Posted on 12/04/2007 7:39:35 AM PST by NYer
Advertising Media Plus, the agency promoting The Golden Compass, is trying to use a review by Harry Forbes, the director of the U.S. Bishops’ Conference Office for Film & Broadcasting, as leverage against the boycott being called for by Catholics and Evangelicals.
National Account Manager for Advertising Media Plus, Bob Bugle sent an email to the top 50 Catholic newspapers saying that New Line Cinema is interested “in possibly advertising The Golden Compass in the Catholic press.”
His email goes on to mention that the movie has caused some controversy and then attempts to ease any concerns by citing a positive review from Harry Forbes, the Director of the USCCB’s Office of Film and Broadcasting.
In his review, Mr. Forbes writes that the film “taken purely on its own cinematic terms, can be viewed as an exciting adventure story with, at its core, a traditional struggle between good and evil, and a generalized rejection of authoritarianism”. The Golden Compass was given an A II classification-Adults & Adolescents.
Starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, "The Golden Compass" traces a 12-year-old girl named Lyra from Oxford, England to the Arctic and then to the edge of another universe, where she becomes locked in a battle between good and evil. The characters are shadowed by their own "daemons," talking animal companions that take on soul-like qualities.
This past October, the Catholic League launched a boycott of the film, calling it "selling atheism to kids" in stealth fashion. The Catholic League’s boycott, although it objects to some parts of the film, is more focused on the atheistic agenda that author Philip Pullman’s trilogy of books promotes. The Golden Compass comes from Pullman’s first book in his trilogy, The Amber Spyglass.
Among the objectionable content mentioned by protestors is the use of the term the “Magisterium”, (the central “Magisterium” is located in Geneva) which attempts to control thought and happily crushes heresy, sometimes murderous intent.
Also of note is the character “Father Gomez,” who is given absolution in advance before being sent out by the Magisterium to kill Dr. Mary Malone, an ex-nun, now physicist, who’s posed to play the part of Lyra’s tempting serpent.
In the books following Pullman’s first work, The Amber Spyglass, his rhetoric against religion and Christianity increases to the point that English Professor Alan Jacobs of Wheaton College says, “A writer who tells adolescents that good folks are distinguished from evil ones on the single criterion of religious belief is not doing them any favors.”
Interestingly, according to Mr. Forbes, “the religious themes of the later books may be more prominent in the follow-up films which Weitz (the producer of The Golden Compass) has vowed will be less watered down.”
My advice: use the money you would have spent seeing this to watch Bella again instead.
This is exactly the strategy used in the books. The first book (IIRC) there is no hint that religion is ruining the world. There's bad stuff out there, and the good guys need to fight it. It's very traditional. It's only in the follow-up books when it becomes apparent that the "bad guys" are the folks on God's side, and the "good guys" are the ones trying to destroy God.
I've seen a lot of articles saying that the movies "aren't as anti-religious as the books" -- and I say "Wait for the sequel -- you'll see."
Good observation about the reviewers’ perspectives, mnehrling. How many adult movie reviewers read whole series of children’s or young-adults’ fantasy fiction, or even are familiar with the authors and their perspectives?
We weren’t going to see “Golden Compass”, but I’ll use the hypothetical money we wouldn’t have spent anyway to buy some wine and the second season of “Babylon 5” on DVD.
And thank you for the pretext, Mr. Pullman! I’ll say a Rosary for your soul when I’m running later.
Don’t forget the rosary :-).
Great idea, I’ll do that too, in some manner. I usually count on my fingers while I’m running :-).
Add him to Bill Gates, Ted Turner, Warren Buffet, and Cardinal Mahoney.
I would say that the former's assessment has more merit than the latter.
The primary feature of the trilogy is the creation of an imaginary world whose features resemble the Christian world in a variety of superficial ways, but which upon a closer examination show that these apparently parallel resemblances are intended to confuse the unsophisticated reader about the meaning and the interrelationship of Christian phenomena.
To wit:
In the His Dark Materials books, (I'll call them HDM) there is a being who is known both as "The Authority" and also by names/titles that Christians know God by, such as "Almighty" or "Adonai." However, this being pretends to be the Creator, even though he knows there is no such thing. In other words, there is no God in HDM and the God of HDM is just a deceiver.
In HDM, people have, instead of souls or guardian angels, physical companions known as "daemons." These daemons cease to exist when the human dies. In other words, souls are a purely physical phenomenon and are mortal. When humans die in HDM, they dissolve into the universe and cease to exist.
In HDM there are angels, but they are not spiritual beings and seem more like magicians. The Authority is an HDM angel. He sends out a regent called Metatron (which in a parallel, is the name of a real angel mentioned explictly in the Jewish tradition) who rules in his stead, and Metatron's ruling apparatus is called The Magisterium or the Church, and it teaches religion as a tool of control - even though in the HDM world all religion as commonly understood is necessarily false. Certain religious leaders are referred to as Popes as well. Metatron and the Magisterium are cruel and evil. Those who rebel against The Authority, Metatron and The Magisterium are good, kind, brave, etc.
In the HDM world, humans are born completely innocent and a substance called "Dust" hardens them and injures their innocence. Essentially, this is Original Sin in reverse, cast as Original Innocence.
Among the main champions of the noble rebellion against the authority in the HDM world are two HDM angels who are homosexual intimates named Balthamos and Baruch (i.e. like the Biblical Prophet whose book is considered canonical by the Catholic Church).
In the HDM world, the Church undertakes the separation of humans from their daemons in order to enrich the The Church - in other words, the Church is stealing and destroying souls for profit.
It goes on and on.
Jeff Miller, blogmaster at CurtJester, has addressed the situation.
First it is dishonest to say that it is the USSCB that said this, but that is the least of the problem.
The part they put in quotes does not actually exist in the review. They have cobbled it together from two different sections of the review.
Whatever author Pullman's putative motives in writing the story, writer-director Chris Weitz's film, taken purely on its own cinematic terms, can be viewed as an exciting adventure story with, at its core, a traditional struggle between good and evil, and a generalized rejection of authoritarianism.
and
To the extent, moreover, that Lyra and her allies are taking a stand on behalf of free will in opposition to the coercive force of the Magisterium, they are of course acting entirely in harmony with Catholic teaching.
They didn't even do a Maureen Down and put in eclipses.
I sent off some emails to New Line Cinema's Press Contacts, though I doubt if I will get a reply.
Though I also do wonder how non-Catholics might see the endorsement and if if it a negative in their case?
Update: New Line Cinema emailed me back with this reply "We have been alerted yesterday about this matter and we have changed the text -- it takes 24 hours for the online change and it will happen sometime today --." So if anybody sees the new text of the ad let me know what it is.
Very interesting. What a bunch of losers.
“But then again, what do you expect from the father of lies?”
Lots of lies.
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Or better yet, toss it in the collection plate and re-read "The Screwtape Letters." An entertaining and brilliant read one would probably enjoy more than a movie anyway.
Ping to a "wouldja believe?"
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