Posted on 10/16/2007 10:17:59 AM PDT by NYer
LONDON – A debate over a movie’s anti-religious antagonism – or lack thereof – is heating up ahead of its upcoming release, with some accusing Hollywood of “castrating” the anti-Catholic themes present in the novel from which it is based.
The expected blockbuster, “The Golden Compass,” is named after the American title of best-selling author Philip Pullman’s novel “Northern Lights” and will star actress Nicole Kidman and James Bond star Daniel Craig.
The original children’s novel, part of Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” series, rejects organized religion – in particular, the Catholic Church – and critics of the movie version say the anti-religious elements of the book have been taken out of the storyline so as not to offend faithful moviegoers in the United Kingdom and United States.
“It was clear right from the start that the makers of this film intended to take out the anti-religious elements of Pullman's book. In doing that they are taking the heart out of it, losing the point of it, castrating it,” said Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society, a British organization that promotes secularism and which Pullman is an honorary associate of.
“It seems that religion has now completely conquered America's cultural life and it is much the poorer for it," she said in The Guardian newspaper Sunday. "What a shame that we have to endure such censorship here too.”
Filmmakers, however, say they have stayed true to a majority of the narrative in the fantasy novel – which tells the story of a young heroine and her battle against a dominant religious authority called the Magisterium, which condones the abduction of children for experimentation.
Movie director Chris Weitz, who directed the British hit family comedy “About A Boy,” starring actor Hugh Grant, assured that the film would be a fair reflection of Pullman's novel.
“In the books, the Magisterium is a version of the Catholic Church gone wildly astray from its roots. If that's what you want in the film, you'll be disappointed,” he said.
The filmmaker explained that the sinister organization has been changed so that the film will now appear to be a more general widespread attack on dogmatic authorities.
“We have expanded the range of meanings of what the Magisterium represents. Philip Pullman is against any kind of organized dogma whether it is church hierarchy or, say, a Soviet hierarchy,” he noted.
Nicole Kidman, who is reportedly Christian herself, has also defended the movie.
She acknowledged that the movie “has been watered down a little,” but that it still introduces a world that is "dominated by the Magisterium, which seeks to control all humanity, and whose greatest threat, is the curiosity of a child."
“I was raised Catholic. The Catholic Church is part of my essence. I wouldn't be able to do this film if I thought it were at all anti-Catholic,” she has also stated.
Pullman, meanwhile, has said that he believes the “outline of the story is faithful to what I wrote, given my knowledge of what they have done.”
Although he is a self-professed atheist and a supporter of the British Humanist Association, Pullman has found support from some Christians – most notably Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams. They point out that the English writer’s negative portrayal of the "Church" in “His Dark Materials” amounts to an attack on dogmatism and the use of religion to oppress, not on Christianity itself. Williams has gone so far as to propose that “His Dark Materials” be taught as part of religious education in schools.
Others, however, view the “His Dark Materials” series as a direct rebuttal of C. S. Lewis' series “The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” as both feature children facing adult moral choices, talking animals, religious allegories, parallel worlds, and concern the ultimate fate of those worlds. Furthermore, the first published book from “Narnia” begins with a young girl hiding in a wardrobe, as does the first “His Dark Materials” book.
The U.S. release date for "The Golden Compass," based off the first installment of Pullman's "His Dark Material" triology, is Dec. 7, 2007.
Here is a snippet of an interview the Sydney Morning Herald had with Phillip Pullman:
Pullman himself is shocked by how little reaction the books and upcoming films have received thus far. Talking with the Sydney Morning Herald, he confesses, “I’ve been surprised by how little criticism I’ve got. Harry Potter’s been taking all the flak. I’m a great fan of J.K. Rowling, but the people—mainly from America’s Bible Belt—who complain that Harry Potter promotes Satanism or witchcraft obviously haven’t got enough in their lives. Meanwhile, I’ve been flying under the radar, saying things that are far more subversive than anything poor old Harry has said. My books are about killing God.”
Thank you for that post. Do you have a link to the online story?
Not that they stop buying it of course. It's like these broads who buy Rolling Stone and fashion magazines, and then complain how women are portrayed.
So stop buying it, you FOOLS! Or else DON'T COMPLAIN!
Go to snopes.com and read what is said about the author there. These books are not HP parallels, the author not merely agnostic or even a true atheist, he is out and out Christian hater. He has publicly stated that his goal in writing these books is to kill God in the minds of children. Don’t buy the books, don’t borrow them, and certainly don’t support the movie.
I'm very sorry that the "boogetty-boogetty, this is eeeeevil" chant of the Christian critics pretty much shot their credibility and made them come off as paranoid, because…
Philip Pullman's trilogy really is evil.
I can't tell you how much it embarrasses me to put it that way.
Because, to repeat: Pullman has an agenda. It is an explicitly and viciously anti-God agenda. You can learn more about it by googling Philip Pullman kill God, Philip Pullman kids sex, or Philip Pullman atheist propaganda or similar combinations.
And he’s a clever writer, really much more seductive and talented than J.K. Rowling. Well, look him up and see for yourself.
Do not get your kids into this. You’ve been warned.
The warning need not apply to any rational person.
All fiction is Goldie Locks. It's pure nonsense.
Of course had the Python crew not had good comic sensibility the protest might have been accurate. According to various discussions Pythoners have had about Bryan there actually were quite a few jokes directed pretty strongly at Jesus and even organized religion in the script, but they turned out not to be funny so they got dropped. There’s two or three major lessons in that for a lot of authors and movie makers.
“Critics Slam ‘Golden Compass’ Movie for ‘Castrating’ Anti-Church Themes “
This sounds like the argument of Himmler (who spent a load of money
looking for ancient Aryans) with Hitler, who was afraid that the German masses
would figure out the long-range Nazi plan was to destroy Jews...
then to wipe out Christianity.
Hitler feared that Himmler might “tip their hand” too early!
For the movie critics, the film makers aren’t being “pure enough” with
the atheist themes in the source novels...but the director of the
movie is wise enough to know that incrementalism is the way to go
in “killing G-d”.
Heck, why should a film-maker give away the real agenda and suffer at
the box-office?!
Better to water down the deicide and amp it up in the sequel films!!!
Source on the Himmler/Hitler intersection is from the FIVE-STAR
rated book listed below:
The Master Plan: Himmler’s Scholars and the Holocaust
by Heather Pringle
http://www.amazon.com/Master-Plan-Himmlers-Scholars-Holocaust/dp/B000RG1E2U/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-6331327-2071827?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193697834&sr=1-1
But you are capable of cooperating with evil.
Your comment is (forgive me) the kind of useless observation which invites tautological formulation:
"Rational people aren't influenced by fiction."
"Such-and-such educated, intellectually sophisticated, accomplished persons were much influenced by works of fiction."
"Ah. Then they couldn't have been truly rational."
(Alternatively: "Ah. Then it couldn't have been truly fiction.")
Your assertion is immune to any countervailing evidence or disproof because its conclusion is really just an aspect of its own definitions.
Who isn’t? And as far as I know I haven’t.
Although he is a self-professed atheist and a supporter of the British Humanist Association, Pullman has found support from some Christians – most notably Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams. They point out that the English writer’s negative portrayal of the "Church" in “His Dark Materials” amounts to an attack on dogmatism and the use of religion to oppress, not on Christianity itself. Williams has gone so far as to propose that “His Dark Materials” be taught as part of religious education in schools.
Others, however, view the “His Dark Materials” series as a direct rebuttal of C. S. Lewis' series “The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” as both feature children facing adult moral choices, talking animals, religious allegories, parallel worlds, and concern the ultimate fate of those worlds. Furthermore, the first published book from “Narnia” begins with a young girl hiding in a wardrobe, as does the first “His Dark Materials” book.
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams.
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Speak the truth in love. Eph 4:15
Interesting. Mr. Williams wants children to read these books to learn about Christianity.
I have read the first book. I wanted to screen it before letting my son read it. It was pretty harmless as far as relating to real life religion. The book was written very well, and was quite clever in bringing in innocent readers (not unlike the General Oblation Board, LOL).
My sincere opinion is that if it's read strictly as fiction, and not as (anti-)religious symbolism, then this is a great book. I understand that the next books are not as subtle, so reading them in this manner may not be possible. If I let my children read these books at all, I would definitely want to monitor and discuss the books with them - not just allow them to read the books indiscriminately.
(I do not know what the "General Oblation Board" is: a Harry Potter reference?)
The GOB is part of The Golden Compass, actually. The main character, Lyra, knows it as the “Gobblers” who steal children by luring them in on their (the child’s) own volition.
Hook, line, and sinker. They never know what hits them until it’s too late.
OMG, I remember reading a science fiction novel ca 1971 that had something of this concept in it. Remember little of it now.
Unusual by itself: we usually discuss SEEING a movie before we go, and we don't go often. Though LoM sometimes persuades me to go see this or that. Rarely do we discuss NOT seeing a movie.
But she persuaded me to go see "Evan Almighty" and it had me laughing out loud in the (nearly empty) theater, silly as it was.
In searching for a commentary that I read on this about a month ago I came across this article. I particularly love the lines about Nicole Kidman and the Magisterium towards the end of the article.
http://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/blog.cfm
Atheism for Christmas?
Posted Oct. 30, 2007 2:28 PM || by Dr. Jeff Mirus ||
On December 7th, New Line Cinema will release a film called “The Golden Compass” based on Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. The books are vehemently anti-Catholic and anti-God but the movie has been altered somewhat. The final result remains to be seen. I guess it will come as a sort of Christmas present from Hollywood.
Philip Pullman is an avowed atheist who wrote his novels in an effort to draw readers into an atheistic worldview. In the books, which have sold extremely well, the protagonists resist the evil power of the “Magisterium”, and it becomes increasingly clear as the reader moves through the trilogy that this “Magisterium” represents the Catholic Church and that the ultimate evil behind it is God Himself. The trilogy consists of Northern Lights (published in the US as The Golden Spyglass), The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass.
Pullman and another children’s author, Michael Rosen, actually produced a course for schools called “Why Atheism?” This program is designed to persuade children eleven years old and older that theism in general, and Christianity in particular, are irrational and ultimately dangerous worldviews. As Pullman told a literary conference in Oxford: “We’re used to the Kingdom of Heaven; but you can tell from the general thrust of the book that I’m of the devil’s party, like Milton. And I think it’s time we thought about a republic of Heaven instead of the Kingdom of Heaven. The King is dead.”
Throughout the trilogy, priests are portrayed as evil and violent; one of them is an assassin. In contrast, an ex-nun who has lost her faith is positively portrayed. She describes Christianity as “a very powerful and convincing mistake.” The “Magisterium” kidnaps children in order to take out their souls. In the final volume, characters representing Adam and Eve kill God, who is referred to as YAHWEH. In a 2003 interview, Pullman stated point blank that “my books are about killing God.” He has also said he wants to “kill God in the minds of children.”
It is unclear how bad the film will be, apart from the incentive it will provide for people to read the books. New Line Cinema (a Time Warner company) was concerned that the anti-religious character of the books would hurt the movie financially, so it has watered down the themes, making the “Magisterium” stand not for the Catholic Church or God but simply for all dogmatic organizations. In real life, of course, nobody uses the term but Catholics.
Nicole Kidman will star in the film. Kidman has stated: “I wouldn’t be able to do this film if I thought it were at all anti-Catholic” because “I was raised Catholic. The Catholic Church is part of my essence.” But one doesn’t really know whether thinking is part of Kidman’s essence. It is quite possible she had never heard the term “Magisterium” before. In any case, the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights has launched a two-month protest campaign calling for a boycott of the film.
In truth, not having seen the film, it is difficult to condemn it. But the books were written self-consciously to counteract the Christian themes and symbolism of C. S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia. So the movie’s connections and antecedents could scarcely be worse. Parents should be very much on their guard.
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