I was just watching the new Christmas advert for Matalan (linked below) which one commentator described as "Narnia inspired", and it got me thinking about a particular thematic connection between Wardrobes and Christmas that had never really crossed my mind before.
Whilst I can definitely see why you might suggest this advert seems "Narnia inspired" it actually wasn't my reading of the advert at all.
To me it seemed like the advert was leaning into the idea that the back of the wardrobe is traditionally where you hide all your Christmas presents and Christmas paraphernalia prior to the big day - therefore the woman in the advert is merely just venturing into the Wardrobe to see what gifts she has to give to her friends in various scenarios.
Is this a Christmas tradition that is common to other people? For lots of people that I know, the back of the wardrobe is their secret storage location of gifts for all occasions, as well as where they keep things like the wrapping paper.
I had though never really thought of the Wardrobe in LWW in this way before, but having thought about it now, the back of my Wardrobe is definitely the place that Christmas "lives" for 11 out of 12 months of the year, and when it gets to December I definitely do venture into the back of my Wardrobe to see what gifts I've got prepared to give.
Given how "Christmassy" LWW is as a story, I am surprised this thought never occurred to me before
I guess therefore my question is this: are Wardrobes inherently Christmassy for you as well, irrespective of LWW?
Topic starter
Posted : November 4, 2022 1:41 pm
The link to the commercial isn't showing up for me. 
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Posted : November 4, 2022 8:51 pm
@icarus my wardrobe is not deep enough to store huge quantities of presents, but the other bedroom in my house has lots of shelves above the clothes. An ordinary freestanding wardrobe would not have space for all the things shown in the advert. There'd have to be a magical portal to the place they come from.
But this advert doesn't suggest Narnia to me.
There, shining in the sunrise, larger than they had seen him before, shaking his mane (for it had apparently grown again) stood Aslan himself.
"...when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards."
Posted : November 4, 2022 11:43 pm
Using Narnia in advertising might not be such a great idea since it may become too commercialized. I didn’t really see anything in the ad that directly referred to Narnia. The ad is meant to sell a product, and that isn’t what Narnia is about. I don’t think people should claim that the solicitation has anything to do with Narnia.
Posted : November 14, 2022 4:13 am
coracle liked
In fact, anyone with more than a nodding acquaintance with LWW knows that when Lucy goes into Narnia via the wardrobe, she finds herself in a land with winter but no Christmas!!
It's not until the four children go in together and Aslan's coming is rumoured, that Christmas (in the person of Father Christmas) arrives. So in Narnia it's what goes INTO the wardrobe that causes it to be Christmas.
There, shining in the sunrise, larger than they had seen him before, shaking his mane (for it had apparently grown again) stood Aslan himself.
"...when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards."
Posted : November 14, 2022 11:26 am
Courtenay liked