The Golden Compass – Not a Book Review

Updates:

1) My update to this post can be found here. I was able to look at the Golden Compass: Agenda Unmasked and found out a little more both about Philip Pullman & the Catholic League too. Also, comments from the Church of Scotland and some Australian reviewers….

2) The Catholic League is no longer selling the PDF version of the above-mentioned booklet. You can view it on their site free of charge.

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It’s provoking some discussion. Maybe a little more than some. OK, so it’s just a tad controversial. What’s up with this movie, anyway? And exactly who has the hidden agenda???

Let’s see if I can piece things together. It goes something like this:

1995:
Northern Lights is published in the UK; later published in the US as The Golden Compass

1997:
The Subtle Knife follows in both UK & US

2000:
The Amber Spyglass is the third book in the trilogy
Audio book versions released by BBC

2003:
Lyra’s Oxford is published as a sort of bridge between the trilogy and the forthcoming Book of Dust
Stage version of the trilogy performed in London
BBC Radio Plays released

October 2007:
Controversy about upcoming movie begins: warning email is circulated, Catholic League announces movie boycott

December 2007:
Movie version of The Golden Compass set to be released in UK & North America

Along the way, author Philip Pullman has earned criticism worthy of Ozzy or Aleister Crowley. His reviews of The Lord of the Rings (”It’s all schoolboys having a jolly big adventure“) and The Chronicles of Narnia (”one of the most ugly and poisonous things I’ve ever read“) have been seen as unfair, even outrageous. He has also earned a Carnegie of All Carnegies for Northern Lights, the 2001 Whitbread Award for The Subtle Knife and numerous other honours, and the His Dark Materials cycle has been the subject of numerous books by other authors.

Despite the mixed reviews, Pullman has sold over 15 million copies of his books, which have been translated into 40 languages. How do we put this into perspective?

I think the first step is to read him. Read the books, read his web site. Read books about his works. Inform yourself.

Oddly enough, such is also the advice of the Catholic League’s Bill Donahue: “Get informed.” This is the same man who launched the film boycott, saying in a 3-minute video presentation that he wants an educated public. Does he want concerned Christian parents to buy the Pullman books (or heck, borrow them for free from the library) so they can decide for themselves? Does he want the public to look into Pullman’s interviews, maybe read other commentaries and reviews of his work? Does he encourage critical thinking when he speaks about an “educated public”? Not at all! What he wants us all to do – and apparently sufficent numbers of “us” have – is to fork over $5 for his 23-page booklet, “The Golden Compass: Agenda Unmasked”.

The hard copies of this pamphlet have evidently “flown off the shelves” in just the way Donahue is afraid Pullman’s novels will this Christmas. They are completely sold out, and only the PDF version remains. You can download it for the same $5 – but of course you’ll have to content yourself with screen reading or pay for your own printing. Donahue believes it important that we do read the pamphlet, though:

“The Catholic League believes in truth in advertising. It is precisely because we abhor deception that we prepared this booklet—to unmask the agenda behind The Golden Compass.” ~ Catholic League store page

 

Boycotts and other similar protests have long been a controversial issue, because while they draw attention to a subject that for a specific group is in some way distasteful – well, they draw attention to the subject! Any PR person will tell you any publicity is good publicity. So why all the hullabaloo? Surely Mr Donahue realizes that curious folks are more likely to flock to the movie (and to their booksellers) precisely because of the controversy?

Of course record movie attendance and increased book sales would only fulfill the prophesies of the good folks from the Catholic League about book sales, and give them more reason to spread their message of concern. And this would lead to more people downloading their pamphlet, so they can get educated about Pullman…. Oh, perhaps the Catholic League should be offering that download to their concerned public free of charge???

What about other Christians? What are their strategies for dealing with Pullman’s writings & the forthcoming film?

American theologian Donna Freitas, a Catholic by faith, calls Pullman’s work “a contemporary Christian classic” (Introduction to Killing the Imposter God, with Jason King) and calls Pullman himself a “reluctant theologian.”

A fellow blogger recounts how she approached her son’s 5th grade teacher (also a Baptist & the school’s reading specialist) when she received the email alert. The teacher laughed at the suggestion that reading Pullman would endanger anyone, and promptly loaned Sherry the book so she could educate herself – by herself.

Anglican priest Simon Pettitt invited Philip Pullman to speak at a public lecture he organized for the promotion of religious education. When a Los Angeles Times reporter spoke to him about the negative reactions towards Pullman’s books and expressed surprise that he would invite the author to speak, Pettitt replied, “In order to come to views, you don’t just listen to people you agree with. Education is a good thing, and, therefore, so is openness to different views.”

This attitude is echoes by Pullman himself, who is a former school teacher:

“He too is interested in what the other side has to say. This curiosity is in keeping with an ideal he calls ‘the democracy of reading,’ in which ‘to-and-fro between reader and text’ leaves each ‘free to engage honestly with the other.’”
~ Laura Miller

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, in its review of the film, calls the film “lavish” and “well-acted”. The Film and Broadcasting Office of the USCCB sees the film as being in harmony with Catholic beliefs, saying that “[t]he heroism and self-sacrifice that they demonstrate provide appropriate moral lessons for viewers.”[Update December 13: The USCCB has since withdrawn their review. See this article for more.]

Finally, Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury not only endorses His Dark Materials but believes the trilogy should be taught in public school. At a seminar of academics and theologians he proposed the books be used in religious education, in order that children be led to explore religious and philosophical concepts rather than simply memorizing facts about various festivals.

So I guess it’s safe to read Pullman, after all. If you’re not afraid of learning something!

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Some of the most thoughtful comments about this whole kerfuffle:

“…. millions of kids who have loved Lewis’ Narnia books without succumbing to their Christian symbolism” ~ Laura Miller

Pullman declared, for example, that “the true end and purpose of education” is not to fill children’s minds with testable facts but to help them see themselves as “the true heirs and inheritors of the riches – the philosophical, the artistic, the scientific, the literary riches – of the whole world.” He praised the ideal of “setting children’s minds alive and ablaze with excitement and passion.” To which the archbishop replied, “We’re entirely at one on that.” (”Writing the book on intolerance“)

“Holding religion above critique, above alternatives, is contemptible. To suggest authors of books and scripts need to avoid saying anything bad about religion is to call back to the days where blasphemy was a crime.” ~ fitnessfortheoccasion

I find all of these protests pretty ridiculous and a great boon to movie makers when it comes to advertising for their films. I am also NOT a fan of boycotting anything before anyone actually sees a film or reads a book. If you haven’t seen a movie or read a book, you really can have no voice in the discussion. But besides all that, what really bothers me is the insistence by the religious right that culture must change to suit their spiritual needs. The Jewish Scriptures are full of examples of God enjoining the Israelites not to become like the culture in which they were taken captive, but nowhere does he tell them to take control and change the culture they find themselves in.
“Cleaning the Inside First“

“I don’t recall hearing the American Humanist Association call for a boycott of C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Thank God, so to speak, humanists believe in tolerance.” ~ Mark Abley

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Here’s a thoughtful rebuttal of Pullman’s work, for those who are offended by the books

And a tremendous article that includes an interview with Pullman, plus a good deal of data on his sources of inspiration – thanks Andrew!

US link for those who want to purchase the book

 

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