Posted by: @courtenay

I agree, and I'm still hoping against hope that it'll turn out to be untrue and this whole kerfuffle will have been for nothing. But as Netflix has done nothing to correct the rumour, if it is untrue, there are only two possibilities left:

1. It IS true that Aslan is going to be female (or at least have a feminine voice), and the people making this film simply don't care about the huge backlash from fans worldwide.
2. It ISN'T true, but they still don't care about the damage this rumour is doing to their film and their brand as they let it keep on circulating without any response.

Or, the third possibility is that they released this rumour to see what the reaction of the fans are or even just to gain some publicity for their film. None of the possibilities sound very promising. 

I find this very disappointing, as I was looking forward to this movie.

Meryl Streep is a great actress.  I'd love to see her in Narnia (though not as Aslan).

If she's a voicing an animated character, then I'm sure there are any number of talking animals available [perhaps the she-elephant “Of course it wants some watering,” said the Elephant.  "I think I might say (meaning no offense to anyone present) that, perhaps, for that sort of work, my kind of nose—”].

The only human character I could see her playing would be for a flashback of Old Mrs Lefay.  If Digory's mum is young enough to actively play with Digory and Polly once she has recovered from her illness, I think she sounds like a woman who is not yet middle-aged (though I run around with my son, so I guess middle-aged people are capable).  Aunt Letty probably would not be too much older than Digory's mum - perhaps she could be 10-15 years older, but more than that would push believability.

If the movie is too be at all authentic, than Aslan needs to be a male lion - both for the allusions to Christ and out of respect to C.S. Lewis' original vision (to quote from Peter Jackson about The Lord of the Rings movies: "We didn't want to put any of our own - certainly in terms of the thematic material: we didn't want to put any of our own baggage. I mean, we had no interest in putting our messages into this movie; but we thought that we should honor Tolkien by putting his messages into it."  This is the attitude I would like to see Netflix and Greta Gerwig have for the Chronicles of Narnia).

Originally-well, originally, I was sure this whole thing was a joke or a mistake. But once it was, more or less, confirmed, I was trying to cheer myself with reminders that Aslan only appears in the last third of The Magician's Nephew and making him a lioness wouldn't require changing his dialogue or any of his actions. Other parts of the adaptation could still be great, I told myself. But, on reflection, I'd almost rather the whole thing was bad. 

I don't say that to spite the filmmakers. Honestly, I've gotten the past the point of being mad at them and am now just kind of sorry for Netflix and Gerwig because of how much backlash they'll get and how much money they might lose. But, speaking in my own interests, if most of the movie is great and/or true to the book, it'll be frustrating because part of me will want to recommend it and another part of me won't because of this one really annoying and pointless change. If the whole adaptation is bad, that'll technically be worse, but it'll also be easier for me. I'll know where I stand anyway. 

Posted by: @col-klink

I was trying to cheer myself with reminders that Aslan only appears in the last third of The Magician's Nephew

Sorry to be pedantic, but I remember it coming up in another discussion here recently (I forget exactly where and who was involved) that supposedly Aslan and Narnia aren't shown until almost the end of the story. I went and checked the book, and actually, if we take it from the moment Aslan's creation song begins... well, in my copy, that's on p. 93 out of 171 pages in total, so that's about 54.4% of the way through the book. In other words, Aslan is in it for just a tiny bit under the last half of the story.  

And regardless of the exact percentage, Aslan gets significantly more time on the page (or potentially the screen) in this book than he does in most of the others, bar LWW and probably PC. Along with the whole creation sequence, there are plenty of really important passages of dialogue from him, which are vital to the story and indeed to the overall impression we have of him. 

and making him a lioness wouldn't require changing his dialogue or any of his actions.

True, on the face of it, because in MN there aren't any really important scenes involving his mane, which of course he wouldn't have if he was a lioness. But then if Aslan is portrayed as female in this film — which is supposed to be the first in a new series and has been touted as such all along — then he, or rather she, will have to be female for all the subsequent films, including ones where his mane plays a much more important role (that's been discussed elsewhere, of course). Unless they're going to swap Aslan back and forth between being female and being male as it suits the film-makers, which would be even more bizarre (and downright confusing) than just making him a her...  

But, speaking in my own interests, if most of the movie is great and/or true to the book, it'll be frustrating because part of me will want to recommend it and another part of me won't because of this one really annoying and pointless change. If the whole adaptation is bad, that'll technically be worse, but it'll also be easier for me. I'll know where I stand anyway. 

I'm feeling much the same way, really. If they make Aslan female, but everything else about her character and the movie in general is true to the spirit of the book and beautifully done, I'll be left thinking "That was almost so good, but aaargh... why did they have to make this one change that was so unnecessary and so disrespectful to what Lewis created??" But yeah, if the whole thing is badly done all the way through, at least just about everyone will have complaints about it — not only for the gender swap — and hopefully future directors will take note and not try something like that again...

But I'm also reminding myself that we still don't really know what they're planning to do, so it's not yet something any of us can definitely and fairly judge, even if at present it's not sounding good. 

I wonder how many people have signed the petition so far. I signed it a couple of days ago even though I don’t sign petitions very often. I kind of wish Meryl Streep would tell us if she really wants the role and her reasons for accepting or declining it.  Greta Gerwig hasn’t said anything about it publicly either. I wonder if filming will start without any comment about who and why they will accept the roles.

A hopeful thought I had while reading the Aslan casting ideas thread- with Meryl Streep in talks, perhaps they are doing a multi actor layering of voices. It is the one hope I’m holding. 

sorry if this has been mentioned, I didn’t have time to read through everything. 

I am glad to see that nearly everyone opposes the idea of Aslan having a female voice.

However, I am disappointed/surprised that so many of us seem surprised at this rumor! It was, in fact, extraordinarily predictable. It would be more surprising if something like this didn't happen.

I think Christians must learn to be more skeptical and cautious, especially in these modern times. Hollywood doesn't have a very good track record lately, and so I wouldn't wait with bated breath for a good Narnia adaptation. It's sad, and I understand the desire for Narnia movies. Thinking about and imagining and discussing Narnia movies should be a fun and interesting thing. But I think we are just getting our hopes up. I am afraid we may be foolish in our hope, and are only giddily awaiting the appearance of a donkey in lion's skin, or of Tashlan himself.

Soooo... apparently worse things might be ahead. At least according to Michael Grumbine, founder of The One Ring.com, who just gave an interview over on the Trent Report wherein he revealed that he knows an insider working on this project. Apparently this insider is “tearing his hair out” while working on the production.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf_sUeN_aP4

While discussing the latest reports that Meryl Streep will play a gender-swapped Aslan, Grumbine stated, “I know someone who’s working on the — I can’t say much — Gerwig production, but he is tearing his hair our and trying his best as a Christian to help things. It’s a bad scene inside.”

Towards the end of the interview, he added, “It’s a train wreck internally.”

After the Streep report, it's not that surprising, to be honest, if a bad scene is indeed what we're facing. 

Posted by: @the-mad-poet-himself

While discussing the latest reports that Meryl Streep will play a gender-swapped Aslan, Grumbine stated, “I know someone who’s working on the — I can’t say much — Gerwig production, but he is tearing his hair our and trying his best as a Christian to help things. It’s a bad scene inside.”

Towards the end of the interview, he added, “It’s a train wreck internally.”

Hmmm, I watched the video in the hopes that he'd let on more than that, but he doesn't (and the rest of it is arguments that we've all heard before, but repeated over and over).

It'd be interesting to know what the "bad scene" and "train wreck" actually are. Is it simply that a devout Christian who's working on the production is horrified at evidence that it's going in a very non-canonical direction that seems calculated to provoke outrage among Christians, but otherwise most people involved with the project are on board with what's happening and are not upset? Or is it that there's a whole lot of dissension and uproar among the production crew because increasing numbers of people aren't happy with how it's being done?

Basically, does "It's a train wreck internally" mean "It's a terrible thing that is a vile insult to my faith and I cannot stand it", or does it mean "This entire project is degenerating into a shambles because nobody likes what the director is doing"?? It's impossible to tell from those few sparse comments.

I'm becoming less and less confident that this adaptation will bear much resemblance to the Narnia we all know, but I'm still most likely going to watch it when it's released, at least once, just so that I can at least judge it for myself.

I'm sure things are rough on the project. I suspect that is more normal than not. This isn't the first Narnia movie with significant drama  - off the screen. At this point, I am more puzzled than anything. I plan to pray for the production and find respectful ways of expressing my opinion.

I don't know anything about Meryl Streep. I don't think she has been in anything I've seen. As the only voice for Aslan, I think any female actor would be wrong. I could see doing a mixture (In HHB Aslan says sonething 3 different ways, if the powers that be are unwilling to let go of the idea of a feminine voice and / or female qualities I would rather it be one of the 3 parts of Alsan expressed there.)

Does anyone have any recommendations for something with Streep in it that would give me an idea of her abilities without my having to compromise my standards ( I don't like swearing or extreme violence and gore).

Posted by: @twigs

Does anyone have any recommendations for something with Streep in it that would give me an idea of her abilities without my having to compromise my standards ( I don't like swearing or extreme violence and gore).

She's amazing in The Devil Wears Prada. I recommend that movie to most people I meet. There's no gore in that (It's a movie about a girl getting a career in fashion design, so there's not much opportunity for slashing ). Although, I'm not sure about swearing. It's been awhile since I saw it. If you're worried about swearing in it, I recommend looking up a content guide on the movie before viewing.  

Posted by: @the-mad-poet-himself

... he revealed that he knows an insider working on this project. Apparently this insider is “tearing his hair out” while working on the production....

Towards the end of the interview, he added, “It’s a train wreck internally.”

I'd add two potential disclaimers to this report:

• He isn't offering us any new information that isn't now abundantly clear to anyone observing the project from afar - literally everyone in the internet has been tearing their hair out this week.
• You could walk in into any job in the world right now and find at least one employee who thinks that their employers are idiots and that the situation is a train wreck, so that it itself is not all that interesting. Particularly on highly stressful projects such as film production.

That's not to say he doesn't genuinely have insider information here, it's more that what he's offering isn't actually all that interesting in the grand scheme of things.

Hopefully he comes back on with more detail.

You don't have to be a Christian to be uncomfortable about certain changes being made. If you're passionate about the subject and care about what and how things are represented in the stories, it is alarming, religious or not.

Posted by: @twigs

Does anyone have any recommendations for something with Streep in it that would give me an idea of her abilities without my having to compromise my standards ( I don't like swearing or extreme violence and gore).

She has played famed English Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher; an Australian woman in a famous case, TV chef Julia Child, and many more. 
This video shows her act in 8 different accents:
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=meryls+streep+voices#fpstate=ive&vld=cid0

Here's her wikipedia page - suggest you start at 2000 to look for films you have seen.

@coracle

She has played famed English Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher; an Australian woman in a famous case,

That would be Evil Angels, Lindy Chamberlain's ordeal when at Uluru, where she was camping, her baby Azaria was snatched by a wild dingo. She also acted, along with Nicole Kidman & Julianne Moore, in another movie called The Hours, which appears to have been a psychological period drama, about 3 women connected in some way with Virginia Woolf's 1925 novel called Mrs Dalloway. Though as a librarian, I'm against censorship, in general, it is a movie I'd classify as Mature Age only. Altogether, Meryl Streep has been in about 34 movies.