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I think it’s extra weird that these kids spend the better part of a lifetime in this magic kingdom, never once even having a passing thought of their family or friends back in war torn England, and grow to be in their mid 30s before accidentally stumbling upon the portal back to their home world and then reverting to children. Like, wouldn’t that fuck you in the head? Living for twenty years on another planet with a totally different society and then having to return to being a Pre-teen in 40s England?
That’s one of the reasons I really like the book The Magicians. They have a Narnia basically and that mind fuckery ends up being a plot point.
I think the initial experience of being an English pre-teen is so bad that time travel and talking animals are tame by comparison.
this series was weird as fuck
It’s because C.S. Lewis is a hack. It’s the British highbrow version of a PureFlix movie. Lewis started with “how can I make an allegory about Christianity into a book series?” and then made a really ham-handed, over-the-top version of it. It cracks me up that him and Tolkien were friends, because Tolkien is not only an epically good writer, but he specifically and clearly hated allegory. He hated allegory like we hate the libs. And he’s got this buddy here who’s like “JRR do you like my story? See Aslan is actually supposed to be Jesus!” I don’t know how Tolkien didn’t laugh in his face.
I actually think Lewis can be an ok writer at times. His logic is appalling and he’s on a Jordan Peterson level of philosophical understanding… but there are times when he can string some very beautiful words and thoughts together. But that’s about it.
Tolkien can say whatever he wants but the tropes and allegories and real world parallels are clear as day. Evil dark skinned southerners? Untrustworthy elitist wizards in ivory towers who will betray you to the invading dark hordes? Orcs as evil dark skinned muscular creatures who threaten the idyllic white countryside. The rural perfect shire destroyed by machines and industry. Dwarves who have big noses and go mad for treasure and gold?
I mean come on it’s pretty obvious that he had absorbed some real shit from his racist colonialist society whether he knew it or not
I do like the books, and I do like some of the themes (destroying the ring of power instead of abusing it, the decline of human civilization)
