Bryan Mead
Going to the Movies with C.S. Lewis is an edited collection exploring the thought and theology of C.S. Lewis as it relates to film and media. Lewis’s insights have had a profound effect on Christian life and thought for almost 80 years, and this book is an attempt to take some of those insights and apply them to film and media studies. It makes connections between Lewis’s work and film theory, specific films, and adaptations of his work. In many ways it is a book meant to explore how Lewis’s thought can help us view films as well as how films can help us better understand C. S. Lewis. To that end, the collection of essays fall into the following four categories: (1) Theoretical Foundations establishes the theoretical groundwork; (2) Adaptations and Fidelity examines how Lewis’s works have been translated to screen, revealing both the possibilities and limitations of cross-media adaptation; (3) Contemporary Resonances demonstrates how Lewis’s moral and philosophical insights illuminate films that engage with similar themes and concerns, even when not directly inspired by his work; (4) Genre and Medium examines how Lewis’s theoretical frameworks apply across different cinematic genres and forms, demonstrating their versatility while revealing how various genres pose distinct challenges for meaning making. 6
