The Golden Compass

Master Of Puppets · Posted: Dec Sat , 2007 9:19 am Post subject: The Golden Compass

There is a movie called the Golden Compass coming out on December 5th. It's based on a trilogy of fiction for young adults, called The Dark Trilogy, by Philip Pullman. The book deals with rejection of organized religious (note: not God, but organized religion --- there is a difference) and abuse of power in the Catholic Church (Anyone who saw the movie Deliver Us From Evil about the Church covering up the activities of pedophile priest Father Oliver O'Grady would agree that some fishy stuff goes on over there).

The controversy is coming from the Catholic League, who have called for a boycott of the film. They claim the book (and by proxy, the movie) teaches atheism to kids. The director has stated that Compass is NOT an atheistic work, and star Nicole Kidman, who is herself a Catholic says she would not have appeared in the movie if it was against her belief. Author of the book, Philip Pullman has been quoted as saying, "Religion is at it's best when it's furthest away from power...as soon as [religion] gets it's hands on power --- it's no good."

My personal view is that the Catholic League are mixing up their ideas. I don't think a book that is against abuse of power has to be against God. For example: there was a movie called The Smartest Guys in the Room, based on the Enron scandal. In the movie the Enron people are criticized --- but that doesn't mean the filmmakers are condeming business or capitalism --- only the people who abused their power. So, are the Catholic League mixed up, or are they scared of criticism against the church itself? I would have to think that they are good people who believe in their organization, and that is causing them to confuse the issue, rather than subscribe to the notion that they are bad people who want to cover up anything that criticizes them. However, there's something hypocritical about the whole thing. Blocking someone because they disagrees with your world view is called censorship. No one is censoring the church here, so why should the church be able to censor other people's hard work? Perhaps the church should fund a movie about the things they don't like about Hollywood. Free speech, baby. The foundation of democracy.

Anyway, whether you agree or disagree with how 'dangerous' the book is (is anything that teaches kids to read and think for themselves a bad thing?), you have to admit that this is a poorly played hand by the Catholic League. The only thing they are hurting by kicking up such a fuss --- is their own agenda! This movie, coming on the heels of a ton of other post Lord of the Rings/Harry Potter-style epics, probably would have slipped in and out of the theatre like the rest that came out this year (ie - Stardust). Now they have created such a huge buzz --- the movie will do big numbers. Everyone wants to see what the big hubbub is all about. That, for me, is the silliest part of all this.

What do you think?

Jephth · Posted: Dec Sat , 2007 11:07 am Post subject:

It's a film focused on a topic. It's not a gun focused on a person. It's a customer focused on the screen.
_________________
Jephth