt like we had a good talk about narnia, you and me. Very cool. More :)
I have never watched some one who understands the intricacies of this universe more than you.
Haven’t read them in a decade but from what I remember of them my favs best to worst are:
1. Voyage of Dawn Treader
2. Lion Witch Wardrobe
3. Magicians Nephew
4. Prince Caspian
5. The Horse and his Boy
6. Silver Chair
7. Last Battle
Voyage is the most fun, LWW is iconic. MN is so creative, Prince C is good. Don’t remember HB and SC as much but I do remember that the Last Battle was such a pathetic battle, it was like 15 dogs vs 50 men, not very epic imo
I absolutely loved the way you gave your opinion without spoilers! I’m in the process of reading the books and I was scared to watch this in fear of having the books spoiled! You said just enough to get me more excited about reading it without ruining it!
13:23 This is truly an extremely creative and amazing idea!
As a kid I loved the horse and his boy because I loved seeing more of the reign of the “kids”, I wonder how they’d adapt it if they were to? Maybe instead of finishing of the lion the witch and the wardrobe with the kids going back they’d move to that story to keep it chronological, but I’m not sure if that would work. That’s probably why it’s rarely been adapted.
This was also my favorite book
Great thoughts! Agree with most of them. I think the way The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe movie handled everything was spot on. There was enough of that faith based idea surrounding Aslan being Christ in Narnia to satisfy my love for that concept, but not so much to turn off casual viewers who don’t know it or don’t care. I worry Netflix would completely obscure that idea. Like you said, Aslan is the glue. If they downplay his deity or his role, Narnia loses a lot of its magic
I looove the Last Battle. I confess i only got the interest to read the books after listening to the full Radio Drama versions.
I'd love to see Narnia as a musical movie though. It will perfectly capture the emotional tone of the stories, at least the balance of joy and epicness, if done right.
Completely agree with all of this, also YES to it being animated! I think such a whimsical, wacky world really needs a more artistic and flexible medium. I adore the first live action movie but some of the other books are much harder to adapt, I still have no idea how they could even attempt the ending of the last book. That being said, I wish I could be cautiously optimistic but... nothing about Netflix's track record gives me hope. Just look at what they did to Winx Club- doesn't matter who's working on it when the higher-ups just want a low-cost copy of another successful property.
From what I remember I liked Silver Chair the best as a book. Mainly because of Puddleglum I believe was his name haha
U sir just blew my mind thank you.I can't wait to see the Netflix show although I'm terrified they will butcher it like the avatar the last airbender movie.u saying they take inspiration from game of thrones doesn't do much to give me hope considering the last 2 seasons of that show.
My favorite moment in the movie was probably when we saw all the frozen citizens? It was really creepy. I really believed they were frozen in there and really hoped they would get free somehow. Great video as always😄
The Horse and His Boy is my favorite.
Lion witch and wardrobe is favorite close second is prince Caspian entirely because of repachepe lol
I don't know that I could pick a favorite Narnia book. I'm partial to Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, but only because I've read it more times than the others. However, I can tell you my favorite scene in the Narnia books: Aslan turning Eustace back into a boy in Dawn Treader. Such a beautiful depiction of our need for a Savior. Best quote from that scene is when Eustace asks Edmund who Aslan is and if he knows him, to which Edmund replies, "Well - he knows me. He is the great Lion, the son of the Emperor-beyond-the-Sea, who saved me and saved Narnia."
if you read, the world according to Narnia, there is a letter from a concerned parent right at the beginning that was written to CS Lewis. the parent is worried their child is becoming closer to Aslan than they are to Jesus. Lewis's reply is interesting.
Ah, I'm so glad you mentioned the Wood Between the Worlds...... Those pools fascinated me as a child...... Still one of my all-time favorite elements in any of the major fantasy franchises!
I'm actually more curious to see what Netflix does with the non-Pevensie books in the series. I always had a soft spot for the Eeyore-like Puddleglum in "The Silver Chair" so I hope they do our little friend justice! In general, I *really* hope Netflix gets this right...... These books finally deserve a worthy screen adaptation!
One more random thought...... I've always really loved when series bring all the characters back together in the end, à la "Endgame". I must have first read "The Last Battle" around 2003 when - of all things to bring up - "Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over" was released, because I can clearly remember making the connection between all the Narnia friends returning and Juni Cortez summoning all the "Spy Kids" characters back together at the end of that film and realizing for the first time that "bringing the gang all together" generally makes for a genuinely satisfying conclusion for most any series. 🤗
My favorite was The Horse and His Boy (even adored the reversal in the title, when we'd usually get The Boy and His Horse). I have to say, though... as a non-Christian kid first seeing the BBC show, then finding my friend got TLTWATW as a gift and reading it at her place, then bit by bit finding and buying all the books in the store, I had NO idea that the whole thing was about Jesus. Nothing, nada, completely lost on me. And yeah, I'm not a Christian, but I knew a bit about Jesus (my grandma told me some stories, there was some cultural references I absorbed), but I never made the connection. When I heard about it, my mind was blown. And I'm not sure that in a good way. I think I felt a bit cheated. I was rooting for Aslan! Seeing an animal (on the BBC show) tied down, abused and killed played on my sentiments for animals, then it turns out that was a way to bring in Jesus through the back door? Oooof, no. That was as disturbing as discovering that Susan, who was an equal partner, no less than Peter, in previous adventures, was somehow not good enough to be a part of the Last Battle. She was the girl who fought and kicked ass! And now she's... expelled? And not only does she not get to "heaven" (hey, I may not have known about Jesus=Aslan, but it's hard to miss the Judgment Day atmosphere in The Last Battle), in *our world* for as long as it still exists, she has to be alone and grieving. That was cold, man.
Anyhow, your take is the first that I've heard about the books as anything other than an allegory. And while... what you present is still, in part, an allegory, I feel a bit better about this take, because it means Lewis wasn't trying to preach to me/convert me, he was trying to express himself and his faith. And that feels less manipulative towards readers whose non-Christian faith matters to them. And IDK, maybe he still wanted to do both, but... it leaves more room for me to enjoy looking at Lewis exploring these ideas without feeling like I'm subconsciously agreeing to/accepting a faith that isn't mine. So I guess this is a very long winded way of saying - thank you.
I can't wait to come back to this video in December after I've taken a Narnia class (and thus, hopefully have read all seven books by then). I read THE MAGICIAN'S NEPHEW; THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE; and PRINCE CASPIAN in grade school, but it has been a while. I fully support that live-action/animation pitch, though (hand-drawn all the way on that one). Netflix should get Tomm Moore for something there.
TOMM MOORE NARNIA I WOULD LOSE MY MIND
...maybe I'll be revisiting this sooner than I thought, because my syllabus for this class has an essay on it in which I'm supposed to discuss Aslan as "both a 'real' character with his own fictional existence and personality and as an allegory for Christ." So.
I have long thought that doing Narnia in GoT style could be phenomenal. The books aren't long, but there is enough small things about characters that some expanded story with them would be excellent. It all comes down to the acting.
Funny you should bring this up. There is actually this brand new Christian show that became available 2 years ago for free called The Chosen. The program literally tells the life of Jesus Christ through the perspective of the people that knew him best in his life. Netflix just need to take one or two concepts from that show, and they should be right. Nothing too religious. Just be bold enough to ask why Narnia is the way it is, and what made the people that lived there make the choices that they made. They also owe it to their author to portray Aslan in a way that gives off that level of divinity that is needed for the story to make sense. You could even make him Turkish, Mediterranean, or middle eastern in some way. Just a good voice actor from that region of the world. God knows we need more representation on TV. That's a good place to start.
And after a whole year.... We have heard NOTHING about Netflix making Narnia. No release date, no casting announcement, NOTHING.
13:29
Like in READY PLAYER ONE!!!
It’s live action in the real world but church animation in the virtual world
I just wanna say that I really enjoyed this video, thank you! :) Maybe the Netflix show could work in the style of the “What If...” serie from Marvel?
The first movie is absolutely my favourite. It's strongly associated with the winter spirit and atmosphere in my mind. So for me, no Christmas Must Watch list goes without this one. As for books adaptations, it would be nice to see 'The Magician's Nephew'. I don't know why, but as I was reading it, Digory's uncle seemed to be a real sketch to my mind, so it would be cool to see such a twist towards a more creepy genre >< Plus the witch queen - quite enough space to go wild. But I don't insist. In general it's a bunch wholesome family friendly stories that shouldn't be overwhelmed with 'director's view and creativity' ;)) I don't know what to expect, however I'd like to hope another Netflix adaptation won't go out of hand.
P.S. Best wishes to the channel!
My favorite book of the series is The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, followed closely by The Magician's Nephew. And the movie adaptation of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe is one of my favorite movies ever.
I'm really excited to (hopefully) see all 7 books adapted this time around. I am a little concerned on Netflix doing both movies and tv series, I'd be more optimistic if they chose one or the other. But if they do tv seasons for all the books and movies for the "universe" stuff they want to add (or vice versa) I'd be fine with that.
I'm defenitely in the same boat in that I'm cautiously optimistic about this new Narnia adaptation. Personally I really like the previous movie attempts (especially the Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe) and I have praised them over the years as some of the closest book-movie adaptations we have gotten in a long time (with probably the exception of the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, but they really nailed Eustace in that film). Considering the time and the money restraints these movies had over them it's really impressive that they still hold up nearly 20 years later. And I say restraints because I'm almost certain most of the movie money and time was being spent on bigger properties such as the Harry Potter films and the Lord of the Rings movies. I'm really curious on the style of the adaptation more than anything. Will it be live-action? Animation? CGI? I'm personally hoping for animation mainly because of the fantasy elements.
These religious aspects of Narnia are things I never realized because I’m not religious but I always did hear that u see it more clearly in narnia rather than Lord of the rings
Our ruling elite is hostile toward Christianity and if you expurgate Christianity from Narnia, you have removed the heart of the story. The reason most people found the ending of Game of Thrones (GoT) unsatisfying is that after wading through blood to get there and witnessing the horrific deaths of many characters some of whom we liked, nothing changes. GoT is set in a nihilistic universe in which the higher powers are disconnected from good and evil. It tells us nothing enobling or inspiring. Even its own creator George R.R. Martin finds the story a weary slog and therefore he will NEVER complete it. The Dark Materials franchise has the same problem. The Creator of it; Philip Pullman, explicitly set out to create the "anti-Narnia". It was intended to be a fantasy for children "inoculating" them against ideas of Christianity which Pullman; as a militant atheist, believes to be false and dangerous. Has the world really gotten better by abandoning the religious idea of a moral universe? If you believe it has, you have not lived through the last half century which I have. While not perfect the world of my boyhood was tremendously better than this one of transgenderism, political corruption and totalitarian politics. In those days the question was "Which Church do you go to?" and not "Do you still believe in God?". People were happier. Netflix produced a series called "The Magicians" in which one of the characters could go into a sexualized, violent world patterned after Narnia in which the character based on C.S. Lewis was depicted as sexual predator on children. I have no hope that anything Netflix produces will be respectful of either C.S. Lewis; the man, or his vision.
While I generally prefer published order to chronological order, I do hope that they'll start with The Magician's Nephew in the next adaptation. Reason being there have already been 3 movies of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. Prince Caspian and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader have 2. Even The Silver Chair has one. So it'd be nice to start with something new.
13:18 "The Pagemaster" is what I thought of.
Listen, I read all the books as a kid, then was a big fan of the movies (which I rewatch every once in a while because 1 and 2 are comfort movies) but I’ve never reread any of the books so some things you mentioned were like “oh yeah, I think I remember that” but others were just “what the actual heck, I don’t remember any of this” so, in conclusion, a Narnia reread might be in order after approximately 15 years (give or take) 😅😅😅
I hope that they make the last movie too. But so far who ever makes it never gets that far. It needs to be well- done with good special effects to bring about the end of the world and keeping to Lewis's story of the afterlife part.
The wonder of the children in first discovering Narnia is exactly why Harper Collins is utterly wrongheaded (Douglas Gresham notwithstanding) to publish the series with The Magician's Nephew first, for a 'chronological' order. Read them in publication order. Mind, as a prequel, The Magician's nephew jumps through a lot of plot hoops to explain why there's a lamppost in the middle of a forest, but that's always a problem with prequels. Reading The Magician's Nephew first utterly kills the magic of seeing this wonderful and inexplicable object, to say nothing of the introduction of Aslan.
Oddly, the low-budget and low-key 1980s BBC adaptations of Narnia (with Tom Baker as Puddleglum!) were more satisfying in many ways than the feature films. BBC children's productions reached a kind of peak in the 1980s. See 'The Box of Delights', for example.
Your insight that Aslan is a _portrayal_ of Christ, and not an _allegory_ is a good one. People overwork the word 'allegory'.
My favourite book has to be the silver chair, personally. Also i love this video! And agree that its nice to talk about narnia and reminisce. I think it has the potential to become as big as it’s fantasy counterparts (harry potter, lotr etc.) and Disney missed this chance (although i still love the films!) I also think Netflix should definitely take a look at the old BBC Narnia TV show!
The key to a successful franchise is sticking to the script CS Lewis wrote.
I cannot recommend enough the book Planet Narnia by Michael Ward to fully grasp the series.
I could not believe all the “Easter eggs“ I missed that CS Lewis put throughout the stories.
I love that book!
I read all but The Silver Chair when I was around 12 or 13 (took us a while to find a copy of Silver Chair, so my interest had kind of faded by then), and I agree that that series is significantly weirder than the movies let on. I still have a special kind of nostalgia for the movie version of TLTWATW (especially given I knew it was partially filmed in New Zealand with Andrew Adamson, a NZ director, which as an kid from NZ was pretty neat to find out, and probably helped influence my desire to create films).
My favorite book would have to be either Horse and His Boy or Silver Chair. Both are significantly less well known; both show the power of Aslan so well. Favorite scenes include Aslan's country, the reminder of the signs, and "I was the lion" just from those books. I need to stop before I make this an essay.
PS- Anyone who wants more well done Narnia content should check out the Focus on the Family dramatized audiobooks. (ruclips.net/video/uGKAIfwMZCI/видео.html&ab_channel=BeardedWiseman)
If they made a movie or show from all the books in order, I would be happy.
To think Lewis wrote all the Narnia books in 4-5 years is just an insane.
After thinking about it, stories like the Chronicles Of Narnia and Alice in Wonderland are in the Isekai genre
And they were both equally weird...
Great takes, mate
Very good analysis, good points.
The Horse and His Boy is actually my favorite, more like that would be nice for me
Always wanted to explore and appreciate the works of C.S.Lewis in a deeper way, so this video was super fascinating to me! I like they way the incorporated worldbuilding into the Narnia movies, but I completely agree that the childlike wonder and themes should take priority!
Hey Houston, I'd love to hear your review of the "Most Reluctant Convert" movie.
Now I'm wondering if the world between worlds in star wars rebels was inspired by the wood between worlds
Lewis’ sense of irony would probably prefer an animated Earth and a live action Narnia. Or maybe I’m just too interested in The Great Divorce… 13:20
I love this idea, ahahaha.
you should just .. send this to Netflix and hope they listen
I became a fan of the Narnia Chronicles when I was six years old, when I read The Voyager Of The Dawn Treader (I read the books in a rather random order, reading Prince Caspian last). That was more than half a century ago, so I didn't grow up with the Walden Media films, or even the BBC series from the late 80s and early 90s, which I hated because it was so cheaply done. The special effects were like those in Doctor Who from the early 70s. But, shock horror! I'm not a Christian, and so I think that the worst thing any adaptation of Narnia could do would be to overstress the religious content to the extent that they're practically bashing the audience over the head with the Bible. Lewis got it just right; yet I don't think he intended the books to be evangelistic tracts for children.
My favourite book is The Horse And His Boy, and my favourite non-book line from the Walden films is when the Pevensies meet Father Christmas and Lucy says with a smirk to the others, "See, I told you he was real."
actually give me a series on the talking animals , Phillip was a sassy horse
I think maybe stick to the Pevensie thread, and instead have the spin-offs be centered on the Magician's Nephew, Silver Chair, and A Horse and His Boy.
"That lion" its freaking Aslan. Obviously you know it just sounded funny in the moment.
Cool Lego bonsai tree I hope to get one myself. Which would you recommend the blossom or regular version?
actually, the bonsai set comes with both! it's lovely.
I like your analysis, well thought out. BTW, there is no such word as adaption. You’ve left out a syllable. It’s a-d-a-p-t-a-t-i-o-n (adaptation).
"The Last Battle is this super satisfying ending"
*** unless you're Susan
Prince Caspian is epic