Into the Wardrobe

I must say I've been surprised recently at the success of the new movie The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and my reason for my surprise is this. I have been a fan of CoN since 1990 and for many years I've been encouraging others to read it and asking people if they have read it. The people I used to come across usually had never read any of the books and often had never heard of them either.

And then there's the people who have read only LW&W and also those who've read the series "long ago when I was little, but I can't really remember it". (Yeah, Christians and non-christians alike for all of these responses!).

I must admit, whilst saying this, that I have had a few successes recently introducing the books to people, but it's been a long time coming!!

I guess, to be honest, I feel slightly jealous over these books! :shocked: Jealous because all of a sudden there's an influx of new "Narnia fans" who've only just come across the story because of the movie or only just started reading the book(s) because of the release of the movie.

I can't help feeling this tinge of jealousy and thinking, "So you think you're a Narnia fan, huh? How many times have you read the books? And what makes you so certain the Chronological order is the correct order?"

Ok, I know my thinking is probably a bit harsh, and thinking I should keep to myself rather than blurting out and making feel embarrassed or even turning them off Narnia. But my reason for posting this message is to see, does anyone else feel this same jealousy and possessiveness over the title of "Narnia fan"?

Blessings,
Pete

I know how you feel I have been a fan since I was age six I'm about to be 17 now. I was on a plane going to TX for a week or so and when I got on the plane I saw nine peolpe reading LW&W. I was surprised at frist but then I thought. How good it is for peolpe to be reading the Narnia books.

Yeah, I agree, it is a good thing about the new interest in the books, as long as people don't start calling themselves "Narnia fans" without having first read all of the books (at least twice!) ;)

Very ture. I dont thinlk you can call yourself a Narnia fan if you have lony seen the moive too.

LOL. There's a kid over at another site I'm on who insists he's a Narnia fan. He read LWW once, maybe 10 years ago. "I love Narnia," he says, but he refuses to read any more of the books, or even reread LWW. If it doesn't come from Japan and involve Anime, he doesn't touch it. But he's a real Narnia fan. :p

And then there's the kid who, in our discussion there of the reading order, posted exactly this (and nothing more): "I personally read it in the proper order, I use to read it by publication but now I like reading it in order it makes more sense to me!"

Sigh. What do they teach them at those schools?

Don't worry about "false Narnians" - next month they'll be on to something else. As for true Narnians, just remember what the Professor said on the last page of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe:

"How will you know? Oh, you'll know all right! Odd things, they say - even their looks - will let the secret out."

Once a King or Queen in Narnia, always a King or Queen in Narnia!

I forgot to say in the earlier post, I'm currently re-reading the books for the umpteenth time. I don't know the actual number, but I have the colorful Collier 1977 (23rd printing) boxed edition, and I was not a child when I bought it. I've read it a bunch of times. If anyone has any good ideas how to reglue 29 year old paperbacks, let me know, I have loose pages!

And I always read The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe first! ;)

I will admit that I haven't always been a fanatic about CoN, but I have read the books at least three times, and all the books not just LWW. Only after the movie came out did I become a bigger fan.

Though as a purist LOTR fan, I truly don't like those who just watch the movie and call themselves 'fans'. Just say you like the movie and go read the books!

While I understand some of the comments above, as expressing frustration with those who apparently identify themselves as "Narnia fans" while knowing little or nothing about Narnia, it might be good to realize that this practice is not unique.

I've known people to declare themselves "fans" of a baseball team when it is in the World Series -- yet they don't know the simplest and most basic rules of baseball, and probably couldn't identify the team, let alone any of the players, unless the nightly news was constantly reminding them of the facts.

So it is probably just as well to realize that "fan" no longer means "fanatic" in popular usage. At this time, it simply means someone who is aware of, and vaguely approves of, the item named.

Marcus

Perhaps in some people's minds, they are a fan because they saw the film, liked it, identified with one of the characters, and maintain a special feeling about the whole thing.
It's hard to imagine that someone young enough to like only anime would have been old enough to read the books ten years ago - especially if they show that immature an attitude! Ah well! Each to his own. :)