Narnia

While in Thailand I was able to see the new Narnia movie in the theater. (It’s always great fun to go to movies in Thailand—not only are they cheap, but before the start of the movie everyone in the theater must stand as a video tribute to the king is played. This fascinates me.) Anyway, Narnia… I have read this book many, many times in the last four years because it is part of the curriculum I teach. I enjoy the story very much, but unfortunately I know it too well to be able to appreciate the movie. Instead I got a bit hung up on the changes…I realize that they have to cut things out to make it fit in a two-hour time frame—cutting makes sense to me—but adding extra things is always a bit weird in my opinion.

My two main questions: Why did they have to add to, alter, and embellish the children and beavers’ flight from the witch and wolves? And what was up with the near drowning of the kids?

And now, a free language lesson: C. S. Lewis is said to have gotten the name Aslan from the Turkish word for lion. Apparently he came across it while reading Arabian Nights… Anyway, the word for lion in Kazakh is also Aslan, and the word in Mongolian is Arslan. In both Mongolia and Kazakhstan this is a perfectly acceptable name for a guy.