"Who Am I This Time?" first broadcast on American Playhouse 20-some years ago, starring Walken and Susan Sarandon, directed by Jonathan Demme and based on the Vonnegut short story.

OMG I LOVE THIS MOVIE. I actually own it, having bought it from Amazon.com a couple of years ago (I had to wait, like, 6 weeks, for them to locate a copy.) The chemistry between Walken and Sarandon in this flick is scorching. Plus, it's such an adorable story. I didn't know it was based on a short story by Vonnegut! Neat.

Well, then.

Motive Marketing, which handled much of the "grass roots" marketing of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, has acknowledged on its website that it has been hired by Disney to design and manage "an extensive Faith and Family Outreach marketing and publicity campaign" for the studio's upcoming The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. The film has been described in some publications as "The Passion for kids." In an interview appearing in the London Telegraph last week, Jim Burns, president of HomeWord, a Christian broadcasting network, described the movie as "wonderful from the Christian point of view." He added, "The Christian community will provide opportunities for people to take their kids to this movie through block-booking and church outings and we will be making sure that Christians go in droves."

I am not sure if I will like this narnia....

The film has been described in some publications as "The Passion for kids."

Uh.

we will be making sure that Christians go in droves

He says this like the general moviegoing public is lacking in Christians.

Is this why the Southern Baptists called off their boycott of Disney?

That's not the Narnia I know.

But everyone does know that the Narnia books, in particular LionWitchWardrobe, are Christian allegories, right? I'm not trying to be condescending; I've been talking to people lately who didn't know that, which is, of course, the way a good allegory should work--still a good story even if you don't see the parallels (see Gulliver's Travels).

But everyone does know that the Narnia books, in particular LionWitchWardrobe, are Christian allegories, right?

I don't think my parents did, or they'd never have bought the books for me.

They probably know that *now*, but I'd have to check. They live a life pretty isolated from organized religion.

Oh yes, definitely Christian allegories. Lion Witch is definitely where it's most clear, rather like The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is the Oz book with the most clear political symbolism: after that, the authors realized that they could get money/popularity from continuing their super-popular series.

Of course, the fact that a straight up allegory for Christian canon becomes a fantasy novel, a genre most known for its unrealisticness, makes me giggle.

The movie can be a direct, perfect translation, and still be perfect material for a Christian grassroots campaign. Thus, this doesn't worry me.

ETA: Mere Christianity is an interesting read, too. And I've done two discussion groups about it that were great, too. One of those discussions, I was still trying to believe in God, the second I time I had given up; both provided fun discussion matter. C. S. Lewis was a smart man.