“The Golden Compass” Noise
Posted by Travis on December 8, 2007Media and even chain-letter email are cluttered with opinions about “The Golden Compass.” Some tell us to see it, many tell us not to. I guess that is normal for any movie but this one gets special attention because of its potential atheistic bent. For a while there it seemed like I was getting one message a day about this flick. I am a skeptic by nature, even if it is skepticism that I am being skeptical of. (If that is possible.) For some reason I have been bothered by all of this negative attention that TGC has been getting. Mainly, SO MANY people who have not read the book and obviously hadn’t seen the movie (since it wasn’t out yet) were telling me and the rest of the world how wrong it was. That kind of stuff drives me nuts. I mean, we have to listen to what other people tell us and take advice, but if you are going to get passionate about something, get educated on it first. Also, there are a myriad of anti-Christian/anti-religious things in our culture already. Why did this one get so much attention? The irony of the whole thing is that all this kicking and screaming has given the movie more publicity than it probably could have bought in the first place.
All that being said, I want to know what others think about seeing the movie. I read an article on MSNBC today where the author of the book answers some directed questions. I encourage you to check out his responses there. The short version is that he says he is not promoting atheism. Pullman said, “as for the atheism, it doesn’t matter to me whether people believe in God or not, so I’m not promoting anything of that sort. What I do care about is whether people are cruel or whether they’re kind, whether they act for democracy or for tyranny, whether they believe in open-minded enquiry or in shutting the freedom of thought and expression.” When asked specifically about the church represented in the work and how it is painted negatively, he equates it to something like the Taliban. He said his issue is with religious organizations gaining great political power and then using it “for bad.” Granted, “for bad” is a grey statement and we may all disagree on what is good or bad for the government to do.
So far, I do not see all the potential harm in this film that I have been warned about. As a family fantasy movie, it seems like it will be incredible. Children won’t pick up on or be looking for all of the “messages” that the rest of us think we see anyway. I do not see how it would do more harm than “Lord of the Rings” or “Narnia.” I think we just don’t get riled up at their fantastic content because we know the heart of those authors. I also recognize that after I see the movie I may have to take back what I said about it not being a big deal. Maybe it is a big deal and the author is playing it down. Know that at this point I am not promoting or protesting this movie. I am inquiring about it.
Have you seen it? Will you see it? What do you think about it if you have seen it?
-Travis
I heard a brilliant reply to all of the bashing this movie is getting. When asked if someone would take their kids to see this movie, he said, “I don’t believe that a 90 minute film can do much to damage the faith that we daily instill into our children’s lives. This film will come and go just like so many others before it. What I am concerned about is the culture that will not be going anywhere. The culture, bad and good, that we are surrounded by daily will do more to impact the lives of my children than this film ever could.”
I don’t know who the guy was, or I would give him credit. I haven’t seen the film yet, but I don’t think I’ll avoid it. I’m just not going to pay $8 to see it in the theater!
I am not sure what I will do? I will probably watch it when it comes out on DVD and judge for myself. Also it gives me the opportunity to answer questions one may have about the movie pertaining to atheism/God. With this much buzz I would probably watch it first before I would take my kids.
Here is another blog I ran across by way of The Worship Community talking about the movie.
yeah…I saw it and was not impressed. I wanted to like it, but just couldn’t, not because of the message, but it just is not a great fantasy like others that it is being compared to…
Trav,
Count me in – I’ll go w/ ya … previews looked gr8, but almost every review I’ve read says it’s a lousy flick.
Fred
Almost ALL of the reviews I’ve read so far say “All special effects – no engaging acting”, and that it moves far too fast to develop any of the characters adequately.
Fox news had a bit about it a while back and the uproar was over books #2 and #3 in the TGC series. The question was whether or not books #2 and #3 were appropriate for children and if the movie would cause parents to allow their children to read them. I agree with Brooke’s statement, “I don’t believe that a 90 minute film can do much to damage the faith that we daily instill into our children’s lives. This film will come and go just like so many others before it. What I am concerned about is the culture that will not be going anywhere. The culture, bad and good, that we are surrounded by daily will do more to impact the lives of my children than this film ever could.” I will probably wait for it to come out on DVD, same as Justin. ~Gerry
I do agree that sometimes Christians make much ado about nothing and just look for a cause to fight against. Another part of me doesn’t want to undermine however that there is a real agenda in our world to secularize our culture. There are parts of our society that simply want nothing to do with God or with biblical standards. I have read a lot of the reviews about the Golden Compass from the Christian perspective. Like Gerry said, much of the talk was not so much the content of this movie, but the series of books that seemed to lead to more and more of an atheistic slant. I am somewhat neutral on Harry Potter, but I know the movies certainly added to the book phenomenon. More kids were exposed so more kids went to read the series of books. Perhaps somewhat harmless, but as a parent I now see several witch and wizard shows popping up on the Disney Channel. I have thought, “What is the fascination with witches and wizardly all of a sudden?” I know some of this can be rather harmless, but there is a culture out there that it is in to witchcraft, and I do truly believe there is a spiritual realm out there that a lot of Christians are completely unaware of or in denial about. Am I totally against Harry Potter? No. But do I think it can make the idea of wicca or white magic look more appealing and innocent? Yes. I think the addition of the new shows about teenage witches and wizards on Disney is just another softening of the culture. Witches used to be villains. Now they can be hip and cool, and even heroes. I guess my final point is that if the books in this Golden Compass series do lead into true atheistic and complete humanistic thinking and God is killed or done away with, then I would be somewhat fearful of the movie getting rave reviews and then the parents going out and buying the series of books for their kids. I haven’t read the books, just the reviews from some of the leaders who have done some homework, and it is definitely one set of books I will not allow in my house. Kids are impressionable, and stories are a powerful to communicate truth or lies. Don’t underestimate the power of the media (movies, tv and books) to shape the minds and hearts of all of our lives. Don’t want to sound like a compete alarmist, but at the same time, I do not want to be unaware of the evil one’s schemes.
Well the author is doing a bit of the “I get royalties off this sucker so I bet tone it down a bit” spin. His previous interviews were far more “Dawkins” in their content and tone. The movie is scaled back from books 2 and 3 which i have speedread/skimmed and are decidedly less “church friendly” in their outlook. I don’t see that he thinks the church can do anything good, even in its humanitarian work.
All in all I hate poorly made art and this movie, even if it were a Christian film, is poor art. I will bag on a Christian film that is bad as well (ex. Joshua…that thing was awful).
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