Philip Pullman Blasts Narnia Film

Posted on October 17, 2005

British author Philip Pullman has absolutely slammed the new Narnia movie, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, based on the classic book by C.S. Lewis.

Author Philip Pullman has attacked plans to turn The Chronicles of Narnia into a movie series, calling CS Lewis' books "racist" and "misogynistic". The first film in the series - The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - is due to be released in December. His Dark Materials author Pullman said the 1950s stories were "reactionary". "If the Disney corporation wants to market this film as a great Christian story, they'll just have to tell lies about it," he told The Observer.

Pullman is an atheist, but he says that:

"It's not the presence of Christian doctrine I object to so much as the absence of Christian virtue. The highest virtue, we have on the authority of the New Testament itself, is love, and yet you find not a trace of that in the books."
The Narnia books, Pullman said, contained "...a peevish blend of racist, misogynistic and reactionary prejudice; but of love, of Christian charity, [there is] not a trace."

To suggest that Disney is beyond delighted with the specter of a huge controvery which will ignite press coverage about its wildly expensive production would be to display unbelievable cynicism on our part.