In today’s edition of Hollywood Hates You More Than It Loves Money, Meryl Streep is in talks to play Aslan in Netflix’s upcoming Narnia movie.
Christian author C.S. Lewis made no secret of the fact that Aslan, the talking lion in his timeless Narnia series, was meant to be an allegory, a stand-in, for Jesus.
Netflix being Netflix, I expected Aslan the Lion to become Aslan the Black Panther. Sadly, my failure of imagination once again underestimated just how much Netflix and Hollywood hate and seek to alienate Christians, especially when they can do it with our own stories. So I should’ve known Netflix and feminist director Greta Gerwig (Barbie) would hire a girl to voice Aslan.
Lion, from Quadrupeds series (N41) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes, 1890. Artist Allen & Ginter. (Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images)
The girl in this case is Streep. The offer is not yet signed nor sealed, but once a casting story makes it to an entertainment rag like Deadline, it’s pretty much in the bag. The fact that this is being considered says it all.
This is nothing more or less than Netflix and Greta Gerwig trolling Christians. It’s a childish fuck you that says, We hate you so much we’re spending $300 million on this fuck you.
There is no artistic reason to make this choice. Actually, it’s an anti-art choice. Great stories become great through subtext, and one of the pleasures of the Narnia series is looking again and again for Lewis’s Christian and Biblical subtext—what Lewis wanted to explain to us about God, our relationship with Christ, and how it all tied in with our fallible humanity. Once you make a girl God, the story becomes a Big Nothing because Aslan is no longer God. Without that Christian thread to pull on, you’re left with $300 million in computer graphics.
In the Walden Media Narnia trilogy released between 2005-2010, Liam Neeson voiced Aslan. But that’s because Walden Media respects the source material and its fans.
Here we go again, right? A beloved franchise handed over to a chick (Gerwig) who hates the source material and especially hates those who love the source material, so she can’t wait to spit in our faces by turning the sacred into the profane. Gerwig was an uncredited screenwriter for Hollywood’s most recent Fuck You — the box office disaster known as Snow White.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – JULY 09: Greta Gerwig attends the World Premiere of “Barbie” at the Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall on July 09, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images)
The Disney Grooming Syndicate’s Kathleen Kennedy did the same with Star Wars and Indiana Jones.
Amazon’s Jen Salke did the same with Lord of the Rings.
You might wonder why a Greta Gerwig would spend two years of her life bringing something to life she has no respect for. Easy, it’s a chance for her to spend millions antagonizing us Christiantards. We see this all the time.
These people are childish babies driven only by bigotry and hate.
John Nolte’s first and last novel, Borrowed Time, is winning five-star raves from everyday readers. You can read an excerpt here and an in-depth review here. Also available in hardcover and on Kindle and Audiobook.
