Critics Slam 'Golden Compass' Movie for 'Castrating' Anti-Church Themes

Christian Post ^ | October 15, 2007 | Joshua Kimball

[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.

[gridlock]

...Pullman has found support from some Christians – most notably Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams.

Let's not jump to any conclusions about Dr. Williams...

[Mrs. Don-o]

One of the most unfortunate things about the whole anti-Harry-Potter episode was that it gave a strong impression that conservative Christian critics are too paranoid, and too stupid to properly evaluate fantasy literature.

I was predicting years ago that as a result, when something really toxic was offered to the public, we'd be powerless to effectively combat it because of the boy-who-cried-wolf reaction.

And yea verily, it comes to pass. Pullman is genuinely, explicitly, overtly and proudly anti-theistic in general --- the children actually kill God in the final book, or the repellent figure who is obviously set up as God--- anti-Christian in particular--- and if Christianity is the target, Catholicism is the bull's-eye.

The "His Dark Materials" trilogy (The Golden Compass; The Subtle Knife; and The Amber Spyglass) is clever, appealing stuff, and just as anti-Catholic is "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" is anti-Jewish.

Also, unfortunately, in my estimation Philip Pullman is a much more skillful writer than J.K. Rowling.

So what are we to do? Cry out, and who will believe us?

[gridlock]

The Life of Brian was funny. But sometimes the Wolf really is a Wolf...

[NYer]

I was planning on taking my 12 year-old to see this movie, and a couple days ago nearly bought him the book. Yikes.

My childhood memories of holidays are filled with trips to see wonderful movies with positive character themes. Now parents and grandparents must rely on outside sources to provide information about the garbage eminating from Hollywood. As for the books, I just posted a review written by an agnostic, at post #17.

If you visit Amazon.com, you will find many similar reviews about this series of books.

As for the Spiderwick movie, I have not heard anything. However I understand the movie ....

is phenomenal. It has already won several awards. Learn more at the official web site.

BELLA MOVIE

[twigs]

I don’t agree with you at all. It seems apparent to me that Pullman absolutely hates the organized church. And hates the foundational beliefs of Christianity itself. I think that this review from amazon is spot on. And I have read the books. Well, I’m finishing the third one now.

[Hyzenthlay]

Those are the reasons I'm debating whether or not I want to read them (oh yeah, and the talking animals *rolls eyes*). I've been told I'd love the writing style, and I have no problem reading stuff that has legitimate complaints agaisnt something, even if those complaints are against particular aspects of a religion that is generally assoicated with my religion, or my religion as it was in the past, as long as those points are legitimate, especially given a warning about the content. For example, I read the Wheel of Time series, and generally enjoyed it, but organised religion wasn't portrayed in the greatest of light, but it wasn't altogether an unfair portrayal, and it didn't bash religion as a whole, only specific actions that the religion in question was taking. On the other hand, I'm not sure if I want to be bothered skipping over all kinds of vicious anti-God stuff like I'm already exposed to enough of here at school.

[twigs]

I did’t care for what I heard of Harry Potter, so when I read the books, I was astounded at what a bad writer she is. And as you say, that is not true of Pulllman. He’s a very good writer, which is the only reason I’ve enjoyed the first two books. His books are just so blatantly, in-your-face evil and hating Christianity.

[twigs]

You might enjoy them; I have. But I wouldn’t let a child near them. I was introduced to them last year in a Young Adult lit course. But I agree with above readers who don’t think that this is YA reading.

[Mrs. Don-o]

I've read the books, aruanan, and here I disagree with you.

It could be argued that the god-figure and his organization are so repellent that they could not be the "true God" and that therefore only the oppressive "false god" is being opposed, as all false gods ought to be.

However,this is not just some fantasy-demon out of Halo. This is an unmistakable parody of the God of the Bible, of the Jews and Christians, and it's filled with the recognizable vocabulary, imagery, and cultural references of historic Christianity.

In a context where the readership or audience is knowledgeable about the history of Christian belief and civilization, it wouldn't matter so much. But even here among what we'd hope would be knowledgeable adults on Free Republic you'll find people who say, "Well, that's 'medieval Catholicism', all dark, false, fanatical and cruel, and therefore it deserves to be destroyed by the wise child heroes and heroines of Philip Pullman."

It's more deeply false than The Da Vinci Code because paradoxically, as well-written fantasy, it's more credible.

[Psycho_Bunny]

Didn't hear all these complaints when the Islamic, Palestinian villains in Clancy's Sum of All Fears were replaced with white, right-wingers.....................

[puroresu]

That one’s on my list, and I’m definitely getting the DVD of it as well when it comes out.

[NYer]

Given the worldview of the books, the parts of the organization being slammed and the reasons for which they are slammed are all legitimate.

The parts of which organization being slammed are all legitimate?

[Hyzenthlay]

Yeah, I agree. I’ve read small parts of one of the Harry Potter books for Latin class to discuss Rowling’s use of Latin and psuedo-latin in the books, and I have to say that she was overrated as a writer, and the ‘threat’ to children from the books did exist to an extent, but it was majorly overrated as well. I’ve got friends who took a magic and religion class, and they would always talk about the interesting things they read about, discussed, or observed as part of the class, and I can say that Harry-Potter style ‘magic’ is very far from what almost all pagan and neopagan groups practice as ‘magic’, and much closer to the Force in Star Wars, which nobody seemed to have a major problem with. I believe that any child who gets involved in witchcraft due to something like Harry Potter suffers primarily from bad parenting - either the kid can’t distinguish fiction from reality and their parents should not have allowed them to read the book, or else their parents should have noticed and put a stop to the unhealthy obsession long before it became actual witchcraft.

[steve8714]

Huh?

[Raymann]

Born and raised Catholic but it was the concept of original sin that turned me away from Christianity and then reading Rand that turned me into an atheist.

Original sin is a hard selling point for atheists...I’m not evil and I wasn’t born evil. And what do you say about a god who puts you on his s*** list as soon as you pop out?

Maybe that was too harsh :) But it does show there are a lot of strong feelings involved on both sides. I very much enjoyed Narnia but I hated Harry Potter. I even liked the Passion of the Christ (Hey, Jesus probably did exist and he probably was crucified for whatever reason).

Anyway, I’m looking forward to this movie. Hope it lives up to the hype.

[G8 Diplomat]

Ah...I didn’t know the animals were the “demons.” They didn’t explain that in the previews I saw.

Nonetheless, it looked like a stupid movie, and after reading about the anti-God themes in it, that only worsened its case.

[aruanan]

On the other hand, I'm not sure if I want to be bothered skipping over all kinds of vicious anti-God stuff like I'm already exposed to enough of here at school.

There's no vicious anti-God stuff. In this universe, the Ancient of Days is literally an old angel who is so old that he's decrepit. There are other angels who are ruling as though they are he. None of the angels is the ultimate reality, though it's apparent they want to be. The church's teachings in the Pullman world aren't so much the problem as the acquisition of power by certain groups within the church for their own ends. Therefore, on the human side there is a parallel to what is going on on the angelic side. So far, this is all pretty much status quo for our world as well as the Pullman universe. There's far more bashing of this world's Christian church in The Dark Is Rising series by Susan Cooper, of which the first movie has been made. But, nonetheless, The Dark Is Rising series is pretty entertaining.

[aruanan]

(Halo 3 is making me realise that Microsoft is not entirely evil.)

I remember reading about Halo 3 and some big hole in the African desert on Earth but I haven't seen anything like this in the actual game as the kids are playing it. And they say they haven't seen anything like this, either.

[aruanan]

It could be argued that the god-figure and his organization are so repellent that they could not be the "true God" and that therefore only the oppressive "false god" is being opposed, as all false gods ought to be.

The book is not an allegory, therefore, the references are to the church of that parallel universe. In it, the angels (including the Ancient of Days, as an aging angel) are some order of being, but not the ultimate reality, nor is the ultimate reality which has given rise to the various beings depicted as the doddering old angel or the scheming angels trying to rule in his place. It is portrayed as something beyond human ken, though not inimical to it.

[Mrs. Don-o]

"Original sin is a hard selling point for atheists...I’m not evil and I wasn’t born evil. And what do you say about a god who puts you on his s*** list as soon as you pop out?"

Original Sin is the one thing everybody can prove conclusively just by looking into your own self, digging up a little history, or reading the daily newspaper.

Haven't you ever glanced through Drudge and then thought to yourself, "Man, people are messed up"?

It's not, as you thought as a child (or still think) that you were born evil and God put you on His s*** list. (And you were raised Catholic, you say? Whoever taught you that wasn't teaching you Catholicism.) It's that we carry within us the effects of something that went way wrong, way back. We're all somewhat flawed. Chipped. Cracked. I know I am. Aren't you?

And God responds to our neediness with love, as nourisher, healer, and rescuer. If we will let Him.

Does Scripture say that God is the Wolf, or that God is the Good Shepherd?

Does its say He so hated the world, or that He so loved it?

Does Jesus say He came to put people on His s*** list, or to save them?