This is stuff you like it's episode 150 (150, I know!)
and patrons suggested and patrons voted
and the verdict is that it's time for
some CS Lewis. We have talked about
Susan Pevensie in a stuff you like extra
episode but today's topic is the lion
the witch and the wardrobe and how
thanks to CS Lewis I now understand
book burning a little bit better not
that I approve of it any more but I do
understand it I love the chronicles of
narnia a lot and a lot of that is
nostalgia because I really liked them
when I was small and because they feel
like home to me because Narnia is very
much like Northern Ireland because CS
lewis was from Northern Ireland this was
his grandfather's Church this is a lion
this was his house them know that I'm
older I side-eye the stereotypes a lot
more also did you know that Prince
Caspian was part South Sea Islander? no?
well CS Lewis probably forgot about
that too but I remember it possibly
Disney remember too nobody ever
remembers that Lucy is blonde but never
mind the plot of the Lion the Witch and
the Wardrobe goeth thusly: once upon a
time there were four siblings who were
evacuated from London during the Blitz
they are sent to a country house where an
old professor lives and one day the
youngest Lucy discovers that there is a
world which can be got to through a
wardrobe has tea with a faun and
discovers that the world is magical but
also dangerous because the queen who
rules it is at least 14 kinds of awful
her older brothers and sister don't
believe her about the magic world
particularly because it's not there all
the time then Edmund the third child
finds his way in and takes up with the
White Witch illegitimate queen of Narnia
and then pretends he didn't because he's
a little twerp. All the kids end up in
Narnia they learn that there's a
prophecy and also that the mysterious
Aslan is apparently on the move Edmund
betrays his siblings turns out this was
a bad idea, Aslan is a giant lion / Jesus
allegory he dies in Edmund's place,
resurrection thankfully doesn't take
three days because there's a battle to
be fought the good guys win the Pevensies
are crowned kings and queens of
Narnia they reign for quite a few years
by the looks of things and then suddenly
one day there are hunting for a stag
that grants wishes and bam they're back
in their child bodies in England and no
time has passed the end. Or is it? Spoiler
there are six other books so no. The Lion
the Witch and the Wardrobe was published
in 1950 and it's the best
known of the entirety of the Narnia series
it's also, as I used to tell people when
I was a tiny Narnia hipster, the second
book chronologically because the
magician's nephew is about the creation
of Narnia. Still I'm of the opinion that
if you're going to start reading the
Narnia books from scratch The Lion the
Witch and the Wardrobe is a good place
to start because it's the most
satisfying introduction to the world and
to Aslan. But if I'm honest the lion
the witch and wardrobe is probably my
least favorite in the Narnia series
simply due to overexposure. Because once
upon a time in the 1980s the BBC made an
adaptation of The Lion the Witch and the
Wardrobe and I have watched it endlessly
there have been a lot of adaptations for
stage and screen and radio and audiobook
and...there have been a lot of adaptations
but I watched the BBC one so many times
during my childhood that the words have
lost all meaning and so I like the
relatively recent disney version because
it felt like I was coming back to Narnia
with fresh eyes while they kept most of
the major plot elements in they also
changed things around a bit and it
freshened it up for me in a way that I
hadn't quite anticipated. But see you're
wondering what this has to do with book
burning so I should probably explain. CS
Lewis you may or may not know was one of
the foremost English-speaking Christian
apologists of the 20th century. He grew
up in Northern Ireland like I said
there's a reason Narnia feels like home
to me moved to Oxford became a Don,
became a Christian largely due to the
friendship of one JRR Tolkien (you
might have heard of him maybe) and wrote
a lot of stuff and that stuff included
the lion the witch and the wardrobe
which is sort of a Christian allegory
Lewis didn't think of it as an allegory
he described it as being about how the
story of God and Jesus might play out in
a world not our own but you know the
Christian parallels are most definitely
deliberate. And that will get you critics
who will tell you not not only do your
books suck but you are a propagandist
not like me Philip Pullman to be
scrupulously fair to Philip Pullman
though at least he criticizes things
about the books which are actually there
I read a lot of articles both positive
and negative about CS Lewis before I
wrote this episode and it amazed me how
many of those articles contained facts
about CS Lewis which were just incorrect
in the screwtape letters there's a bit
milk cow and blah blah sexual overtones
and blah blah CS Lewis hated women there
is there is nothing about cows in the
screwtape letters this weird
psychosexual overtone which the author
has ascribed to lewis's writing in the
screwtape letters just doesn't exist at
all I mean it's not like there aren't
legitimate things to criticize about CS
Lewis or the Narnia books or Lewis's
writings in general I mean he's got some
issues when it comes to writing other
cultures I mean I absolutely love Aravis
but Calormene in general is very full of
honorable warrior race guy but actually
they're just jerks. Not like the Archenlanders or the Narnians because they are
blond and so obviously awesome even
Prince Caspian who's half South Sea
Islander at least. Did you just
forget that CS Lewis did you just forget
it's ok if you did admitting it is the
first step it's ok. It's not like Lewis
was incapable of writing rounded
characters from other cultures which he
sort of made up see again Aravis, but his
bit-part characters not... yeah... sorry, right
book burning. I know that it's terribly
popular to laugh at people who burn
children's books because my goodness
what are they teaching the children
these days and Harry Potter is
witchcraft and Satanism and orgies and I
don't know mass hysteria dogs and cats
living together or whatever, but I think
that's a mistake because they have a
grasp on the truth and that's how much
stories can shape us. Lewis once said "I
saw how stories of this kind could steal
past a certain inhibition which had
paralyzed much of my own religion in
childhood" and he's not wrong books
infect our minds books contaminate us
books take us to different places and
make us see things from a different
point of view. Stories cut straight past
our defensive rational minds and right
to the heart of who we think we are, and
they aren't the only things that do that
but my goodness they're effective at it.
When I was about seven or eight maybe I
had a hardback copy of Matilda by Roald
Dahl and I carried it everywhere and I
read it over and over and over again
because something in Matilda
struck right to the core of me if
you think that atheism is dangerous then
you better ban the Northern Lights trilogy
forthwith; if you think that little girls
should be seen and not heard then you
best not let your daughters read Matilda;
and if vague depictions of sex are going
to warp teenagers minds then I have some
bad news for you about a significant
proportion of YA literature.
children's books especially ones which
seem to advance a worldview - which they
all do to a certain extent - are always
going to be controversial because
stories cut to the heart of who we think
we are and who we want to be. CS Lewis
was one of the people who taught me that.
So thanks Jack. That was a lesson worth
learning. thanks for watching this
hundred and fiftieth episode of stuff
you like I hope you enjoyed it if you've
been with me since at or near the
beginning thank you for sticking with me
for six years and more than 200 videos
on random topics if this is your first
video welcome if you want to follow me
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maybe i'll see you next time anyway
happy hundred and fiftieth everyone and
thank you again, so much, for everything.
