I am a woman and a fan of the Chronicles of Narnia. I don’t pay attention to internet rumors, I didn’t even know Netflix was making a Narnia series, but even I’ve heard the rumors that Netflix is making Aslan a female character. If this is true Netflix is making huge mistake.
Let’s address the elephant in the room… or maybe I should say let’s address the Lion of Judah in the room. C.S. Lewis was a Christian theologian. The world of Narnia is full of christian allegories. Growing up a fantasy fan in conservative christian circles, the Narnia series was one of the only series I could read openly at church picnics without some busybody lecturing me about “magic being from the devil.” Narnia holds a special place in the hearts of many christains. Like it or not Netflix, they are your bread and butter fans. Turning the Jesus stand-in into a female will only alienate them.
We’ve seen this gender-flipping trend for a few years with the abandoned all female Lord of the Flies and gender inclusive ‘Lost boys’ in Peter Pan (Peter Pan And Wendy 2023) what is going on with this trend and why do I hate it so much?
I can think of a few reasons 1) Most characters in any work can’t be gender bent without changing the story. 2) women deserve to have our own characters, not sloppy seconds 3) positive masculinity matters.
Most characters in any work can’t be gender bent without changing the story. Take Peter Pan for example. The reason you can’t have a girl among the lost boys is because what makes them “lost” is the fact that they have no female ‘motherly’ influence to curb their wild nature. There is a reason these boys were not adopted by Tiger Lily’s tribe: they are terrors! When Wendy arrives, they play-pretend that Wendy is their mother, and realize what they are missing without mothers. The lost boys decide to leave Neverland to grow up, leading to their separation from Peter, and subsequent capture by Hook, which kicks off the climactic final confrontation in the story! The story is about how a mother’s love gives children the courage to grow up, you can’t have ‘lost girls’ and expect to have the same thematic impact do to the simple fact that there is such a thing as material instinct.
Women deserve better than sloppy seconds. I can’t believe I have to say this: Women are not small men. Women are not men. Women are women. {Please note: I’m not talking about gender nonconformity or gender expression, I’m talking about how women have historically been treated in media.) It seems like when media companies run out of ideas they rehash the same old ideas ‘but make it a woman’ and they act like it’s a new idea. If you remake Star Wars and change Luke to Rey, don’t be surprised when everyone compares Rey to Luke. Women don’t want a copycat of Luke, we want Mara Jade! We want a strong character, with her own wants, needs, flaws and backstory. Women don’t need to be strong when measured against men’s achievements, we need our strength and achievements to be recognized.
Positive masculinity matters. Yes there is such a thing as toxic masculinity, and the solution to toxic masculinity is positive masculinity. Men will behave however a society let’s them. When society demands more of men, they do more. Do you think it’s a coincidence that the first black man to play Doctor Who is gay? Western culture is so afraid of men being manly (even more so if those men aren’t white) that some people only feel safe if they are ’emasculated’ in some way. The way to get men to respect women is to show boys men respecting women. Show them what it looks like and make them take accountability for their choices at an early age. You do not ignore a young boy hitting his sister because ‘they don’t known any better’ you teach them so they will know better!
Aslan could be a great positive masculine role model. A male who does not seek confrontation, but does not shy away from it. A king who leads through self-sacrifice instead of self-indulgence. The Narnia stories have lasted for decades, and they will last longer than any “modern” twist Netflix tried to put on it. Don’t try to fix what isn’t broken. Please Netflix, just adapt the books to the screen.
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