www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall The Golden Compass

Well, folks, I don't think we have a whole lot to worry about. The film is being universally panned by critics, and most film reviewers (whose opinions I trust), even if they give the film a moderately positive spin, find the thing so confusing that the plot line is difficult to follow.

So, like the hoo-ha surrounding the DaVinci Code film, this controversy will die the slow death of a poorly made film.

Apparently (according to Bill Donohue on Friday evening) the organizations of Atheists in USA and England love Pullman's books and were very disappointed that Hollywood "watered down" the militant anti-Catholicism in the movie.

Donohue's suspicion has been that the real issue is that like other "movie franchises" they were looking for 3 movies, reflecting the 3 books in the triology, plus, and more importantly, tie-ins to the books (a la Lord of the Rings) and merchandising revenues. That will depend on the success of this movie.

Apparently, the books themselves are a) aimed at teenage fantasy readers, and b) militantly atheistic, antireligious, and particularly, anti-Catholic. The Catholic League's take for months now has been that Pullman and the Atheists are hoping for big sales of the books as the payoff to their ideology.

Pullman's Atheism & AntiCatholicism [catholicleague.org]

The above link contains many quotes directly from Pullman, where he shows the tenor of his anti-religiosity. (Click on the PDF pamphlet icon on the left of the main page, and then on the link that shows up.)

Pullman's reasoning for not getting upset about how the film version was 'cleaned up' and left several elements out was that if this film was a box office hit he'd be able to include the more controversial (read anti-Christian) elements in the following two movies.

If the opening weekend box office take is anything to go by ... he might have some trouble with that.

i saw some thing on cnn that just ticked me off in one of the previews on this movie i saw icons of i think saint anne and saint peter and saint paul all along a church opening



just watch this and you will know what i mean

They seem covered with soot, but they are there. I wonder what the designer was thinking.

Terry

The big problem is, it is well recieved in Europe and Asia.

Even thoguht h reviewrs in the UK seem to indicTE The movie is poorly made, tey reccomend it glowingly. The reaosn is the same as the books, because they agree wihtthe Agenda.


I worry that persecutions may arise in Europe and kno hey already exist in Asia.

Good find, Dan. I think you are spot on. Those ARE icons...the whole wall looks like an iconostasis!

Dangerous Dan you are correct. The Archbishop of Denver points this out (in his critical and negative review of the movie) in the Denver Catholic Register: (posted on the Archdiocesan website)

When a warrior Ice Bear � one of the heroes of the story � breaks into the local Magisterium headquarters to take back the armor stolen from him, the exterior walls of the evil building are covered with Eastern Christian icons.

I must refrain from saying what I'm thinking...

Hi I ran into this interesting review about Golden Compass on orthodoxytoday.org and thought it was interesting,what think ye?

http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles7/LundbergCompass.php

Thanks for the link, Indigo.

I think that it was a good article.

I suppose that the questions asked about 'what is truth' are really no different than some of the questions asked in any college philosophy class. We are surrounded by alternate philosophies and idols, so perhaps this movie is not as dangerous as we think it may be? Ultimately, as the author states, the answers to these questions need to be discussed at home..just as in the early days of Christianity, the home is the seat of learning and planting the seeds of the faith.

Alice

It is definitely a bad movie, even though the previews look a little intriguing.

Well said, Alice. My 13-year old daughter pointed to a warning about the movie in our church bulletin and asked what all the fuss was about (she has only seen the movie trailers). When I explained the author's atheism and people's concern about exposing children to this and other negative ideas about the Church she rolled her eyes in typical teen fashion and said "What are you saying, that a polar bear in a movie is going to tell me there is no God and I will believe that?". After thanking God for making her so sensible, I told her if she really wanted to see it we'd do so together and talk about it afterward.

It did remind me of the flap over the DaVinci Code which I finally saw about a year after it was in the theaters. I didn't get it. The movie wasn't that well written and I couldn't believe that people would buy into the fictional conspiracy ideas it was promoting.

Common sense is sometimes the best defense.

Barbara

Here's another link, again from Orthodoxytoday.org that makes good points.
http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles7/MoehlerCompass.php