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?