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I went to see The Golden Compass. I would have probably skipped this story altogether except for the controversy swirling around it… which, like any controversies, found its way into my email inbox. So not only did I see the movie but I also read the entire book series – called His Dark Materials (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass). Here are my thoughts.
SUPER-QUICK SUMMARY
The Golden Compass (the movie) is a great story captured in a well-made cinematic fantasy-scape that I enjoyed, and I found it fairly benign for kids despite the emails warning of impending doom. The book series that the movie comes from, however, is not as innocent. Although aimed at kids, it’s not nearly as kid-appropriate as the movie, and decreases so from book to book (as does the quality of the storytelling).
THE MOVIE
I thought the movie itself was well worth seeing. The special effects were impressive, although I have become numb to great CGI after the Lord of the Rings film trilogy‘s mastery of the device. I also thought the casting was splendid – with a very demure and poised Nicole Kidman and a very wild western Sam Elliot (who is one of my faves). The little girl playing the lead character Lyra was Dakota Blue Richards, who in her first ever movie role managed to encapsulate the Lyra character almost identically to my perception of her from reading the book prior… impressive.
For everything negative about the books you may read in this post, keep in mind that I don’t apply that to the movie. The only caution would be if seeing the movie may lure your kids into reading the books… books you may find inappropriate.
THE CONTROVERSY
Now for the controversy – I have been sent emails that warn me to not give any “support” to this movie and to warn every parent I know to keep their children far away from this movie. That’s really quite overblown. The emails also warn that there are clearly anti-church, anti-Christian themes in the books. That’s quite TRUE.
Though, let me interject here that with the thousands of people involved in the business of movies (from making to marketing to merchandising) there does not exist a blockbuster movie whose ticket revenue doesn’t support someone evil somewhere… so if you don’t want to give “support” to anything evil join an Amish community.
Anyways, this controversy is SOMEWHAT similar to the clamor over the Harry Potter books… and although I haven’t read any Potter I have enjoyed the movies and thought them harmless fun. Despite the outcry that Harry Potter would swoon young children into a dangerous curiosity with witchcraft, the reality is that young children long for the flying broomsticks, scaled dragons, magic wands (that shoot lightning), and fairy creatures – these things are not only part of Harry Potter, but are largely found in The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia. But REAL witchcraft is more like mixing a special hot tea to get that promotion you’re looking for, or drawing a circle in the dirt and standing in it to imagine the face of your soul-mate, and no kid is interested in such “mundane” witchcraft.
THE BOOKS
In PARTLY the same way as Harry Potter or The Chronicles of Narnia, The Golden Compass is a children’s story rich in creatures, magic, compassion, oppression. HOWEVER, the book series (His Dark Materials) does go way beyond the generic “good versus evil” tale. There are clear counter-Biblical messages which the author does not deny.
Now the counter-Biblical messages in His Dark Materials can be compared to The Da Vinci Code, except that the latter was never meant for children, and adults would see it as readily filled with enough historical nonsense that there was no semblance of truth to be mistook (at least not by anyone intelligent). But kids are much more innocent and impressionable, and there are indeed – in His Dark Materials – specific counter-Biblical messages found directly in the storyline… it is very subtle in the first book, more open in the second, and blatantly obvious in the third. In fact, the third book’s dialog holds messages that would surely confuse impressionable young Christian children.
From what I’ve read online the author of His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman, is a self-assigned Atheist and decided to write His Dark Materials as a sort-of counter-Narnia story. Pullman would have done better to just write a solid epic children’s story, because although the first book is great, he starts to meander into an amalgam of preachy open-ended bunny trails that bear little resemblance to the exciting start of the tale. Indeed, the further you read the more convoluted (and counter-Biblical) the message gets – until the end of the third book when the reader is doused in a horrid yawn-fest of anti-climax.
If you are looking for an Atheist children’s story complete with homosexual fallen angels, pre-teen main characters who have sex with each other, and “God’s” military general of Heaven’s army getting horny for Nicole Kidman… then this is your book series.
Here is a great critique of the book series: His Dark Ending by James Schellenberg.
Here is an Amazon customer’s rant about the book series… it reads like something I would write. Image may be NSFW.
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