Greta Gerwig’s take on Narnia’s prequel book, The Magician’s Nephew, has met with quite a bit of scrutiny from Narnia’s fans. From not appearing to understand Aslan’s being not just a representation of Jesus but Christ himself in a form better suited for the world of Narnia, to the tone going more into rock opera because that’s what she likes, everything we’ve been shown thus far has not sat well. While some alteration is necessary for the media change and even keeping the spirit of the original connecting with today’s audience (as opposed to the alleged “modern audience”, which seems to be based on modern stereotypes from the “important people”), has the movie gone too far?
Writing for That Park Place, author and editor Carrow Brown looks at some of C.S. Lewis’ other works as evidence of what he might think. She does acknowledge that Lewis himself isn’t here to give commentary and some things do change over time and between media, but being fair doesn’t mean she’s supporting anything Gerwig and Netflix’s marketing department have shown us thus far. She also notes that when you take on a property for adaptation you take the fanbase as well. Taking what fans enjoyed enough to make it popular out of the work and expecting them to still support it? Not a great plan.
