Thursday, June 26, 2008

The truth according to Prince Caspian

Brian and I went to see our once-a-year movie at a theater while we were in Arizona. "Prince Caspian". Due to the fact that I'd heard it described as, "Not nearly as good as the first one", I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of symbolism. Some had been in the book originally and some appeared only in the movie. If you haven't seen it yet and want to find these on your own, stop reading now!

Note: This is by no means an exhaustive list

1) In the first battle to take place in the movie, the "good guys" actually lose. They have to withdraw and many lose their lives. Because Peter went on his own initiative and did not wait for Aslan. Hmmm, a common mistake of the impatient follower of Christ.

2) This is my favorite. I'll just loosely quote because I can't recall exactly, but when Lucy is talking to Aslan toward the end of the movie, Aslan asked her why she didn't follow Him when she saw Him at the beginning. Her answer was that the others didn't follow him. He basically says, "So what? What is that to you?" If she had followed him at the beginning, many lives could have been saved (my speculation). Now, there is the obvious symbol: Follow the Lord even if everyone around you is not. But even more, if you are led by the Spirit in a direction not commonly travelled among your fellow Christians, follow the Spirit!

3) Water judgement is used in the form of the god of the sea, which Aslan awakes and lets unleash his power. My first thought was "pagan beliefs". Then I remembered Daniel and Revelation (hey, even Genesis), which both describe in vivid picture, judgement using terms like "the waters of the deep were stirred".

I know there are more than these 3, but finding these in particular made me want to see the film again and search for more.

Now, I know that some of these may have been unintentional. So? Does that make them any less real? God is sovereign over EVERYTHING! Even humans creating films - some in which they think there's no inkling of God whatsoever.

2 comments:

Lance said...

Agree with your symbolism summary, and I liked the soundtrack, although I thought the best music was at the beginning.

I thought that the water judgment scene reminded me of the Red Sea and Pharoah's army, and you're right that type of action is also mentioned in Daniel and even Habakkuk 3.

Sarah said...

I was reminded of the Red Sea as well. Liked the soundtrack too. I don't know if it's just because it had been so long since I'd been to a movie, but everything was really impressive to me:)