Once I read a book called 'the sea of trolls'. Basically, it was the story of a kidnapped boy (Jack) and a viking shield-maiden (Thorgil/Jill) looking for the well of wisdom at the roots of Yggdrasil, the world tree. Sounds great, right?Except for a lot of rude humor, language, and a climactic scene where a woman is completely naked.
There were also explicit Buddhist themes, such as: boy was a druid's apprentice, and was taught that everything is one. Also the druid exchanges bodies with a crow (meaning that the druid had a crow-mindset, and vice versa).
Now, it's my personal opinion that this was a very bad mash-up of Norse/Celtic folklore with Asian spirituality, but that's not the main point of this post.
(Just so everyone knows, I'm a Christian. I'm trying not to be too harsh, but it's the truth.)
What I'm pointing out is how explicitly noticeable worldviews are, even in fictional writing.
Another example is in The Chronicles of Narnia. Actually there are several examples.
C.S.Lewis was a Christian, and at the time it was believed that Christians shouldn't smoke or drink. In fact it was (and sometimes now is) a common belief that a 'good Christian' should be grim and never has fun.
C.S. Lewis (and J.R.R. Tolkien) both agreed that there were times to be grim, but both were very fond of parties, smoking, and drinking. But all were done with moderation.
Lewis showed his worldview in Narnia with moments like the White Witch discovering a group of animals celebrating Christmas, the contrasts between Trumpkin and Nickabric at the dancing lawn, the Narnians and the Telmarines, the gnomes imprisoned by the Emerald Witch, and so on.
Sub-section: Christian Fiction.
The problem is, often the presence of religious themes seems to overshadow plot quality.
When I read a book by a Christian author, and I can see basically the entire plot within the first...four, maybe nine pages?...I am not very impressed. Granted, there are some very good Christian authors, and I think the quality of their writing can be summed up in one quote:
"The world needs less Christian writers; The world needs more writers and composers who are Christians."
C.S. Lewis.
Some of the best Christian fiction, I believe, is the type that doesn't set out to teach one lesson, and weaves the various lessons seamlessly into the plot. There is some Christian fiction that just...they are trying to teach a lesson that is completely unconnected to the plot, and so it doesn't work. (Not to mention the style.)
Let's face it: in Monster by Frank Peretti, the plot of the book is not an allegory, and it varies between lessons, from a kidnapped woman doubting God's love to detectives and scientists pondering the question 'do random mutations work?' in order to solve the mystery. All without watering down a tense, exciting plot with awkward spiritual lesson pit stops.(Yeah, you know what I mean, Jonathan Park! I agree with Jim:
"Paddle, stop yappin'! Paddle!...Guys, can you talk AND PADDLE?!...did he have a pocket white-board and power-point?")
My family was discussing this on a car trip and we came to the conclusion that the best kind of story is one that, yes, has a moral theme (or more than one) but presents it in a sly, conspicuous way. In LotR, we aren't directly told that Merry and Pippin are loyal, caring friends. We aren't told that Gandalf is wise and fatherly. We aren't told that Aragorn is responsible and noble. We can tell without being told.
Seamless.
