Gerwig's Bowie-Inspired Aslan Design Desecrates a Sacred Christian Symbol and Will Miseducate Children
Source: Christopher Lloyd Goffos. "Greta Gerwig's Glam-Rock Aslan Is A Shoddy Imposter." September 28, 2026. thefederalist.com
The Gist
The author argues that Greta Gerwig's new movie version of Aslan—giving the lion a David Bowie-style glam-rock look with mismatched eyes and rainbow whiskers—is deeply wrong because Aslan isn't just a symbol for Jesus, but essentially IS Christ within the story's world, as C.S. Lewis intended. Since Bowie's whole artistic persona was about constantly changing masks with no fixed identity underneath, using that aesthetic for Aslan sends kids the wrong message and puts Aslan's imagery on the villain's side of the story's themes, ultimately corrupting how a generation of children will first encounter and understand this sacred character.
Conclusion
Greta Gerwig's glam-rock, David Bowie-inspired redesign of Aslan for The Magician's Nephew film is a harmful desecration of a sacred Christ-figure that will corrupt children's understanding of the character and, by extension, of Christ.
Premises
- According to C.S. Lewis's own explanation, Aslan is not merely an allegory or symbol for Jesus, but a 'supposal' of what Christ would be if incarnated in a world like Narnia—meaning Aslan effectively IS Christ in that fictional context.
- Images and representations of sacred things can be genuinely desecrated even without being literally worshipped, just as burning a flag desecrates something beyond mere cloth, or spitting on a crucifix is an act against Christ despite the wood not being God.
- Lewis intentionally designed each Narnia book's portrayal of Aslan to correspond to a specific medieval planetary/cosmological theme, with The Magician's Nephew keyed to a 'fruitful Venus' motif (creation, fertility, the first king and queen) in contrast to the barren, dazzling counterfeit Venus represented by the villain Jadis.
- An androgynous, glam-rock aesthetic modeled on David Bowie belongs thematically with Jadis (the witch/villain) rather than with Aslan, since Bowie's persona-driven artistry represents 'salvation by self-invention' and multiplicity without a unifying self—the opposite of Lewis's coherent, Christ-centered symbolism.
- Children absorb stories and their embedded values pre-rationally, before they can articulate or critically evaluate them, making the first version of Aslan they encounter formative and difficult to displace later.
- Because the film is aimed at children (PG rating, wide release) and will be many children's first encounter with Aslan, this design will shape a generation's understanding of the character before they ever read Lewis's original text.
- Dismissing concerns by claiming 'Aslan is just a lion, not Jesus' (as commentator Tim Rice does) misunderstands Lewis's actual authorial intent and minimizes the legitimate cultural/religious harm of altering a beloved sacred symbol.
Assumptions
- Lewis's stated intent (via letters and Planet Narnia scholarship) should govern how Aslan is properly understood and portrayed, and deviation from that intent constitutes a meaningful violation.
- Visual/aesthetic representation of a symbolic figure carries substantial moral and spiritual weight, such that changing that representation can constitute 'desecration' in a real sense.
- David Bowie's public persona/aesthetic legacy is accurately characterized as embodying 'salvation by self-invention' and moral/spiritual emptiness, making it an inherently inappropriate template for a Christ-figure.
- Children's media has an outsized formative influence on belief and character formation, and Gerwig's creative choices are being made without full awareness or care for this responsibility (the 'Conditioners' framing from Lewis's Abolition of Man).
- There is a meaningful, defensible line between legitimate creative reinterpretation of a fictional character and improper 'desecration' of a sacred one—and Gerwig's design falls on the wrong side of that line.
- The reader/audience shares the author's Christian theological framework and will find the Christ-symbolism argument compelling as a basis for real-world objection to a film adaptation.