Literary Analysis
Can parallel worlds explain the birth of our universe and beginning of time? Can parallel worlds make time travel and travel to other parallel universes possible? How would it be to live in a totally different universe coexisting with our own universe? These questions can best be answered by analyzing a film which features imaginary parallel universes coexisting with our own universe. The film which has the best ability to answer these questions is The Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It is the first film in the fantasy film series based on C.S. Lewis’s children’s fantasy novels, The Chronicles of Narnia.
The film is mainly based in a parallel world known as Narnia coexisting with the Earth. Narnia is shown to be a world where magic governs all creatures. The creatures in this parallel world resemble many animals and mythological creatures. Its plot revolves around a lion named Aslan, a Witch and four siblings, namely, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. This movie is important to the study of concept of parallel universes because it brings out the fictional side of this concept. The main theme of the film and the C.S. Lewis’ books is the victory of Good over Evil. Various techniques have been used in the film to bring out this main theme of C.S. Lewis’ book. The film uses contrasting images and allegory to convey to the audience the notion of what differentiates Good from Evil. The Evil is portrayed as cold, ruthless and without life. A landscape with severe winter which has lasted for more than a hundred years in Narnia because of the cruel Witch shows this. On the contrary, Good is presented as warm, full of life and gentle. Scenes showing the approaching spring and melting of the snow due to growing power of Aslan, the guardian of the Narnia and Good, represent Good.
Climax of the movie also helps in strengthening the main theme of the movie. In most of the movie, Narnia is shown to be under the Witch’s control. She is shown to be extremely powerful. When the Witch decides to take control of Narnia after ‘killing Aslan’, her army is shown to be in a more advantageous position. It seems that Evil is going to take control of Narnia forever. But when Aslan resurrects because the Witch breaks the deep magical laws governing Narnia, it becomes clear that Good will win over Evil. In the end, Aslan kills the Witch and the four siblings are made the rulers of Narnia showing the ultimate victory of good.
One of the most important way in which this film has contributed to my project is by throwing some light on the definition of time pertaining to the concept of parallel universes. The time in Narnia passes much slower than the time on Earth. This implies that a few seconds spent on the universe in which Earth belongs is equivalent to a year spent in the universe where Narnia is. Two scenes in the film show this intriguing fact about Narnia. The first scene which shows this is when Lucy Pevensie, the youngest of all siblings, accidently enters Narnia through the Wardrobe when playing hide and seek with her siblings and spends hours in Narnia. When she comes back to Earth only a few seconds have passed by. The other scene which indicates this happens in the end. When the Pevensie children enter Narnia they are young. They spend several years in Narnia as its rulers and have become adults. When they return back to Earth they turn back into children because only a few minutes have passed on Earth. These incidents show that time might not flow in the same manner in every universe. In some places it flows faster than other places i.e. it is not referential and each universe could possess its own ‘time dimension’. Further extrapolation shows us that time could begin for a parallel universe when it is born.
Another important aspect in which this movie has contributed is by suggesting a way through which humans can travel to other parallel universes. The Pevensie children travel between Earth and Narnia using a Wardrobe. The significance of this Wardrobe can be understood through its mention in the title of the movie. This Wardrobe which serves as a portal indicates the presence of many portals or connecting gates between Narnia and the Earth. Similarly, parallel universes could be connected to each other through various portals which can be used to travel back and forth. Moreover, humans could create these portals through artificial means. This possibility also leads to the prospect of time travel. Humans can travel to the past or to the future by opening a portal to the parallel universe similar to the past or to the future.
Most importantly, this film shows how the concept of parallel universes appeared in fiction. This movie is a work of fiction because it wants its audience to realize that it’s main theme of victory of Good over Evil to be taken as true but not its content. It also makes various truth claims such as the existence of magic, mythological creatures and talking animals which show that it is not real and hence just a work of fiction. This film also shows the thinking of people especially writers in 1950s about this relatively new concept of parallel universes.
The literary analysis of this film has led me to conclude that the various literary devices help in bringing out the philosophical aspects of the movie. In other words, literary analysis directly supports philosophical analysis. Specifically, the main philosophical theme of this movie and ideas of Utopia are explained beautifully in this movie through literary means such as allegory, imagery and climax. The method I used to achieve this literary analysis was to use the various literary techniques I learned about literary criticism. To achieve this I watched the movie twice to achieve two different purposes. First, I viewed the movie with the purpose of finding its relation to my research project of parallel universe. Then, I watched it with the motive of locating its main theme and finding various literary devices at work which help in bringing out the main theme of the movie. I then tried to combine these two motives and came with the conclusion that philosophical analysis is directly related to literary analysis.
The film is mainly based in a parallel world known as Narnia coexisting with the Earth. Narnia is shown to be a world where magic governs all creatures. The creatures in this parallel world resemble many animals and mythological creatures. Its plot revolves around a lion named Aslan, a Witch and four siblings, namely, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. This movie is important to the study of concept of parallel universes because it brings out the fictional side of this concept. The main theme of the film and the C.S. Lewis’ books is the victory of Good over Evil. Various techniques have been used in the film to bring out this main theme of C.S. Lewis’ book. The film uses contrasting images and allegory to convey to the audience the notion of what differentiates Good from Evil. The Evil is portrayed as cold, ruthless and without life. A landscape with severe winter which has lasted for more than a hundred years in Narnia because of the cruel Witch shows this. On the contrary, Good is presented as warm, full of life and gentle. Scenes showing the approaching spring and melting of the snow due to growing power of Aslan, the guardian of the Narnia and Good, represent Good.
Climax of the movie also helps in strengthening the main theme of the movie. In most of the movie, Narnia is shown to be under the Witch’s control. She is shown to be extremely powerful. When the Witch decides to take control of Narnia after ‘killing Aslan’, her army is shown to be in a more advantageous position. It seems that Evil is going to take control of Narnia forever. But when Aslan resurrects because the Witch breaks the deep magical laws governing Narnia, it becomes clear that Good will win over Evil. In the end, Aslan kills the Witch and the four siblings are made the rulers of Narnia showing the ultimate victory of good.
One of the most important way in which this film has contributed to my project is by throwing some light on the definition of time pertaining to the concept of parallel universes. The time in Narnia passes much slower than the time on Earth. This implies that a few seconds spent on the universe in which Earth belongs is equivalent to a year spent in the universe where Narnia is. Two scenes in the film show this intriguing fact about Narnia. The first scene which shows this is when Lucy Pevensie, the youngest of all siblings, accidently enters Narnia through the Wardrobe when playing hide and seek with her siblings and spends hours in Narnia. When she comes back to Earth only a few seconds have passed by. The other scene which indicates this happens in the end. When the Pevensie children enter Narnia they are young. They spend several years in Narnia as its rulers and have become adults. When they return back to Earth they turn back into children because only a few minutes have passed on Earth. These incidents show that time might not flow in the same manner in every universe. In some places it flows faster than other places i.e. it is not referential and each universe could possess its own ‘time dimension’. Further extrapolation shows us that time could begin for a parallel universe when it is born.
Another important aspect in which this movie has contributed is by suggesting a way through which humans can travel to other parallel universes. The Pevensie children travel between Earth and Narnia using a Wardrobe. The significance of this Wardrobe can be understood through its mention in the title of the movie. This Wardrobe which serves as a portal indicates the presence of many portals or connecting gates between Narnia and the Earth. Similarly, parallel universes could be connected to each other through various portals which can be used to travel back and forth. Moreover, humans could create these portals through artificial means. This possibility also leads to the prospect of time travel. Humans can travel to the past or to the future by opening a portal to the parallel universe similar to the past or to the future.
Most importantly, this film shows how the concept of parallel universes appeared in fiction. This movie is a work of fiction because it wants its audience to realize that it’s main theme of victory of Good over Evil to be taken as true but not its content. It also makes various truth claims such as the existence of magic, mythological creatures and talking animals which show that it is not real and hence just a work of fiction. This film also shows the thinking of people especially writers in 1950s about this relatively new concept of parallel universes.
The literary analysis of this film has led me to conclude that the various literary devices help in bringing out the philosophical aspects of the movie. In other words, literary analysis directly supports philosophical analysis. Specifically, the main philosophical theme of this movie and ideas of Utopia are explained beautifully in this movie through literary means such as allegory, imagery and climax. The method I used to achieve this literary analysis was to use the various literary techniques I learned about literary criticism. To achieve this I watched the movie twice to achieve two different purposes. First, I viewed the movie with the purpose of finding its relation to my research project of parallel universe. Then, I watched it with the motive of locating its main theme and finding various literary devices at work which help in bringing out the main theme of the movie. I then tried to combine these two motives and came with the conclusion that philosophical analysis is directly related to literary analysis.