The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a fantasy novel for children by C. S. Lewis. It was the first of The Chronicles of Narnia to be written, in 1950, and is the best known. The Magician's Nephew is thus a "prequel".

Cultural references

• The book inspired the song "Narnia" by Steve Hackett, and was sufficiently well-known to be briefly parodied in an episode of The Young Ones.
• In the television series Black Books, the character "Gus" (who is played by the actor who played the Witch's dwarf and Trumpkin in the BBC adaptations) asks for some Turkish Delight.
• In Roald Dahl's book Matilda, the character Matilda mentions that she loves the book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
• An episode of South Park, "Here Comes the Neighborhood", includes scenes with a pride of lions. The leader of the lions is named Aslan, copying the voice intonation and general animated look from an earlier animated film, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but speaking and acting in ways to which Lewis would surely have objected.
• In another South Park episode, "Chickenlover", Cartman pretends to have read the novel, and summarizes the plot, "a bunch of uh, hippies, walk around and paint stuff. They eat lunch, and then they find a magical... camel... which they have to eat to stay alive."
• In an episode of Friends, Chandler Bing says sarcastically that pressing his third nipple opens a door "to the magical land of Narnia."
• In an episode of Family Guy, Peter climbs into his dryer looking for a sock and he encounters a faun who introduces himself as "Mr. Tumnus."
• In an episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Willow has a nightmare in which she is dressed as a nerd and doing an oral book report on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to a very uninterested class. The title may have been chosen to emphasize her lack of social belonging in the dream.
• The second installment of the Simon the Sorcerer series, called "Simon the Sorcerer 2: The Lion, The Wizard and the Wardrobe" contains several references to the original history. In it, the main character (Simon) is sent to a magical land where Calypso the Wizard, an old friend, lives. Simon falls into a trap which involves an enchanted wardrobe which appears right into his bedroom. Once the trap is set, he has to escape from his enemy, the evil Sordid the Sorcerer.
• A song by the band Phish is titled "Prince Caspian" and features what may be "the sound of horse's hooves galloping under water" and the repeating lyric, "Oh to be Prince Caspian, afloat upon the waves... with nothing to return to but the demons in their caves."
• The Dublin based, Irish rock band Aslan is named after the mythical lion in the chronicles of Narnia books.
• The Discworld series of humourous fantasy novels by Terry Pratchett contain occasional references to wardrobes that lead to magical lands, although none of the wardrobes encountered thus far in the series are known to do so.
• In The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comic vol. 2, #1, reference is made in a text fragment to the apple tree from The Magician's Nephew. A text piece in #2 refers to the possibility of making a wardrobe from it.
• In Fables (comics) comic vol. 1, it's mentioned that one of the worlds that fell to the Adversary was a land ruled by a lion whom the Fables residents considered to be a bit "holier-than-thou".

This novel is being adapted into a film directed by Shreks Andrew Adamson: which is scheduled for release December 9th of 2005.

Related Topics:
Film - Shrek - Andrew Adamson - 2005

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