Category: Entertainment

I don’t understand why people like that song so much…. it’s alright I guess, but not brilliant.

    Ok, so I was thinking today about all the controversy over movies, their writers, books, and their religious overtones/undertones. And it occurred to me that I honestly never notice.

    The Christians are getting all upset over The Golden Compass and the atheists are getting angry over the Chronicles of Narnia. I’ve read both of these books (admittedly I didn’t make it past the third book of Narnia, but I did read the second one about fifty times), and to be quite frank, I never noticed the religious implications in either of them. Now that I look closely I can see it, obviously, but the first times I read them, well, I read them for the stories, not the symbolism. What kid is going to become an atheist from reading the Golden Compass? It’s an excellent book, and although it does mention the Church, -a lot- it also depicts bravery, love, adventure, and friendship. But obviously, the fact that it was written by an atheist and it suggests that we should make our own heaven is too awful to allow the other ideas to spread.

    And the Chronicles of Narnia? Sure, like Animal Farm, a lot of the characters are allusions to people, namely religious ones (Aslan=Jesus), but does that mean that every child that sees that movie or reads those books is going to become an avid member of their local congregation? No! When I was a kid, I read it because

    A. I enjoyed adventure/fantasy stories

    B. It was well written

    To be fair, I’m sure not all kids read it because it’s a good story, and I’m sure not all kids don’t care about the religious implementation. But just because these books have these symbols in them, does that make them any worse or better than a book of the same genre but without the religious/non-religious messages imbedded? NO!

    Another thing; HARRY POTTER. A lot of people hate these because, quote, “The books have a serious tone of death, hate, lack of respect and sheer evil,” said Elizabeth Mounce of Columbia. Of course, the serious tones of friendship, family, bravery, courage, love, perseverance and tenacity, responsibility, being the underdog but achieving success, and hard work aren’t relevant in her analysis. And for the record, if you show me where lack of respect is a theme in ALL of the books, not just the one scene Ms. Mounce read, let me know.

    Theist, deist, or anti-theist, it doesn’t matter. You all worry about the same petty things. Look, if you don’t want to go see a movie, read a book, or allow your children to watch or read those books, don’t do it! Just stop encroaching on everyone else’s right to enjoy good films and literature. And remember, Philip Pullman and C.S. Lewis and J.K. Rowling didn’t just write books to tick people off, they wrote these books to make you think, but more importantly, be entertained, which is the entire purpose of writing fiction books.

    Oh yeah, my other point. It’s fiction, and furthermore, it is an opinion.