6-03-01 Latest News

Marketing 'Narnia' Without a Christian Lion
Xoanon @ 10:31 pm EST

By DOREEN CARVAJAL

or more than a half century, "The Chronicles of Narnia" captivated children with tales of Aslan, a tawny lion who ruled a wintry Narnian kingdom of dwarfs, fauns and occasionally errant English schoolchildren.

Mixing fantasy with Christian allegories and imagery, the author C. S. Lewis, one of the 20th century's most influential interpreters of Christianity, created a saga that spanned seven novels, beginning in 1950 with "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," which have sold more than 65 million copies in more than 30 languages.

Now, borrowing a page from a literary upstart named Harry Potter, the Lewis estate and its publishers have started shaping a marketing makeover of Aslan and assorted Narnian habitués to expand readership and extend the brand.

They have struck deals to license plush Narnian toys. The series publisher, HarperCollins, revealed plans to create new Narnia novels by unidentified authors, to the outrage of some devoted readers. (What next? "Narnia Barbie in a school uniform?" asked one fan in a Lewis electronic forum.)

Most striking of all, they have developed a discreet strategy to avoid direct links to the Christian imagery and theology that suffused the Narnia novels and inspired Lewis.

"They're turning Narnia into a British version of Mickey Mouse," said John G. West, co-editor of The C. S. Lewis Readers Encyclopedia and an associate professor of political science at Seattle Pacific University. "What they've figured out is that Harry Potter is a cash cow. And here's a way they can decompartmentalize the children's novels from the rest of Lewis. That's what is so troubling. Narnia is a personal creation, and they're turning it into a corporate creation."

The publishing strategy surfaced in a HarperCollins memo. "Obviously this is the biggie as far as the estate and our publishing interests are concerned," wrote an executive from HarperSanFranciso, an imprint of HarperCollins involved in the Lewis publishing program. "We'll need to be able to give emphatic assurances that no attempt will be made to correlate the stories to Christian imagery/theology."

The memo was written in connection with the development of a public television documentary about the life of Lewis. The producer, Carol Dean Hatcher, had negotiated contracts to create an illustrated companion book and teaching video for Zondervan Publishing House, the Christian publishing arm of HarperCollins. Zondervan was also poised to donate about $150,000 for the production.

HarperCollins and its publishing arms were in the midst of ambitious expansion plans for Lewis's works. They repackaged nine classic titles, organized two Web sites (www .cslewisclassics.com and www .narnia.com), developed an essay contest and asked contemporary authors to write new forewords. By the fall of 2003 they expected to publish simpler picture books for younger children and a new Narnia novel.

The negotiations over the documentary unraveled, Ms. Hatcher said, amid pressures from the publisher and the estate to eliminate references in the script to Christian imagery in the Narnia series.

"I was appalled," said Ms. Hatcher, who is still trying to produce the documentary, "C. S. Lewis: An Examined Life," with Oregon Public Broadcasting as the presenting station. "I think there are ways to approach C. S. Lewis and Narnia that have nothing to do with religious background. However, it is astounding to minimize that part of this; it's like doing a video biography of Hank Aaron and refusing to acknowledge he was a baseball player."

For its part, the Lewis estate insists that there is no calculated plan to reshape the author's image. Simon Adley, managing director of the C. S. Lewis Company, noted that the publishers had successfully increased sales of Lewis's "Mere Christianity," an adult title that explains and defends Christianity.

"It's fatuous to suggest that we're trying to take the Christian out of C. S. Lewis," Mr. Adley said. "We wouldn't have made the effort that we have with `Mere Christianity' if we felt that way. It's just crazy. I suppose you could get a little depressed by this. I'm trying to get more people to read."

But the response from Harper Collins was more ambiguous. Lisa Herling, a spokeswoman, issued a written statement noting that Ms. Hatcher had revealed "confidential in-house correspondence that was part of the incomplete process" involving Ms. Hatcher's projects.

"One of the issues the correspondence addressed was whether the project would appeal to the secular as well as the evangelical market," Ms. Herling wrote. "The goal of HarperCollins is to publish the works of C. S. Lewis to the broadest possible audience and leave any interpretation of the works to the reader."

As a series, the Narnia books are valuable property for HarperCollins, which recently acquired the rights to publish all of Lewis's works.

Lately, the Narnia series has flourished anew because of the Harry Potter halo effect on young readers searching for something else to read. In the last two years, sales have increased 20 percent annually.

That renewed attention brought new focus on an author untouched by marketing and image-making. Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Clive Staples Lewis was a professor of medieval and Renaissance English whose Oxford literary circle, the Inklings, included J. R. R. Tolkien.

In Lewis's imaginary kingdom, the inhabitants are fauns, talking animals and children who find their way into a secret land by means of a hidden door in a wardrobe. Some plot lines are allegories for Christian themes. Aslan is the Christ figure, the "Son of the Great Emperor Across the Sea," who defeats the devil figure — the White Witch — through his death and resurrection.

Since Lewis's death, two movies, both called "Shadowlands," have explored his life. One starred Anthony Hopkins as the writer and examined his late-blooming relationship with and marriage to Joy Davidman Gresham, an American poet and Jewish atheist who converted to Christianity. Her sons, David and Douglas, ultimately inherited the copyrights to their stepfather's works after the 1973 death of Lewis's brother, Warren.

A blunt-spoken, nondenominational Christian preacher, Douglas Gresham lives in Ireland, where he runs Rathvinden Ministries, a country home on 20 acres near Dublin. His brother, David, has played a less active role in the estate and, according to Mr. Gresham, lives in India and has embraced Judaism.

With Mr. Gresham as an adviser, the estate for years generally rejected requests to create sequels or spinoffs to the Narnia series. But that policy shifted as the C. S. Lewis Company took a more active role in managing the copyrights. The company is led by Mr. Adley, formerly a marketing executive at Scholastic, which publishes J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series in the United States.

In May Mr. Gresham posted a message in an electronic forum for Lewis fans.

"What is wrong with trying to get people outside of Christianity to read the Narnian chronicles?" he asked, adding, "The Christian audience is less in need of Narnia than the secular audience, and in today's world the surest way to prevent secularists and their children from reading it is to keep it in the Christian or Religious section of the bookstores or to firmly link Narnia with modern evangelical Christianity."

HarperCollins is still developing the new Narnia novels and has not announced potential authors. Mr. Adley, of the C. S. Lewis Company, said they would not publish an eighth volume in the series. But they will "fill in the gaps" with the reappearance of some existing characters.

"Increasingly, we've found that working in the marketplace we're competing against new stuff," he said. "The whole children's market is geared toward anything new. You can only keep rejacketing something a certain number of times, and in the end you have to produce something new."

Weekly Cast Watch
Xoanon @ 10:17 pm EST

Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn)

28 Days (2000)
Walk on the Moon, A (1999) UK
Psycho (1998) UK
Perfect Murder, A (1998) UK
Thin Red Line, The (1998) UK
G.I. Jane (1997) UK
Portrait of a Lady, The (1996) UK
American Yakuza (1994)
Boiling Point (1993)
Ruby Cairo (1993)
Young Guns II (1990)
Witness (1985)

Liv Tyler (Arwen)

Plunkett & Macleane (1999) UK
Cookie's Fortune (1999) UK
Heavy (1995) UK

Ian Holm (Bilbo)

eXistenZ (1999)
Alice Through the Looking Glass (1999) (TV)
Sweet Hereafter, The (1997) UK
Fifth Element, The (1997) UK
Frankenstein (1994) UK
Henry V (1989) UK
Brazil (1985) UK
Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984)
Return of the Soldier, The (1982)
All Quiet on the Western Front (1979) (TV)
Alien (1979) UK
S.O.S. Titanic (1979) (TV)
Shout at the Devil (1976)
Severed Head, A (1971) UK
Fixer, The (1968) UK

Sean Bean (Boromir)

How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989) UK

Hugo Weaving (Elrond)

Strange Planet (1999)
Matrix, The (1999) UK
Interview, The (1998)
Babe (1995) UK
Exile (1994) UK
Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, The (1994)
For Love Alone (1986)

Karl Urban (Eomer)

Heaven (1998)

Miranda Otto (Eowyn)

What Lies Beneath (2000)
Jack Bull, The (1999) (TV)
Thin Red Line, The (1998) UK
Last Days of Chez Nous, The (1992)

Elijah Wood (Frodo)

Faculty, The (1998) UK
Ice Storm, The (1997)
North (1994)
Good Son, The (1993)
Forever Young (1992) UK
Avalon (1990) UK
Internal Affairs (1990)
Back to the Future Part II (1989) UK

Cate Blanchett (Galadriel)

Ideal Husband, An (1999) UK
Pushing Tin (1999) UK
Thank God He Met Lizzie (1997) UK

Ian McKellen (Gandalf)

X-Men (2000)
Apt Pupil (1998) UK
Gods and Monsters (1998) UK
Cold Comfort Farm (1995) (TV)

John Rhys-Davies (Gimli)

Au Pair (1999) (TV)
Secret of the Andes (1998) UK
Bloodsport 3 (1996)
Great White Hype, The (1996)
Cyborg Cop (1994)
Unnamable II: The Statement of Randolph Carter, The (1993)
King Solomon's Mines (1985)
Victor/Victoria (1982) UK

Andy Serkis (Gollum)

Topsy-Turvy (1999)
Among Giants (1998) UK

John Leigh (Hama)

Frighteners, The (1996)

Harry Sinclair (Isildur)

Braindead (1992)

Dominic Monaghan (Merry)

Hostile Waters (1997) (TV)

Bruce Spence (Mouth of Sauron)

Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995)
Sweet Talker (1991)
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)
Mad Dog Morgan (1976)

Sean Astin (Sam)

Icebreaker (1999)
Kimberly (1999)
Deterrence (1999) UK
Bulworth (1998) UK
Low Life, The (1994/I)
Where the Day Takes You (1992) UK
Encino Man (1992) UK
Toy Soldiers (1991) UK
Memphis Belle (1990)
War of the Roses, The (1989)
Staying Together (1989) UK
White Water Summer (1987) UK

Christopher Lee (Saruman)

Tale of the Mummy (1998) UK
Jinnah (1998) UK
Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)
Safari 3000 (1982)
Return from Witch Mountain (1978) UK
Three Musketeers, The (1973) UK
Nothing But the Night (1972)
Julius Caesar (1970)
One More Time (1970)
Devil Rides Out, The (1968)
Longest Day, The (1962)
City of the Dead, The (1960)
Dark Avenger, The (1955)
They Were Not Divided (1950) UK

Bian Sergent (Ted Sandyman)

Braindead (1992)

Bernard Hill (Theoden)

Midsummer Night's Dream, A (1999) UK
True Crime (1999) UK
Shirley Valentine (1989) UK

Brad Dourif (Wormtongue)

Shadow Hours (2000)
Ghost, The (2000)
Progeny, The (1999) UK
Urban Legend (1998) UK
Bride of Chucky (1998) UK
Murder in the First (1995)
Death Machine (1995)
Color of Night (1994)
Amos & Andrew (1993)
Body Parts (1991) UK
Mississippi Burning (1988)
Blue Velvet (1986) UK
Heaven's Gate (1980) UK
Wise Blood (1979) UK

Jim Rygiel (SFX)

102 Dalmatians (2000)
Anna and the King (1999) UK
Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) UK
Last of the Mohicans, The (1992)
Ghost (1990)
Solar Crisis (1990)
Last Starfighter, The (1984)

Howard Shore (Composer)

eXistenZ (1999) UK
Dogma (1999) UK
Analyze This (1999)
Game, The (1997) UK
Se7en (1995) UK
Ed Wood (1994) UK
Philadelphia (1993) UK
Sliver (1993)
Prelude to a Kiss (1992)
Single White Female (1992) UK
Postcards from the Edge (1990)
She-Devil (1989)
Dead Ringers (1988) UK
Nadine (1987)
Fire with Fire (1986) UK
After Hours (1985) UK
Places in the Heart (1984) UK
Silkwood (1983) UK
Videodrome (1983) UK

Peter Jackson (Director)

Frighteners, The (1996)
Braindead (1992) UK

To get more information, use the sites I use like:

mydigiguide.com, tv-now.com and IMDB.com

Lord of the Rings? More like *Bored* of the Rings..
Xoanon @ 4:24 pm EST

From: Michael

Just so you know, I also caught a Tolkein reference on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire two weeks ago. If memory serves, the question was for $64,000 and was along the lines of:

This author's work was the target of a parady entitled "Bored of the Rings"

The contestant did get the answer correct, after telling the audience that he had read both "Bored" and "Lord of the Rings". Regis said that even he had read both and knew that the Harvard Lampoon wrote "Bored"!

The the way, if anyone has not read "Bored of the Rings" , they should. It is one of the most brilliant satires I have ever read.

Intelligent X links to LOTR trailer plus blurb
Xoanon @ 4:19 pm EST

Larisa sends in word on what you'll see when you click on the Intelligent X Links regarding LOTR:

This came up on my morning entertinment news email.

Movie Trailer - Lord Of The Rings

There is a lot of anticipation for the J.R.R. Tolkien "Lord Of The Rings" stories coming to the big screen. A brand new trailer for first movie in the trilogy, "The Fellowship Of The Ring," is now available for you to check out!

Lord Of The Rings - The Fellowship Of The Ring stars Elijah Wood, Sir Ian McKellen, Cate Blanchett, Sean Astin, Sean Bean, Billy Boyd, Orlando Bloom, Kevin Conway(WRONG! -xo), Hugo Weaving, Brad Dourif, Marton Csokas, Bernard Hill, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Dominic Monaghan, Viggo Mortensen, John Rhys-Davies, John Noble, Andy Serkis, Liv Tyler, and Karl Urban.

What's It About?

The book of the 20th Century is about to become the motion picture event of the 21st Century. J. R. R. Tolkien's groundbreaking epic of good versus evil, extraordinary heroes, wondrous creatures and dark armies of terror will be presented in a trilogy of feature films.

The Fellowship of the Ring - December 19, 2001
The Two Towers - Holiday 2002
The Return of the King - Holiday 2003

New Line Cinema's production of The Lord of the Rings marks the first time an entire feature film trilogy is being filmed concurrently with the same director and cast, making it one of the longest, most massive and most unique productions in Hollywood history.

The Fellowship Of The Ring opens December 19, 2001.

Lord Of The Rings Movie Trailer:

Real Video - Streaming Video
Click to watch, or right click and choose "Save Target As" to download the trailer. You need the free RealPlayer to view these movies - Download it.