Aslan is considered a literary representation of Jesus in the seven Narnia books, written by British author CS Lewis in the 1950s. In the books, the lion is depicted as male with a magnificent mane.
Greta Gerwig has moved the plot of the Netflix production “The Chronicles of Narnia” from the turn of the century to the 1950s. Meryl Streep’s casting does not necessarily mean that Aslan will be portrayed as a woman, but for conservative Christians, the idea of a divine Christ figure being portrayed as something other than a man goes far beyond what can be considered artistic freedom.
Aslan “a transgender person”
“This is a well-known strategy of God’s enemies: to undermine and destroy Christian symbols in an attempt to win a war of attrition for the soul of the culture,” writes Seth Udinsky in a column on the news site Christian Post.
He claims that Gerwig is making Aslan a transgender person and refers to
Streep one of the few
Gerwig has not commented on the gender issue, but tells Empire that she saw Streep as one of the few actors who could meet her criteria for the voice of Aslan.
"I wanted someone who was deep but not pretentious, who had weight but not a heavy seriousness. I wanted someone who was over 70 so that there was a wisdom born of experience, but who also had the capacity for curious wonder, like a child."
The film will be released in cinemas in February.
