One of the hot rumours about the forthcoming Narnia film is that Meryl Streep has been asked to provide the voice over for Aslan. This has led to further rumours and lots of controversy. Does this mean that Aslan will be female or possibly in some way transgender. If do how will that affect the plotline of the story and will it also undermine theology given that Lewis intended his stories to reflect orthodox Christian beliefs.
I doubt that Netflix are too worried about how their adaption will affect either of those things. I think that faithfulness to plot, history, factual context, theological thought etc is unlikely to be high up their agenda if other shows such as The Crown and Hostage are anything to go by. For them, it is an adaption with plenty of scope for artistic licence. However, I also suspect that CS Lewis estate will exercise it’s right to control the wildest potential excesses.
This also means that implications will depend on exactly what is intended by asking a female lead to voice Aslan. Remember that it is about voice over rather than full portrayal. If the lion is adapted to fit Streep and feminized as a Lionesses, then that does create obvious issues in terms of the plotline. The basic problem for the story is the loss of Aslan’s mane which is significant hid identity and memorably shaved off at his execution to humiliate him.
Would it matter though in terms of Lewis’ underlying theology if Aslan was portrayed as female. After all, we have moved from a human saviour king to an animal one. The answer is that it depends on whether or not you think that Christ’s masculine identity and God’s too are important. I believe that Biblically they are. However, again before we lean too hard into things, it is worth remembering that even Lewis’ decision to have Aslan as a lion messes somewhat with theological tidiness. Think it through. Aslan the lion is the one who breathes life into the world of Narnia, creating and awakening tht talking beasts as well as the trees etc. Narnia is given an Adamic figure to rule, so that humans for better or worse are part of Narnia’s story. It’s not the talking beasts that bring evil into the world or need saving. Their salvation is wrapped up, as in our world with that of mankind. Which also means incidentally that if Aslan is meant to be Christ, then he doesn’t need to die for Edmund in Narnia because he has already died for him here.
All of that should remind us that unlike other writers such as Tolkien, Lewis didn’t set out to create a fantasy universe with its own cosmology and history. Rather, he wrote a children’s story and naturally echoed aspects of the Gospel in it things grew unsystematically from there.
It seems unlikely though that we are about to have Aslan the lioness in the new production. It is possible that Streep is simply providing the voice for a fully male lion. It may surprise agitated culture warriors and Lewis’ devotees but there is a long history of women and women portraying each other, indeed it was historically normal for actors to portray people from all kinds of different backgrounds before we became sensitive to cultural appropriation. Perhaps Streep”s voice will provide a tonal richness, a depth combined with softness that will be fitting to Aslan. The test will be about whether she can portray Aslan convincingly. I’m personally confident that she can be as convincing as a lion as she was as an English prime minister.
It is also possible that Netflix want to do something different again. An attempt to merge genders, an Aslan who is both male and female. Now, whilst we know God as He, Father, King, we do not think of him as male. God is spirit and so not constrained by the creaturely sexes. However, Christ as incarnate was fully, clearly identifiably male. If the production is going to go down a line of confusing and blurring gender lines that is a matter of concern. The jury is out however.
So, I think that whilst the jury is out, we would do best not to get worked up about unknowns. Sond if course will have no interest or concern about another Narnia production. The rest of us will just have to wait and see.
Ddd
Faithroots 