Posted on 11/26/2007 8:46:29 PM PST by Mr. Silverback
Note: This commentary was delivered by PFM President Mark Earley.
All of you have probably received the e-mail by now. A lot of Christians have, including many of us here at BreakPoint. One of my colleagues received it from five different people no less!
I am referring to the e-mail that is circulating about the upcoming fantasy film The Golden Compass, based on the book by Philip Pullman. It says that Pullman’s fantasy trilogy is openly anti-Christian.
Unlike many other e-mails that get circulated, The Golden Compass e-mail is not a hoax, though, in fairness, there are some incorrect details. (For example, contrary to what the e-mail cites, Jesus is mentioned in the books, and the girl and the boy at the center of the story do not kill God, though they are present when a being calling himself God is killed. God is actually presented as completely unreal in The Golden Compass; there are only angelic beings who try to set themselves up as God and are defeated.)
But the part about Pullman hating the idea of God is completely accurate. He uses his stories to twist and distort familiar biblical accounts of creation, fall, and redemption, making heroes of those who rebel against religion, and having one of his “good” characters even say, “The Christian religion is a very powerful and convincing mistake.” It’s sort of a Da Vinci Code theme for kids.
But I suggest that we should do more than just read the e-mail and press “Forward.” If we really want to be able to speak out against Pullman’s ideas, we must know what we are talking about. That’s why I mentioned the story details that might seem a bit trifling. Because when Christians start warning the culture about something dangerous, we often get a backlash. And it is worse if we are not prepared. If we just go out there and tell people, “This movie is about kids who kill God!” we just get a reputation as ill-informed scolds. Already that is starting to happen.
There are several ways you can prepare yourself to talk about Pullman’s books and upcoming movies. You can pick the books up at the library and skim them. You can read a book called Dark Matter by Tony Watkins; although Watkins finds more to like in Pullman’s books than we do at BreakPoint, he still does a good job of explaining the problems. You can visit our website—BreakPoint.org—where we have a number of articles, blog posts, and commentaries pointing out Pullman’s spiritual and literary flaws.
I know of one school in Virginia, Immanuel Christian, that is considering having the older students discuss and evaluate the worldview of the books in their weekly book discussion group. This is a terrific idea. When the movie comes out and their friends head off to the theater with no clue about what kind of indoctrination they are going to undergo, kids who have discussed Pullman’s worldview with Christian parents and educators will know what’s going on. Then they can choose the good and reject the bad.
Of course, all of this takes time for parents and teachers who already have enough to do. There is no easy way around that. But it is worth the investment in the lives of our children. As parents, teachers, and leaders, we can and should do no less.
Interesting “Omega Man” fun fact - it was the first movie that advertised itself through television commercials. (Funny what a person remembers)
Things to do on my holiday list:
1) Write and send 100 Christmas cards - Ungh! ASAP!
2) Test and hang new outdoor lighting display - ASAP!
3) Unpack and clean indoor displays and arrange - NOW
4) Kill God in the hearts of kids - PASS
The worst (most despicable!) of the three books (and all three of the books are (deliberately) being toned down for the movie versions) is the third - where “God” IS killed.
The movies just are not quite as bad as the books.
The books - because they are toned down - are specifically and deliberately anti-Catholic in tone, message, and plot, and anti-religious in general - and are NOT fit for “just fantasy” labels. Despite what the reviewers and liberals are saying.
What you read matters. What you let your children read matters even more.
Omega Man was a favorite of mine and some others when we were kids. Really liked the music.
I like both opening themes that someone edited together.
This needs to be pinged as widely as we can ping it, IMHO.
I’m guessing “I am Legend” may be more inspired by “The World, The Flesh, and The Devil” from the fifties starring a young Harry Belafonte.
When you children inquire, simply tell them that they will not be seeing that movie and tell them why. If they continue, tell them why again. Lather, rinse, repeat.
I am hoping this movie bombs so it is out of the theaters quickly. It gets tiring after a while.
More movies like Apocolyptica need to be made, about the wonders of pagan cultures.
A Catholic perspective on the crusades would be nice too.
Or how about a story about a Catholic missionary converting Northern European pagan kings, without threatening to slit their throats.
A science fiction alternative universe dystopia about a world where Jesus was never born.
In the book, the "altered" humans are more readily identified as vampires... unlike the "mutant" angle used in The Omega Man. The "Legend" part comes from the protagonist realizing at the end that he had become the new legendary monster (viewed as such by the "rest of the world").
It's been years since I read the book, but I think that's the point where it ends. In The Omega Man, the death scene is added to give Neville a Christ-like dimension (he dies protecting others, ensuring that he provides the means (serum taken from his own blood) to protect them from the plague.
I can see how the latter ending would be more appealing to writers and directors; the original ending is a bit hard to get across on film. It'll be interesting to see which way this new film ends.
How many kids asked to read The Trilogy Of The Ring? and saw what it really meant after seeing the movie. And how many of them actually read a book that is not required by the school they attend?
I’d be interested to know from parents how many of their kids voluntarily ask their parents...”Please buy me this book to read because I see a deeper meaning in the movie.”
It might get their attention if it were written in “internet-speak”. TGLDNCMPS
If you saw the movie “The Omega Man” with Charleton Heston, or the Vincent Price movie “The Last Man on Earth”, you have seen an adaptation of the book this movie is based on.
The book, “I Am Legend”, by Richard Matheson has vampiric zombies & a pandemic.
I can see going several ways with the story politically. We’ll have to see, I guess.
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Excellent movie - we balled our eyes out through the whole thing.
That’s the point, and it’s the way the books are set up, too, to suck you in and get its point across at the end -
the first one is just a rousing fantasy tale with protagonists and antagonists.
By the end of the last book, the protagonists “kill God” and free the people to do as they wish, unconstrained by the morality imposed by God.
>>Also, the anti-Christian bias is not very evident in the first volume, but grows as the trilogy progresses. Also deliberate, so kids will be drawn in before they realize what they are getting into.<<
Sounds like a certain LARGE Pseudo-Christian cult that began in the mid 1800’s in the US.
>>I was a kid, yes, saw Omega Man. Very good, but typical 70s “bad ending”. Think about it, all the movies back then, the good guy died at the end. I hated that...<<
Did you notice that, after they used his blood to “save the world” and he died, he was in a position that looked like Jesus on the cross?
>>A science fiction alternative universe dystopia about a world where Jesus was never born.<<
That theme fascinates me.
As a professing Christian who owns and has read pretty much everything C. S. Lewis ever wrote - more than once - I would like to see this movie for education/research purposes.
However, I believe that when you buy a product, you are voting for it, so I will pass. That is, unless I can download it off limewire.
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