Calling and Fruitfulness, CS Lewis, and Power Rangers

a)

Piper and John Macarthur (a guy I’m growing increasingly fond of) give some really interesting insight in this video

b)

Just finished reading The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe (again?). I know – I’m a Christian, and should have already gone through a Narnia stage. I guess I’m getting here a little late. Some thoughts:

i. the illustrations are awesome
ii. its too bad mr. beaver doesn’t smoke a pipe or drink beer in the movie
iii. the BBC series (which was my major access to the series as a child and which I recently looked up on youtube) is still awesome. Midgets in animal costumes and late 80’s computer effects. So good.

What captured me (besides the Christian themes) about Narnia was its combination of childlikeness and vivid imagination. Narnia operates with a level of innocence: clear distinctions between good and evil, love and hate. There is also a beautiful simplicity of life. But Narnia is also a living place for Lewis, with real characters that have their own lifestyle and personalities. Their dialogues do more than just drive the plot along, but invite us further into the fantasy of Narnia. Here’s a passage I enjoyed:

(The kids and Mr. Beaver are approaching his house on the dam)

They also noticed that he [Mr. Beaver] now had some sort of modest expression on his face – the sort of look people have when you’re visiting a garden they have made or reading a story they’ve written. So it was only common politeness when Susan said “What a lovely dam!” And Mr. Beaver didn’t say “Hush” this time but “Merely a trifle! Merely a trifle. And it isn’t really finished.”

Marmelade loafs, Giants who come from good families. I’m becoming a big fan.

c)

One thing I recently noticed was the parallels between The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and the first couple of seasons of Power Rangers. Let’s compare:

Major Theme:
Narnia – four children are drawn away from wartime England into a land of adventure and fantasy, where they are good and they fight evil.
Power Rangers – five teenagers are drawn away from middle-class teenage life into a whole new world of adventure and fantasy, where they are good and they fight evil

The Guide:
Narnia – Aslan is their saviour, but is more concerned about establishing them as protectors of Narnia
Power Rangers – Zordon equips the Rangers for battle and gives them guidance

Peripheral Characters:
Narnia – Mr. Beaver provides some levity
Power Rangers – Alpha (the annoying robot of ambiguous gender) provides some levity (and annoyance)

Their weapons:
Narnia – Father Christmas hooks them up with weapons that match their personalities and are all different from each other’s
Power Rangers – They’ve all got weapons that are different and also match their personality. Same deal with the Zords (Narnia would benefit from Zords)

Their Enemy:
Narnia – The Witch
Power Rangers – Rita. The Witch!

The Traitor:
Narnia – Edmund is entranced by the Witch and betrays them but is redeemed and becomes a King of Narnia
Power Rangers – Tommy is entranced by Rita and becomes the evil Green Ranger, but is redeemed. He later becomes the White Ranger.

Conclusion: The evidence is overwhelming that Power Rangers was a modern adaptation of Lewis’s The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.