LOTR versus Narnia

[Sarah Arthur]

There's some debate going on (see "New Member Question LWW") as to
which movie series will have the greatest reach/impact in popular
culture: Lord of the Rings or the forthcoming Chronicles of Narnia. I'd
be really curious to hear all of your thoughts on any of the following:

1. Which did you read first: the Chronicles or LOTR/The Hobbit?
2. Which is your favorite and why?
3. Which do you think will have the greatest impact on popular culture?
How about the spiritual impact? Why?
I promise, once at least five replies have been posted, to offer my own
thoughts on the matter. This could get interesting!
Sarah Arthur

[Nick Whitford]

1. Which did you read first: the Chronicles or LOTR/The Hobbit?

The Hobbit, Fellowship then Lion Witch and the Wardrobe... and it was a
chaotic reading schedule from then on out...

2. Which is your favorite and why?

I loved both, but Narnia feels more like the childrens novels LWW was
written to be (or so suggests the dedication), whereas LOTR is much more
gritty and dark and adult... so I think my favorite still resides with LOTR
because it's depth... but I love to read Narnia in those times I need a
quick break in my other reading...

3. Which do you think will have the greatest impact on popular culture?How
about the spiritual impact? Why?

I think that in spite of the popularity of the Chronicles of Narnia, LOTR
will hold the greater impact. LOTR was huge, and many, many, many people
have reat LOTR... people don't (or didn't) necessarily know that LOTR has a
religious base behind it's creation, while at the same time I think that
people (for one reason or another) know more about C.S. Lewis' faith and
that may affect the desire to see a movie that obviously (or rather, more
obviously) holds to Christian ideals. I don't think that this will actually
affect ticket sales... but I think that people are not going to "flock and
talk" the same way they did for LOTR. Pop culture has an agenda and I don't
see that Narnia will have as big a piece of the pie as LOTR has.

Spiritually however, I think that because of the basic themes, and rhetoric,
and ideals that Narnia holds to it will be simpler to find the spiritual
base to which the story holds dear. Both Narnia and LOTR have Christian
attitudes and ideas and themes, and that makes it hard to say. Again I think
it comes down to the maturity of the material. LOTR is automatically an
adult oriented world, and Narnia is a world that children might dream about.

This is most definately a hard question... and I've found that I can't
actually answer it well enough for myself... so I'll leave it here, and wait
for other replies.

Nick

[Candy Bryant]

1. Which did you read first: the Chronicles or LOTR/The Hobbit?

Chronicles first, Hobbit, then LOTR

2. Which is your favorite and why?

Narnia, favorite for the worlds and characters. Memories of my
childhood are beyond the wardrobe.
LOTR, favorite for that life changing thrill that comes from reading
it. It makes you want to live your life with passion and purpose.

3. Which do you think will have the greatest impact on popular culture?
How about the spiritual impact? Why?

LOTR (the movie) came first and had a huge impact on pop culture as it
raised the bar for anything that comes after.
But for different reasons I believe they both will have a spiritual
impact. Narnia is more obvious when it comes to Christian ties and
people will catch it even if they haven't read the books. But LOTR
stirs the soul in ways that make every day life ho-hum. It makes people
dream of fighting the direct battle of good and evil verses living our
safe and cloudy habitual lives. It has the potential to set in motion
one's own quest for spiritual fulfillment.

Don't know if I replied to this correctly... first time posting!