The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - Part 1 (with Terry Lindvall)

Fantasy/Animation

Episode 147 of the podcast is the first in a two-part special focusing on C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia book series originally published between 1950 and 1956, where Chris and Alex look at a handful of screen adaptations that traverse the fantasy and animation intersection. For this first instalment, they compare the 1979 animated film The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe directed by Bill Melendez with the BBC serial of the same name from 1988, both of which adapted Lewis’ first and perhaps best known Narnia novel. Joining them is special guest Terry Lindvall, who is the C.S. Lewis Endowed Chair in Communication and Christian Thought and Professor of Communication at Virginia Wesleyan College. He is a C.S. Lewis scholar and expert in American film and media, seeking to see how theological thought, Christian faith and tradition, and cinema can intersect. His recent book crosses squarely into animation, titled Animated Parables: A Pedagogy of Seven Deadly Sins and a Few Virtues (2022), and examines how short animated films teach us, directly and indirectly, about vice and virtue, connecting together a range of global cartoons to explore the animators' role in displaying the seven deadly sins. Listen as they discuss distinctions between the marvellous and the uncanny, and how fantasy shaped Lewis’ life and works; his relationship with J.R.R. Tolkien and the influence of Christianity on his brand of fantasy; traditions of limited animation and the medium’s potential status as one of ‘supposal’; shifting representations of the eponymous White Witch as both feared and fearful; and what Narnia has to say about the importance of letting children think.

**Fantasy/Animation theme tune composed by Francisca Araujo**

**As featured on Feedspot’s 25 Best London Education Podcasts**