Early Bird Lions, Witches and Wardrobes!

I hadn't, but the whole 'sweet rationing' thing definitely made me more sympathetic towards Edmund.

Jill Bearup

Excellent, my cunning plan is working :D And thanks!

Jill Bearup

Thanks for this! Ever since your review about Susan, I wanted to reread some of the Narnia books. Basically, I read The Last Battle, The Magician's Nephew, and The Horse and His Boy, in that order, because I no longer care about continuity. This is such an awesome video. And yes, I agree that with the Narnia books, overexposure can work against a book. In my case, Prince Caspian was my least favorite of all the Narnia books as a kid. I'm not sure why, except maybe it seemed more grown-up than I really wanted at the time. Also, definitely want to write a Susan fanfic now.

On a semi-related note, have any other Narnia fans read this? It also kind of sort of made me tear up a bit. Just a little. <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/turkish-delight/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://daily.jstor.org/turkish-delight/</a>

I'm pretty sure it wasn't actually a secret plan to evangelise the world with lions...I mean I COULD be wrong... :)

Jill Bearup

Well if the Chronicles of Narnia were supposed to secretly induct me into Christianity they sure didn't work because I'm pretty damn Jewish despite reading those books obsessively as a kid (I didn't even notice any Christian symbolism, and remember being totally baffled by the whole "Aslan as a lamb talking about how he existed on Earth under another name" bit that happens at the end of the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which is probably the part where Lewis got the most explicit).

TheLibrarianSaysOok

There is a duel, and its epic. The single best sword fight I've ever seen on film, and I love sword fights. In the movie, the final climax is Aslan summoning a water elemental. Not sure if the book matches exactly, its been too many years since I read them. I'll have to check out rthstewart, sounds intriguing. My pleasure, your work is professional grade. You should be compensated for it. I find its rather easy to say nice things about talented and compassionate people. (:

Happy 150! I had the opposite experience with Narnia than most of my friends did growing up. I liked the BBC movie (which my mom took great pains to record during the one weekend a month when some of the TV stations would offer free trials, we were very poor), but found the books boring. I've always been good at picking up allusions to Christianity in books, even though I'm generally bad at interpreting symbolism in fiction. So I hated it as a kid but learned to appreciate it as an adult after learning more about Lewis. I've learned to respect faith (so long as no one forces theirs on me), and I think reinterpreting your understanding of your religion into other stories is a beautiful, personal and intellectual undertaking. My friends all loved the books as kids, and were deeply hurt when they realized they were propaganda. They felt like they'd been lied to. I think the real lesson to learn is that all media expresses the world view of its creator in some way and its well worth examining it in that light, not that reader interpretation isn't just as important.

De

His "LIar, Lunatic or Lord" argument is terrible, though.

Anders

We need more Bible fan-fic out there. Although you should probably be careful with the slash-fic. Just sayin'.

Anders

There's a duel at the end of Prince Caspian, right? And then a battle? I am a big fan of rthstewart's take on the post-Caspian Pevensies, as it manages pretty well the tension between 'Aslan is with us' and their arrival back in England. And how different they have become because they're basically 30 year olds in child bodies, and 30 year olds used to being In Charge. Thank you so much for being a Patron! :) And also for saying nice things. I always appreciate that.

Jill Bearup

I am not the greatest fan of The Last Battle, but yes, it's very...Revelation-y. And YES, please imagine with me: Title: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE. Summary: Bible AU with real-world crossover characters. What if Jesus were a lion, evil was a Witch, and it was always winter and never Christmas? Part 1 of ?

Jill Bearup

Gotta admit, the main attraction of Aravis when I was a small person was that she had a HORSE. Or that a horse had her, to quote Bree. :)

Jill Bearup

Thank you!

Jill Bearup

"...being a story about how the story of Christ might play out in another world..." so it's Christian fan-fic? You should try reading "The Last Battle" and "Book of Revelations" side by side. It's really interesting to see all the parallels.

Anders

Your one of the best analysts on Patreon, and anyone who likes art should give you a buck or two. I'm a rather hard nosed producer, supporting only top talent. On to CS Lewis. My only complaint about the Narnia stories is that Aslan constantly yanks agency away from the rest of the cast. I get that this is a very Christian "Give it to Jesus" thing. Suffice to say that I don't like the idea in real life, and I find it problematic for fiction. It inevitabely makes your cherished religious icon a kind of Mary\Martin Sue who has to be constantly managed in some form or another. Either they are teaching a stern lesson, or going through another death\resurrection cycle. Disney's Prince Caspian is actually one of my favorite films, but I hate the ending. The movie is full of dark consequences, never going easy on our young protagonists. That is, until the magic Neeson lion finally shows up and circumvents all of that built up conflict. The fundamental problem for me is that I agree with Peter's growing feeling that he must be his own lion now, as must his siblings. That's the arc I see, and then Lewis tries but fails to convince me otherwise. He turned what I viewed as a story about rugged independence in a darkening world into a tale of passive obedience. I rather dislike passive obedience, in all its manifestations. lol.

Aravis! My "introduction" to CS Lewis was a Russian translation edition that contained 4 books in chronological order, so The Magician's Nephew was first, and The Horse and His Boy (Col and Aravis... swoon, not because I remember much about them but I remember my 10-ish-year-old swooning) would've been... 3rd or 4th. I was shocked to learn that TMN is not "really" the 1st book.

Alina

Congrats on 150! Can't wait for the next 150.