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A New Year’s Eve (December 31, 2009)
article in the Washington Times by Julia Duin expresses concerns by some in the
Christian community about the direction the Narnia franchise
is taking with its third film, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
The article is rather confusing on several points.
The paragraph describing the various
changes in dates for the release of Dawn Treader makes it
sound like the delays only happened after Disney decided to pull out. Actually,
some delays, due to the writers’ strike in 2008, and to the children’s
schedules, had already been announced while Disney was involved. Problems with
the drug wars in Mexico also prompted a change of filming venue to Australia.
That paragraph aside, the article
causes further confusion by making certain unsubstantiated speculations.
First of all, Duin expresses doubt
the “will and determination exist to finish the seven-part Narnia series.” This
conclusion is reached from what she says are “weird remarks uttered by
directors and producers of the first two films.” What remarks she is
referencing are not specified.
On the contrary, since the success
of the first movie, the filmmakers have continued to express that the series
would continue to be produced as long as it received adequate support. The
willingness of Walden to continue, even after Disney decided to discontinue its
partnership in December of 2008, is also a strong indication of their intent.
The article goes on to
reference C S Lewis step-son Douglas Gresham’s
recent interview (citing a third-hand report) in which he is
"ambivalent" to some changes made to the Dawn Treader script. (See "Douglas Gresham interview on Dawn Treader causes stir and discussions" on NarniaFans.com, and HollywoodJesus.com.) It seems doubtful that Douglas Gresham’s comments mean
that he “caved” to intense studio pressure. He does not express any animosity
toward the studio for the changes they made, and indicates the themes of the
book are still well conveyed.
Duin then quotes from an interview
with Michael Apted by a New Zealand Christian radio station. She fails to mention
the interview was conducted in the summer of 2007, just after Apted had signed
to be director for Dawn Treader. (Transcripts are available in the NarniaFans archives and at WaldenFans.com.)
Apted talks about the challenges of
making a film that is directed at both the conservative Christian base and the
public at large. She and some in the Christian community object to this
“even-handedness,” and are also concerned about the activist stands of some
involved the project.
The article concludes with a quote
from Ted Baehr, the publisher of the Christian magazine Movieguide and
president of the Christian Film and TV Commission. A former script advisor had
reportedly told Baehr the movie “was drifting from its Christian vision… not
expressing the intent of C.S. Lewis…”
She also claims Baehr told her that
an early script of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe had
“veered in a bizarre direction” and Dick Cook (President of Disney at the time)
had to keep things from getting out of hand. However, this all seems to
contradict what Baehr said in an article for WorldNetDaily last January. In comments about Disney pulling out of the franchise, he
concluded
The Associated Press took my words out of
context in an interview on this subject to make Disney's decision look like one
of the parties in Hollywood was concerned about the movie's faith content. The
fact is neither Disney nor Walden has hesitated from including faith in their
movies. The book "Dawn Treader" has the least amount of time with
Aslan, who is the Jesus figure in the series by acclaimed Christian author C.S.
Lewis. It is much more logical that the economics of the movie did not make
sense than that there was a concern over the Christian content of the book.
As “secular” as Walden and the other parties involved in this project may be, they are not afraid of the Christian faith. In fact, they seem to show much less prejudice toward Christianity than some Christians show toward them.
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