Hollywood’s Idea of a Christmas Movie

Tom Smith on Philip Pullman’s Dark Materials Trilogy and the movie version of The Golden Compass, which is one of Hollywood’s big Christmas releases:

There really isn’t any way you can tell a story which involves the Church (called the “Magisterium” in the book, which is the Catholic canon legal term for the teaching authority of the Church, and for the doctrinal content of what is taught) kidnapping children, taking them to a sinister medical facility/concentration camp in the arctic, and performing bizarre and mutilating experiments on them, and not have it be anti-Catholic.  But it is not as if this is any big secret, either.  Pullman has averred that his His Dark Materials trilogy is about “killing God,” who turns out to be an old senile man much in need of offing. 

Now such reliable organs as The L.A. Times are coming out to say it is just more of the same old Catholic intolerance and bigotry that is protesting against the depiction of the Church as a bunch of crazed Nazis.  Pullman has helpfully elevated the debate by calling offended Catholics “nitwits.”

One might complain that had an author written a book about an alternative universe in which thinly disguised Jews tortured children, and, say, manipulated the world through their control of finance, the MSM would find more to protest about.  But in today’s climate, especially in the UK, one wonders whether even that would do more than get a few rabbis exercised and earn some positive reviews from the BBC.  (Catholics used to complain that anti-Catholicism was the Antisemitism of the intellectuals, but this was before the intellectuals went back to antisemitism.)

I think I’ll pass. Anyway, there’s much more over at Tom’s post and its all worth reading.

Posted on Tuesday, December 04 2007 | Permalink

Oddly enough, I would have pegged you (given the other times you’ve discussed the books you are interested in) as the type of person who would have read, and actually enjoyed, the ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy. Obviously, you wouldn’t agree with some of the overt themes of the books (neither do I), but that wouldn’t necessarily preclude enjoyment of the novels themselves.

After all, even Tom Smith admits that the “trilogy is a work of considerable literary merit.”

Personally speaking, while reading the books, I got the feeling that the ideas contained in them were more universally anti-all mainstream religions than an attack on just Christianity. The use of Christianity in the specifics of the story was, I assumed, simply because (a) its the religion most of the people the book was marketed to are familiar with and (b) Christianity has some of the best thematic/mythical elements of the major religions that an author can work with (the larger back story of the books is basically “Paradise Lost” revisited, with different sympathies on the part of the author).

I may be completely wrong here, since obviously I don’t know the intent of the author, but this was simply what I got from my reading.

PS: A small part of me feels bad for the producers of the movie because they’re getting flack from both sides. They changed enough of the movie that fans of the books are somewhat peeved at the changes… but even with the changes, they’re still getting press like this.

Then I remember its a movie studio and I don’t feel that bad anymore.

Posted by  on  12/04  at  11:29 AM

For a guy who claims to be an athiest, Pullman sure did draw on a lot of gnostic themes in the books.

Posted by  on  12/04  at  01:18 PM

Somewhat-Anon,
I’m a Christian and I have read all of Pullman’s His Dark Materials series. The Golden Compass is a good book, but it is definitely anti-Catholic.

I read the series because Pullman, as I understand it, wrote it as a response to CS Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia. I was curious what an atheist’s response to the Chronicles would Narnia would be and His Dark Materials is it.

The Golden Compass is good. The Subtle Knife is okay, but the Amber Spyglass is crap. Besides the part where they kill off God, the resolution of the main questions in the books is completely unsatisfying. In fact, Pullman’s resolution of the main questions in the books is the resolution I’ve ever read.

Posted by  on  12/05  at  12:49 AM

Anyone who thinks people will see the term “Magisterium” and think “Catholic Church” is wildly overestimating the education of the average American.

Posted by  on  12/06  at  03:06 AM

Daniel sez: The Golden Compass is good. The Subtle Knife is okay, but the Amber Spyglass is crap.

And the movie will probably be crap as well.  Oh, well, Sturgeon’s law and all that…

Golden Compass is definitely worth reading.  Very creative and imaginative weaving of cultural themes and variations from reality.  The later books don’t hide the polemics under anything worthwhile.

Posted by  on  12/07  at  01:05 PM
Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.

Next entry: Prohibition Yesterday and Today

Previous entry: Australia Ratifies Kyoto, but What About Exports?

Introduction


Recent Punditry Entries


Hot Topics on Food & Wine

Hot Topics on Law & Business



Punditry RSS Feed

Flickr

Archives

My Books



Blogroll