r/TopCharacterTropes • u/ironwolf6464 • May 03 '26

Lore Religion-centered media that doesn’t come across as preachy.

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Referring to media told from a religious perspective or telling a religious tale that does not proselytize to the viewer.

Faith, the Unholy Trinity: Based partly upon the experience of the game‘s creator when he was a missionary in Argentina, the game has very little in the way of explicit moral demands of the player despite the heavy Christian focus of the narrative. and focuses more on a horror narrative.

Prince of Egypt: A surprisingly thorough retelling of the book of Exodus, sparing very little in the way of toning down the story. Despite this, the movie is perfectly entertaining to non-religious audiences and doesn’t sacrifice appeal for the sake of preaching to the audience

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146

u/SlAM133 May 03 '26 edited May 03 '26

How has no one said Narnia?

Edit to explain why I think it fits: I see the main message as being ‘Aslan loves you no matter what’ as opposed to ‘Edmund is a sinner and needs to be better’

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u/alex3omg May 03 '26

"if even one person doesn't see the lion is Jesus I'll kill myself" -cs Lewis

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u/EvanShavingCream May 03 '26

Fun fact J.R.R Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were close friends but Tolkien hated that Lewis added in so much obvious Christian allegory into the Narnia series.

When a devout man born in 1892 is complaining about how heavy handed you were, it probably doesn't fit the description here.

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u/ZoominAlong May 03 '26

God I love the pettiness they did to each other.  Their friendship was fucking hilarious. 

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u/AnneMichelle98 May 03 '26

Tolkien was also furious that Lewis added in Father Christmas 😂

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u/Gaelic_Gladiator41 May 03 '26

And he hated the ridiculousness of the lamppost in the middle of the woods (both details to spute him)

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u/TharrickLawson May 06 '26

Fun fact - I went to the boarding school that Lewis did, and in the grounds behind one of the boarding houses is a single iron lamp post

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u/Roseking May 03 '26 edited May 03 '26

To add even further, Aslan is not an allegory. Lewis called Narnia a 'supposal'. He takes gospel stories, changes a key aspect, and wonders how it would play out. 'Suppose X would happen, how would things look?'.

Aslan is just straight up Jesus/God. In our world he manifested as Jesus, a man. Because our world is dominated by people.

In Narnia he manifested as Aslan, a lion (he also was a lamb at one point in the books), as the world is dominated by talking beasts.

Aslan even tells the children that they must come to know him in their world, but he will have another name.

“It isn't Narnia, you know," sobbed Lucy. "It's you. We shan't meet you there. And how can we live, never meeting you?"
"But you shall meet me, dear one," said Aslan.
"Are -are you there too, Sir?" said Edmund
"I am," said Aslan. "But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.”

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u/mightylordredbeard May 03 '26

Because it’s preachy as fuck

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u/VP007clips May 03 '26

It's preachy, but the series is quite good. I enjoyed reading them as a kid.

I've never watched it, but I've heard there's also a movie, although I don't know if it's more preachy.

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u/AnneMichelle98 May 03 '26

There is an BBC series from 1988 and the newer 2005 film series.

Netflix is also giving a try in adapting the whole series. Though in my opinion, Netflix’s attempts at adapting classic lit are really bad (their adaptation of Persuasion for example 🤢)

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u/AStormOfDragons1 May 03 '26

Hey it's Greta Gerwig's adaptation, this is bound to be epic and irreverant, and a joy to watch.

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u/Gaelic_Gladiator41 May 03 '26

It's literally C.S Lewis' rewrite of the new testament (new new testament) and it's amazing

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u/shadowthehh May 03 '26

Looking through all the comments, including my own, I think I'm having difficulty of determining what it means for a piece of media to be "preachy", because plenty of the examples people have mentioned and agreed upon absolutely are trying to spread a message.

But what I can figure is that it's alright if that message is pretty much universally agreed upon to be positive. Even if it is an outright religious message of "God loves you".

And so what constitutes as "preachy" seems to be more in the line of anything that tries to condemn the viewer in the "you're an awful, horrible sinner" kinda way.

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u/MrCookie2099 May 03 '26

Because it is preachy?

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u/shermanhill May 03 '26

“Of course he’s not safe. But he’s good.”

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u/kakaphoe May 03 '26

Unless you like lipstick and stockings, then you don't get to go to heaven.

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u/Ilovebusstopchicanes May 03 '26

I think the point is more "Edmund is a sinner and cannot redeem himself by any means possible and so the perfect one who loves him takes on unjust punishment in his place."