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Jan. 2, 2006
 
RUTHERFORD ON FILM: Answer, Please: How Come 'Magic' in 'Chronicles of Narnia' is Condoned by Christians, While Similar 'Magic' in 'Harry Potter' Condemned?
 
By Tony Rutherford
Huntington News Network Writer
 
Huntington, WV (HNN) --Having viewed the symbolic fantasy adventure, "The Chronicles of Narnia, "I must pose a question that the evangelical right ring might consider heresy --- what's the difference between the 'magic' and 'fantasy' in Narnia and that in the Harry Potter series, which has been condemned as promoting the occult?
 
First, let's look at "Chronicles, so we're on the same scene.
 
Initially set during the German bombing of London during World War II, four children (Lucy, Edmund, Peter, Susan) have been sent to an eccentric professor's country villa for safety. There they discover an enchanted wardrobe without a back which leads to a snowy land called Narnia which has for 100 years been under a curse of a white witch. Populated by talking animals and other mythical creatures (i.e. unicorns, dwarfs, centaurs), they await the fulfillment of a prophesy that "two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve" will come and lift the curse.
 
While the first hour of "Chronicles" concentrates on the credibility of Lucy's (Georgie Henley) fertile imagination during a game of hide and seek, the children hiding from the professor's expected wrath for breaking a window cross the portal into the snowy magic land. Soon, they are caught up into an evil versus good war matching the innocent animals against the trolls and demons of a two-faced White Witch (Tilda Swinton), who lures naïve young Edmund (Skandar Keynes) into her confidence.
 
The more the film unreels the greater the chance that you can not ignore the Christianity parallels in what can be deemed an otherwise secular production. Without belaboring the points --- and spoiling the flick --- obviously Edmund's 'traitorous' actions could symbolically represent Eve's bite of the Eden apple. But, the analogies become unavoidable after the introduction of a peace loving lion leader named Aslan, who like Jesus, makes the ultimate sacrifice for a young unwittingly deceived 'sinner.'
 
In fact, a brain searching game of finding those least obvious would make for a cool contemporary Bible study session. Conversely, another intellectual exercise could be debunking the parallels as spiritual stretches. Either way, the prospective inner messages do not affect your acceptance of "Narnia" as a pure children's fantasy experience, perhaps, founded on their own fears of German bombers and Nazi rallies.
 
Thus, even "Narnia" has its share of "magic" --- from a bottle of healing nectar to the witch's staff that turns creatures to stone.
 
So what's the difference between this and Harry Potter?
 
Granted, Harry's classmates learn magic arts which have both light and dark sides. I can not comprehend how teaching wizards to properly use 'magic' for good invokes the evil Satan, as they take up their wands and banish demons, dragons, and hellish creations.
 
In fact, fairy tales told to babes in arms have an emphasis on magical powers, dwarfs, trolls and talking animals some wearing white hats and some black ones. The Potter films, though, do not inhabit a kingdom with mythical creatures, preferring to keep the personages of gifted, ordinary young men and women battling the evil doers with magic wands.
 
No one condemns "The Wizard of Oz," which, again, separates a "good witch" from a "bad witch." Both sides cast spells, but inevitably magic red slippers hold the power. So, if they were condemned as promoting black magic, I suspect a lot of right-wing conservative theologians would have cold bare feet.
 
Kidding aside, do you not believe that young people capable of choosing between good and evil and between accepting Jesus and rejecting Him can watch a movie screen and determine that the events and persons of Potter, Narnia, or Star Wars are the products of imaginations?
 
If not, I suspect that their parents should be sitting down and ensuring that their children can relate to differences between reality and make-believe, otherwise, we may be in for an epidemic of misdiagnosed psychiatric disorders, when the real problems is that the adults have not encouraged their kids to throw away Santa, the Easter Bunny, and their blue security blanket.
 
Finally, this does not mean that I espouse that religious beliefs are myths. Instead, I think that children should be encouraged to gradually grasp these differences sorting fairy tales and merry lands of talking animals from the tenants of faith, hope, love and belief in a benevolent a God whose son was born of a virgin in a manger…