Ben Barnes was recently interviewed on board The Matthew, and asked about the comparisons between the Narnia and Harry Potter films that inevitably happens merely because they fall into the same genre of books.
He doesn’t think the series is a ‘poor relation’ to the Harry Potter movies.
He says the Narnia books are established classics while the Harry Potter series is still relatively new.
Video and more after the break.
This seems to be a very divisive question amongst Narnia fans. It also gets people hurling false accusations in the direction of the Harry Potter author, J.K. Rowling. The same sorts of accusations have been said of C.S. Lewis, believe it or not.
I can relate to both sides of the debate on Rowling, though, but I don’t think it fair to make claims about her personal life that we cannot back-up. And I’m saying this to those that are claiming she practices some of the stuff that she mentions in name in the books: there are false ‘interviews‘ being passed around as true. The reason that J.K. Rowling decided to do seven Harry Potter books is because she LOVES The Chronicles of Narnia and decided to do seven books in honor of C.S. Lewis.
Personally, I think the name of the school and some of the classes in it are both problematic, and that is something that I don’t like about the Harry Potter books. However, a lot of Christians have voiced very Christian things found within the books.
That said, what Ben Barnes is saying is all true. The Harry Potter books are not yet classics. They are still very new, and it remains to be seen if they have staying power. I once said that the ending of the books would make or break the series. The final movie in the series is coming this summer. After that, there’s no more Harry Potter material coming. It is all over at that point. Will the Harry Potter books stay on top children’s book lists, or will another book series come around to capture another generation?
The Narnia books have been around for 60 years and are still every bit as controversial as they were when they first came out. I just recently read an article where some so-called Christians were condemning Lewis for a nearly Catholic point of view. (Catholics are Christians, folks. Get over it.)
This is a Narnia site, so I expect people to generally say any of the following: Narnia is better because it doesn’t have any of those controversial topics. Harry Potter follows the books better (it doesn’t). Harry Potter is more entertaining (preference). J.K. Rowling worships this or that.
All I am saying is: be civil. Make no false accusations that you can’t back up (that e-mail you got about an interview with Rowling was a fake one).
What do you think? Do you think Ben Barnes is right? That the Narnia books are already classics while Harry Potter is too young a series to be sure?
THIS IS RIDICULOUS!!!!!!
Unbelievable. I just read some of the most offensive stuff I’ve ever read from people CLAIMING TO BE CHRISTIANS!
*I am not a Harry Potter fan.
Colossians 3:2 “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”
And now, the Last Word (comments are locked as of this point). I’m not locking it as a form of censorship. It’s not communist. It’s the same that I’ve said before. Arvan knows this very well, and all of you should as well: this is my website, this is something that I pay 190/mo to run. If you feel that my closing this is in error, I am sorry. I am just tired.
We have people taking sides, and we have very passionate people on both. People of different faiths and different belief systems that are all passionate Narnia fans.
We also have a topic of conversation that went well beyond the topic of the story. The story was about whether or not Harry Potter was a classic already, in the way that Narnia is now. Somehow it became about the Witchcraft that is present in stories.
If we look at everyone’s passionate statements, we can see that everyone in the end just cares about each other. It is for this reason that people were so passionate, and no other. That’s the simple truth of it all.
When you have someone that’s been a part of the very thing they are arguing against, there is an effect that is much the same as someone that’s had any form of addiction that they’ve overcome. They know how hard it was to get out of that lifestyle, and how easy it would be to slip back into that. Something like Harry Potter could be very dangerous to this type of person in this situation.
It may not be that dangerous to everyone, however. Just like with sin, for one person a particular temptation might be stronger than for another. The same conversation was had about a family movie called ‘Soul Surfer.’ For some, a girl in a bikini can lead them to sin. For others, a girl in a bikini is a girl in a bikini and that doesn’t lead them to anything.
Sure, there’s a slippery slope, and people can fall prey to that slope… but we need to trust that God will bring good of all things. Only God can take a great tragedy and bring something positive from it. If Harry Potter leads one into great evil, then we have to trust that God will guide them home. Sheltering people from it isn’t going to help.. in fact it could alienate, and making it into something bigger than it is could push someone harder toward those decisions. (There’s a reason that teens rebel against their parents, sometimes more than others.)
I understand where all are coming from on each side, and this is a battle that’s been fought for the past 16 years. I can see we’ve made no progress here. People aren’t listening to each other and taking each other’s thoughts into consideration. People are just posting with wild abandon, and it has turned into something very shallow.
I didn’t know that this would result, and I thought my disclaimer in the story would help to deflect this from happening.
In the end, did either side “win?” Could there possibly be a “winner?” How did we all come across? When I see some of the things that were spoken here, I feel embarrassed to be a Christian (yes, all Catholics *are* Christian). (I am especially embarrassed when I see some say that they were glad they *weren’t* Christian.)
In the end… there are no winners, there are no losers. There is just a group of people from various walks of life, in great disagreement over a work of fiction, that may have used some true things. There are people judging the author of that work, without really knowing her personally to be able to ask her point blank. There are a lot of assumptions happening, and we’re getting nowhere. Making assumptions about people is passing judgement on people. Judging people for something you know they’re doing is one thing, judging people for something you assume they’re doing is another. In both cases FORGIVENESS must come FIRST. In both cases, we must allow ourselves to forgive without necessarily saying it to them. Jesus said to love your neighbors, and to love your enemies, because if you hate your enemies, what reward is there in that?
If you would like to contact me about this comment, please use the website’s contact form. It goes to all of our writers, and someone else may get back to you before I can, but know that I am proud of each and every one of you for standing up for what you believe in. Even if it didn’t come across the best at times.
OK, people,(um, those who actually scrolled all the way down)I don’t like HP, AT ALL (because I disagree with lots of the witchcraft and stuff in the story), but this is ridiculous!
(I know you want to keep the debate up, but it has been going on for almost a WEEK!)