Theses on the Art of Alternate Possibilities

Aslan, Gandalf, and Hairy Puppet or whoever he is.

Narnia is the least Christian of them all. By which I mean, the most Marxian. But let's not get into that. (Let's not get into why the only way to truly be non-Christian is to be a Marxian; that would be too much fun, and too aggravating to our self-proclaimed "secular" Western culture.) But then, there is faith and there is Faith.

What is crucial is the presentation of a world of alternate possibilities as opposed to the presentation of alternate possible worlds. The latter identifies the inherent religious streak in all science fiction: it makes very clear that it has given up on earth (colonialization of space) and on humanity (hooray robots! wise alien races!). In the old days, these were called Heaven and Angels. And don't give me any of that "cautionary tale" bunkum. Stories intended as cautionary tales almost always reveal our deepest hopes rather than our deepest fears.

Anyway. Other worlds are compensations for despair. They go hand in hand with the pathological realism that moves from: "that's the way it is" to: "that's the way it has to be" to: "that's the way it ought to be." It is not coincidental that other-world stories are adult's favorites for children--though not always children's favorites. (I am reminded of an absurd article--maybe by the BBC--recommending The 400 Blows for kids. I say institutionalize them first, so they'll appreciate it more.)

To the point. Narnia is not another world, but a possibility within the human world. Aslan is not faith in Heaven, but in Earth. Its battle between "good and evil" identifies evil as a historical possibility, a contingent product of behaviors, not of essential natures or races (I'm looking at you, Tolkein and Lucas.)

Gandalf is George Bush Jr.: Clueless, self-certain, and self-righteous. The supposed "environmental" themes are the themes of blood, race, and soil. That is, a reiteration of its classic Good and Evil theme: essential, insurmountable evil that necessitates and justifies the destruction of an entire population, city, nation, or, in the standard hollywood fantasy: an entire planet.

Perry Hatter is a hammer on the heads of our children getting an early start at hammering into their skulls the same lesson we insert into every school lesson, every film, every television show, and pop song: the conviction that everything, at bottom, is the same. The other worlds look exactly like this one. There's no escaping school, teachers, and bullies. Nothing is better and nothing is worse. Nothing is bad and nothing is good. There's nothing more to be had or to be known or to be done. So stop complaining, do your homework, and in reward, here's your candy.