Narnia vs Harry Potter a fresh start

[Draugrín]

I noticed that about the centaurs, too, GB. Though I think I like Narnian centaurs more for their nobility and wisdom. They remind me a bit of Tolkien's Elves in that respect. HP centaurs are still wise in their own way, but they're more wild. They're also a little....out there. There's a scene in the first book between Hagrid and a centaur when he asks if the centaur has seen anything strange, and all he will answer with is "Mars is bright tonight"...and then a second centaur enters and gives the same answer.

[Gandalfs Beard]

I think the main reason for the difference, is how badly treated the Centaurs in Potterverse are. They were really mad about how arrogant humans were (though they had some of their own arrogance issues ), who thought they owned everything. And they didn't like basically being forced to live on a "reservation" (for lack of a better word), and then have humans encroaching on the last bit of land available to them. And to be considered a "half-breed" .

In Narnia, Centaurs, Fauns and all the rest got along fine with humans, unless humans were trying to invade and occupy their country (darn Telmarines ).

GB

[aslansothername]

The one thing that turns me off about HP is that the writer is not a Christian and in LOTR and Narnia the magic is just show, not tough (I.E. in LOTR and narnia they aren't going to a school to learn how to be wizards.) here is a like where you can read Christian reviews on the HP books and movies. http://www.pluggedinonline.com/movies/m ... 000279.cfm

If you scroll down to the bottom there are links to all the books and movies.

[Gandalfs Beard]

Actually, JK Rowling is a Christian. She belongs to an Anglican denomination.

GB

[Reepi]

My gosh, what's next? Narnia vs. Twilight or something?
"Oh yes, I liked Twilight, but I liked Prince caspian better, because it was way more romantic with the Kiss and everything."
Blegh

[Aslans Country]

Yeah, JK Rowling is a Christian.
The end of book 7 is one huge parallel to Christianity.
The magic in HP isn't evil. Only the dark magic is evil, just like LOTR, for example. It just plays a bigger part in the story overall.
I hate the fact that the certain people get turned off Harry Potter because they think it's 'evil'..

My gosh, what's next? Narnia vs. Twilight or something?
"Oh yes, I liked Twilight, but I liked Prince caspian better, because it was way more romantic with the Kiss and everything."
Blegh

lol

[NaiadWaker]

Yeah, JK Rowling is a Christian.
The end of book 7 is one huge parallel to Christianity.
The magic in HP isn't evil. Only the dark magic is evil, just like LOTR, for example. It just plays a bigger part in the story overall.
I hate the fact that the certain people get turned off Harry Potter because they think it's 'evil'..

Well, the thing with me is, along with the good aspects, there are some negative aspects, too. And it turns out that the negative aspects weigh out the positive on my scale.

[Aslans Country]

What exactly do you mean by the negative aspects, NaiadWaker?

[NaiadWaker]

Like, how some of the characters do wrong to get what they want, without any consequences.

[Gandalfs Beard]

The Potter books make a distinction between breaking arbitrary rules, and actually doing something criminal. There are always consequences for actual bad behaviour in the books, as opposed to just breaking a curfew rule for example. Now some might see this as moral relativism, but that's not necessarily bad.

Even in Narnia, as in HHB, when Shasta's twin Corin disobeys his father and joins in the battle, there aren't any serious consequences because he wasn't actually behaving criminally. Likewise, when Shasta escapes his "stepfather" he has to "steal" some food for the journey, not to mention freeing Bree, which would be seen as theft by the Calormene authority. So we see there is room for some moral relativism in Lewis's world too.

GB

[americangirlemmie]

I agree with you GB...

[Aslans Country]

Me too. You put it very well.

[americangirlemmie]

My gosh, what's next? Narnia vs. Twilight or something?

Blegh

thats exactully what i think!

[sillygoose]

I prefer Lotr over narnia but narnia wayyyyy over hp. I mean I like Narnia because i has a light fluffy feeling to it, but hp is a little too hard core magic for me. Its too "dark" for my liking.

[Gandalfs Beard]

In some ways, the Darker aspects of Harry Potter (especially the later books) are more like LotR than Narnia (until The Last Battle anyway). Though Harry Potter shares some of the key themes and a couple of plot points found in Narnia. I think they all are kind of on the same level, even though the styles are very different.

GB

[ChristProclamer]

Funny timing. I just started Sorcerer's Stone yesterday.
I didn't really get all the hype about the series, but I'm thinking maybe they get better as they go along. I can certainly see the appeal.
I've also seen bits of the films here and there, and I think that the 'christian allegory' is presented much better therein. I pretty quick picked up on it and was surprised to find it a little missing in the first book.
I don't really have much of a problem with the magic so far--it seems more like very advanced technology than anything else. As for Harry getting out of EVERYTHING he does, that annoying, but it's not an uncommon theme in some books.
About characters who resemble each other...I don't know how many of you have read C.S. Lewis' Lefay Fragment (it's a VERY early draft of MN, mostly about Digory), but I have and I noted that it suspiciously resembled the first few chapters of Harry Potter. I know Rowling is a Lewis fan (didn't know she was Anglican, though!), and I was wondering if I was the only one who had picked up on the Digory/Harry thing.