The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis are some of the most famous children's books with over a 100 million copies sold. Lewis intended them to be thinly-veiled Christian allegories and Christian messages are present throughout the seven books of the series. Therefore, Lewis' works provide an interesting example of a Christian author purposefully inserting his faith into a fantasy narrative - Narnia is a direct attempt to spread the Christian message through pop culture.
They are great books, I read them as a child and continue to enjoy them. Lewis expertly combines fantastic stories of adventure with deeper questions about faith and belief. I love reading about the epic battles as much as pondering the words of Aslan. I'd recommend reading the books if you haven't yet, they are pretty easy reads.
Given the popularity and discussion over these books I've decided to do several posts on them, not particularly in any order or over any time frame through. It's also worth stating that, though these books have a special place in my heart, I don't read them uncritically. There are elements of all of the books which are problematic and the series has received critique. Hopefully we can learn things from what the books mishandle as well as what it does right. Feel free to skip on now to a Narnian post which intrigues you or stay here as I wade through the murky waters of the whole idea of Narnia combining Christianity and pop culture.
So - the relationship between Christianity and pop culture is something which I find very interesting and the Narnia series offers an example of someone using pop culture, in the form of fantasy stories, to help people to understand the Christian message. As readers, we can use the books to explore the Christian message and as well as our views on how it is portrayed. Let's take the example of Aslan, Lewis' Jesus allegory. Through Aslan Lewis hoped that his readers could gain a better understanding of God. Now we as the readers can be taught in this way but we can also examine Lewis' views on God, through the character of Aslan, to disagree with Lewis if we want.
Lewis intended the Narnia books to be allegories and they deal with religious ideas directly. Other works, such as the Lord of the Rings, were created to contain Christian messages but not to be so direct about it - preferring themes over direct metaphors. Other works still inadvertently contain Christian ideas, such as Star Wars I'd argue, perhaps due to the cultural background of the creators.
I also believe, a theory which I am still exploring, that there are certain ideas or beliefs which all humans hold or are drawn to. Things like do not kill, looking after the vulnerable and seeking relationships appear to be held by almost all humans with scientific theories like evolution perhaps explaining this. But I do also believe that there are spiritual beliefs which we all are drawn to in different ways. Things like the notion of a personal God, the motif of a God being sacrificed and even just the simple belief that there must be more to life than this mortal world. I think that the idea of God loving us and sacrificing himself for us is the ultimate Truth of this world, a narrative we are all draw to and is somewhere in our consciousness or subconsciousness. Regardless, the undoubtedly commonplace nature of these beliefs perhaps explain why popular culture contains 'accidental' Christian or at least spiritual messages.
So leaving that tangent and getting back to the main topic, Lewis was direct in his Christian message and embedded these ideas within a fantasy narrative. Reading the books you can see that Lewis genuinely cared about these fantasy aspects and the wider narrative, separate from their religious purpose. Unlike, for example the Pilgrim's Progress, the Narnia books can work simply as an enjoyable story. Lewis doesn't just see pop culture as a means to an end but something to be enjoyed within itself. In one of his other works, The Screwtape Letters, he expresses the importance of enjoying things for their own sake and reading can be an example of this.
The target audience for Narnia is children but they are read and enjoyed by adults which Lewis himself references and supports in his heart-warming dedication of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. He calls them fairy-tails and said that 'since it is so likely that (children) will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage'. We can enjoy the stories as fairy-tails and have that child-like enjoyment regardless of our age.
The simplicity of this enjoyment can also mean that we can accept the simple religious messages of the books like children. Ideas which Narnia explores such as sacrifice, salvation and faith are complex but the way they are presented is for children and so they are clearly and creatively presented in a way to make them simple to understand. Some ideas expressed in Narnia can, and perhaps should be questioned, but I think that we can accept some of them with this childlike faith. Aslan dying for a traitor is what Jesus did for us, and we can accept this story of God's love for us with the unquestioning trust of children. The Bible said that we should have a childlike faith, of trust and pure joy, and reading books like Narnia could help with that. Especially if you read these books as a child, re-reading them as adults can ignite this childlike faith.
We aren't children though and it is unavoidable that we read things with a critical eye. The Narnia series, with the criticism it has faced, provides a case study for us to explore and think about how we react to problematic elements in media and our responsibilities, if we have them, as readers.
On a larger level, no allegory is perfect and this is a key thing to bear in mind when looking for religious messages in pop culture, whether they were intended or not. How can we possibly explain the ultimate Truth in any human words? Especially when combing this Truth with pop culture? As humans I believe that nothing we can do will be perfect, still good but not without fault.
The chief criticism regarding Narnia is, unsurprisingly, regarding it's religious message. On one hand you have usually anti-religious thinkers who disagree with the whole Christian message especially in a children's book. On the other hand, some disagree with combining Christian elements with non-Christian ones, such as the Classical mythological creatures of fauns and dryads. This criticism generally comes from Christians who see the books as a romanticising non-Christian ideas and particularly magic (famously the Harry Potter series has been accused of this). Both arguments here don't really depend on the books themselves but rather the readers pre-existing views such as whether they already oppose the Christian message or magic being positively portrayed in fiction.
However, the books are accused of sexism and racism which is based on the texts themselves. They do contain elements of sexism and racism but these problematic elements are arguably not always present when they could be and I don't think that these themes are central to the stories. Let me use an example of the character of Lucy to explain myself. She is presented quite positively, being arguably the kindest character and the person closest to Aslan. This would suggest that Lewis isn't showing women to be somehow inferior or lesser than men. However, he does go out of his way for Father Christmas to warn against women fighting in battle under the idea that it isn't a female role. So there are arguments on both sides about whether Lucy, as female, is portrayed as equal to male characters. If you are interested, there is plenty of material on this issue which can be looked into written by people who have a better understanding than me.
So it is now our decision, as readers, as to how to react to this criticism. I can't really speak with authority on this issue, instead all I can do is encourage you to always be aware of the context of the media which you consume and make decisions for yourselves. The Narnia books present questions to us which lots of media does. Can we still enjoy works whilst acknowledging their problematic elements? Should we reject works which promote harmful ideologies? How about creators who we disagree with on moral issues, should we still consume their media? Is it okay to just admit that something is affected by wider cultural opinions at the time it was created and still enjoy it, saying that it is good but 'of its time'?
So, to wrap things up here, firstly Narnia offers us a case study to think about moral issues regarding what media we consume, especially when it is combined with religious messaging. These are big questions which I can't definitively answer. I can; however, give my opinion on Narnia itself. I fully acknowledge that the books have problematic elements but I do think that the positive aspects of the series far outweighs this. Feel free to disagree with me on this, but I do think that we can learn both from their successes as well as their mistakes. They can stir a childlike faith in us and allow us to explore wide and deep questions about faith whilst enjoying narratives of adventure. My pre-amble is now done and so lets venture forth to explore the books in more details. Through the Wardrobe we go!
P.S. I recently found some songs about Narnia which you might enjoy, find them here https://sarahsparksmusic.com/album/235979/into-the-lantern-waste
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