Two years ago I read a profile of Philip Pullman in The New Yorker (I don’t get this magazine for the articles but to look at the pictures, except sometimes) that inspired me to get the audio editions of the three volumes of the British children’s author’s His Dark Materials, a phrase from the Protestant poet John Milton. They were extraordinary so I eagerly awaited the movie version of the first book, The Golden Compass.
My Beloved (who has not read or heard the original) and I enjoyed the film adaptation and recommend it. It’s a computer-generated-imagery, derring-do, fairy tale, so avoid it if you insist on higher fare. The story true to many fantasies has a prophetic device, the compass. It also makes literal the conversation between Mind and Soul, with Pullman’s prankishly named daemons. The dire warnings of the movie’s Religious Implications are best ignored. Pullman says he is an atheist, but his learned thoughts on this subject are nowhere in this story. Neither God nor religion (not the same thing) is in Ratatouille or Toy Story, either.
A few times a year, and probably since the Civil War, some socio-cultural event becomes the subject of a holy campaign. In considering The Golden Compass, it’s finally become obvious that this sort of book-burning mindset shows more the insecurity of the higher ground authority than any real threat to the minds of children.
Of course one would have to read the books or see the movie to determine its non-relevance in terms of belief in God. Doing so cancels out the boycott so it won’t do. You have to take our word for it. No polar bears or other animals were harmed in the making of this movie, and neither was the Lord of Hosts. Does Pullman spear authority that holds power by limiting freedom? Yes, it’s the trilogy’s theme, and the authority in the story could be religious or political. Even the fervent would oppose those who created the Crusades and Nazi Germany. Pullman also condemns evil authority of the smallest, personal scale.
We saw the movie on opening weekend, nearly three weeks ago. I’ve checked the news and there’ve been no reports children seeing the Saturday matinee then waking up Sunday refusing to go to church because of it.
This is because children are smarter than that and so are most of their parents. I am a good example of this. Throughout my childhood and adolescence (the story’s heroine is about 12), I was bombarded with The Greatest Story Ever Told. In every fashion — direct and indirect, with horrible images and gentle tones, and from straight-from-the-Book Christian sagas and present-day tales of people who through crisis find triumph in Jesus’ one way and frequent in-my-face appeals — I received this message. My home was Fort Smith, Arkansas, where evangelism is put in the tap water instead of fluoride.
None of the pitches ever took. I’m still a Jew, and not even a Messy (messianic) Jew. If you’re not a Christian — and you grow up in the U.S. outside of the biggest cities, which is most of us, you will get recruited. Only a very few of us get baptized: Jew, Muslim and none-of-the-above develop into adults with faiths often intact.
So, parents, don’t worry about this movie; the majority kids will enjoy the characters, plot and special effects. All The Golden Compass might do is teach children to think for themselves, and isn’t it about time?
There is, though, Pullman’s questioning of authority even on a small, personal scale. The movie and books (available at Wal-Mart) stomp on the Fifth Commandment, about honoring one’s parents. Not much has been written about that. -30-
