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"Is Aslan safe?"

"No, child, Aslan is a lion. He is not safe, but he is good."

A stuffed-animal version of Aslan would trivialize the very essence of his character. It would transform the lion of C. S. Lewis into something altogether different. He would become a harmless doll among other dolls. Simba meet Aslan. Aslan meet Garfield.

"Why, he's only a great cat after all!" cried one.

"Is that what we were afraid of?" said another.

Commercialized forms make a mockery of serious things without even intending to do so, because they exist to serve the logic of commercialism. Watterson writes, "A wordy, multiple-panel strip with extended conversation and developed personalities does not condense to a coffee mug illustration without great violation to the strip's spirit." A coffee mug illustration exists to distinguish one cup from another. It offers decontextualized sayings or verses or images that function as decals and are eventually ignored.

But does it really matter? Aren't Aslan and Hobbes simply figments of someone's imagination?

Criticizing commercial forms is only important if we imagine that the medium is also the message, and if we take the message seriously. If so, then the logic of commercialism must take a backseat to the logic of revelation. We must ask, "How should serious ideas and realities be revealed? What is the most suitable form for a work? What is gained or lost if a work is mediated in a different form? How does commercialism alter our sensibilities? How does it trivialize the significant?"

Of course, this article is not really about Aslan at all. It is about the Lion behind the lion. For it is one thing to commercialize fictitious kitties; it is quite another to commercialize the way of God.

E. J. Park is an assistant professor of new media at Wheaton College.

Copyright © 2006 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

The Complete Calvin and Hobbes is available from Amazon.com and other book retailers.

Our full coverage of the film, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, and C. S. Lewis are available on our website.

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February 2006, Vol. 50, No. 2