Specials: Aslan & Paganism, Serenity and Government

Today's specials:

Peter T. Chattaway has been threatening to write an article about just how much pagan mythology is scattered throughout The Chronicles of Narnia, and I hope he does it. There has been a lot written about why Narnia is "good" and Harry Potter's world is "bad," but the situation isn't nearly that simple. There are so many similarities between the two series, and I think Chattaway's going to highlight that for us one of these days. At least, I hope he does. Someone should.

Today, he scratches the surface:

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I am intrigued by this because J.K. Rowling's mercilessly comical depiction of Harry Potter's fat cousin Dudley, including the bit where Hagrid gives him a pig's tail, was one of many, many things that Richard Abanes criticized her for, in his book Harry Potter and the Bible: The Menace behind the Magick -- an impressively thorough collection of reasons to dislike Rowling's books. And this was one of the few Abanes criticisms that I actually thought might have some merit! To quote my review of Abanes's book:

Although he makes some valid points, Abanes is so determined to find evil in Rowling's books that he neglects their better qualities; and when he assesses Lewis and Tolkien, he has nothing but praise -- even though their writings contain many of the things he finds so offensive in the Potter books.

Peter Suderman takes a look at even more of the meaning in Josh Whedon's Serenity, which at this point can only be described as a catastrophic failure of marketing and promotion since the film itself is a fantastic ride. Suderman's interested in what the film has to say about government:

Serenity

Suderman also contributes a thoughtful look at Elizabethtown, one of the best-written film reviews I've ever seen published at Relevant.

And what's more, he's getting into the interesting debate over the merits of Quentin Tarantino's hyperviolent storytelling.