ROTTEN TOMATOES: Golden Compass Author Doesn't Care for Narnia, Lord of the Rings Comments

Golden Compass Author Doesn't Care for Narnia, Lord of the Rings

by Jeff Giles | November 05, 2007

Summary

It won't reach theaters until December 7, but The Golden Compass -- which adapts the first installment in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy -- already has some people up in arms, and the author doesn't seem to mind one bit. Back to Article

(101-120 of 141 posts) | Reply

luckyleaf writes:
on Nov 29 2007 07:46 AM

THE GREATEST TRICK SATAN EVER PULLED ON MANKIND WAS TO MAKE HIM BELIEVE THAT GOD DOES NOT EXIST.

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luckyleaf writes:
on Nov 29 2007 07:47 AM

THE GREATEST TRICK SATAN EVER PULLED ON MANKIND WAS TO MAKE HIM BELIEVE THAT GOD DOES NOT EXIST.
I don't remeber who originally said this but boy isn't it true

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defiscience writes:
on Nov 29 2007 01:03 PM

"Preachy books tend to make people think less than subtler ones..."
Dostoyevsky?

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elect writes:
on Nov 29 2007 01:52 PM

1.Christians should live and let live? Was it Christians who destroyed the WTC? Was it Christians who demanded prayer be removed from schools? 2.C.S. Lewis said he wrote a Biblical allegory for children. 3. Golden Compass will never achieve the financial success (over 1 billion $ to date) or worldwide emotional effect of Passion of the Christ. 4. LOTR and CofN are basic good vs. evil, good wins, happy ending themes. People like happy endings. 5. Many Christians misunderstand the mission Jesus gave them to spread the Gospel to every creature. Christians are only accountable to make sure everyone has heard the message, after that, the free will clause makes it every man for himself. 6. I personally feel no need to defend the almightly creator, sustainer, savior, and judge of the universe to any atheist. God already stated only the fool has said there is no God. In the end, if the atheists and others are right, oh well, we all just die and there's nothing. BUT, if I and all the other followers of Jesus Christ are right....they better get their fire insurance.

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kja.8 writes:
on Nov 30 2007 08:33 AM

haha.. i was wondering when someone would quote dostoyevky. i was going to do it myself earlier, but i couldn't fit it in.

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phloide writes:
on Nov 30 2007 09:52 AM

In reply to this comment (#1316098)
quote[Although Pullman's venom is directed mainly at christian beliefs, he has publicly stated that his goal is to destroy ALL concepts of God. So it seems to me that anyone who has any belief in a higher power is being attacked. It doesn't matter if you are christian, jew, muslim, buddhist, wiccan or satanist. (I include satanist because obviously if you have chosen one side you must believe there is the other.)
He has also publicly stated his agenda is to indoctrinate all young people to atheism. He does this not only through this trilogy but also through a DVD released in England that features children talking to other children about why they have chosen atheism.]

I, a Christian, will emphasize that Pullman is going to write in accordance to his beliefs, just like CS Lewis, Peretti, etc. I don't expect him to end his stories with people happily singing "Jesus Loves Me". I also believe that most people believe that their personal beliefs are worth sharing (even to the point of being preachy)"... Thats a part of being human. There are times where Christians can tend to paint "non-believers" and "lack of belief" in a dim light - even in children's lit, as do people who want to propogate Santa, painting "non-Santa-believers" as cold and distant. It would make sense that one can expect on occation for an Athiest to paint the same picture of those who do not believe in his/her reality. It is not because they are any more horrible or militant than a Christian encorporating their beliefs into a work of art.

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luckyleaf writes:
on Nov 30 2007 07:23 PM

In reply to this comment (#1318412)
Phloide you make many good points. If Pullman had written these stories with adults as his target audience I would not say a word. Again I am disturbed that he and his conspirators are targeting impressionable children. I also find it disturbing that Scholastic Reader, an organization that makes suggestions on appropriate reading material and provides teachers with materials to teach, are not only the executive co-producers of this film but have already put on their website available teaching tools for the movie. Check it out for yourself the address is http://content.scholastic.com/browse/unitplan.jsp?id=284. This is an all out effort to advance the view of atheism. If adults want to make up their own mind....more power to them....but leave my kids alone. It is my right to teach them my values and when they are old enough they can question them all they want. This is a sneaky backdoor attempt to subvert the teaching of any parent who has a belief in God. We Christians are prohibited from teaching our theology in public schools. The same is true for Jew, Muslims or any other religion. Except atheism? Atheism is a theology unto itself. At the very least this agenda should be left completely out of the public schools and in the hands of atheist parents to teach their own children.

Why not go to www.centerfortruth.com and connect to all the provided links read the information and then make up your minds. If you are as alarmed as I am, then I invite you to join me and others in our boycott of ALL movies in ANY movie theater while this film is playing. I respect everyones right to have and express their opinion in any valid forum. I would never seek to convert an atheist nor would I get "in their face" over their viewpoint. I just don't want them in mine or my kids.

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janutee writes:
on Dec 01 2007 06:53 PM

I don't think Pullman considers his work fantasy. He doesn't really fit neatly into a genre. The Dark Matrials Trilogy is very creative and original. I saw the movie "sneak preview" tonight. It's a little weak. I loved the book. By trying to do everything in the book, the movie is a little watered down. The book is definitely anti-religion, but not specifically anti-Catholic. I loved its freshness. The movie seems more focused on getting the CGI effects right, which no film can do: live action mixed with animation always looks weird and unrealistic. It's as if we willingly suspend our disbelief, and then are reminded of being fools almost instantaneously when real people appear in the frame. Uggh!

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janutee writes:
on Dec 01 2007 06:58 PM

In reply to this comment (#1306631)
Ha! Nice point! I liked LOTR, but the Dark Materials makes it seem rather trivially entertaining.

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BobaFettBntyHntr writes:
on Dec 01 2007 11:11 PM

I enjoy when folks attack established religion. The church should preach tolerance, love and understanding, but nothing divides this world more right now than religion.

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arentol writes:
on Dec 01 2007 11:20 PM

In reply to this comment (#1277443)
Tolkien does address a few specific social issues, such as industrialization and the loss of innocence that soldiers experience. However, he at least tried not to overdue it, and put most of it in at the end where it really didn't matter that much to the true story.

I don't know about The Golden Compass as a book, but the movie (which I saw earlier tonight at a special screening) makes it quite clear the bad guys are meant to be Christians caught in their own dogma and fear of change. However, the most interesting thing I noted was that the movie is in blatant opposition to atheism as well. The world as shown is a world clearly containing a god of some kind since all the humans have souls, and souls do NOT fit in an atheistic view of the world. So either the movie is a huge change from the books, which is doubtful since the "souls" are a key point of the story, or Pullman isn't very good at making effective commentary after all.

BTW, I tried to read the book once a while back, well before I read this article and found out about the attempt to "undermine the Christian belief", or whatever he was trying to do with this trilogy. Anyway, despite being a fanatic reader, I didn't get through more than about ten pages of The Golden Compass. The writing was quite mediocre, and the beginning of the story was both too complex and boring at the same time (at least for me, I could name a ten thousand other books I would rather have been reading, so I read one of them instead). I actually found the first Harry Potter novel to be more readable, and that is an incredible insult to any book (IMVHO the first two HP's were poorly written, the third was passable, and the fourth through sixth were quite good, when they weren't drawn out too much).

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The Loki Myth writes:
on Dec 02 2007 04:39 PM

You didn't see Atheists crying about the Narnia junk. So why all the drama? As I grew up, I recall being bombarded with the Christian belief system, or as I call them, myth's. From tons of Christmas cartoons, to the ten commandments every easter. You know what! It's about time that another point of view got some equal time. It seems so funny to me that Christians, whom I see as pushing their belief system on the young and as yet, mentally infirm, in the form of indoctrination before the youth has any mental defense against such brainwashing, hypocrisy at its finest. This new film Golden Compass is a symptom of the times. A symptom of a coming age were reason out weighs mythology and superstition.

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sumwunzma writes:
on Dec 05 2007 07:03 AM

I have a problem with the author's hypocrisy. In one interview, he'll talk about how his intention is not to sway anyone and in another, talk about how he's going to teach children to "kill" the idea of God. The facts are, the vast majority of people in the United States believe in God. Our right to defend that is constantly being whittled away by the loud minority who, through bullying and temper tantrums, have managed to take God out of everything we do. Personally, I'm sick of it. Movie producers can make whatever they want (I give you exhibits 1 - 200, the last year of films), but thankfully, I don't have to contribute a penny to it. I hope that the movie tanks, that another book by Pullman is never made into a movie again, and that Hollywood will finally get the message that the people of this country are not mindless sheep who will pay to see any crap they put on film.

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The Loki Myth writes:
on Dec 05 2007 08:32 AM

sumwunzma: How can you defend having an imaginary friend in the sky anyway?

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Noccy writes:
on Dec 06 2007 09:50 PM

My feelings on it are this... I am a Christian, but just because I'm a Christian doesn't mean I won't go and see a movie if it somehow, someway, 'violates' my beliefs. It really depends on how and why. If it really did, religious radicals should have tried boycotting Harry Potter and Lord Of The Rings as well, because it contained 'magic' and 'sorcery' and 'witchcraft.' I liked them both. However, it's sort of an unsettling feeling knowing you're going to see a movie that was specifically made, in some way, to bash and undermine something, whether you believe it or not. Kind of just lets your true character shine through, and that kind of hateful intent... Isn't a really comforting thing to see, and you can hear it on the underlying tones. Narnia at least wasn't trying to bash anything; it was a movie both Christians and otherwise enjoyed.

I've read the book, and overall, I enjoy C.S. Lewis' stuff more. I'm not saying Pullman isn't a good writer, because he is, but as many have said, he just gets preachy. He probably should have kept his yap shut and just make the movie. As one individual said, this may become a box office bomb.

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The Loki Myth writes:
on Dec 07 2007 03:35 PM

Well I'm going to see it in an hour from now. I only read the first two books so far and enjoyed the anti-god premise. I'm told that they cut most of that out of the movie. I hope I enjoy it anyway. Maybe some Christ-nuts will picket the theater, that would be cool! I hope Pullman writes a book criticizing Islam, now that would be gutsy !

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Azurite writes:
on Dec 07 2007 07:14 PM

I am still amazed at the number of people who are befuddled by the reactions of christians and catholics towards Pullman's work. Its really simple

I am sure everyone, regardless of religion, has a belief or ideal that is extremely important and meaningful to them. If someone were to slap you in the face, insult and undermine your belief, simply because he/she disaggrees, and call it bullcrap, you can't possibly say you won't retaliate or be offended.

Then comes this guy, with undisguised arrogance, whose sole purpose behind his work and efforts is to "kill God", "undermine christianity", and pound his own view onto people with a sledgehammer, insulting those whome he doesn't agree with. You can't expect christians not to be offended

I am not christians, but this guy's intolerance is just fastedious. For someone who thinks christianity is mumbo jumbo, he sure is wasting a lot of his life for the sole purpose of undermining it. Whats saddest, is that he insults his own literary expertise by dismissing some of the greatest works ever writen on the basis of his own hatred of christianity, and then offering a cheap rip-off version of those very books that will never measure up.

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Azurite writes:
on Dec 07 2007 07:33 PM

In reply to this comment (#1323957)
I truly pity your blindness. This isn't about "atheist didn't protest Narnia, so christians shouldn't protest this".

Narnia is written by a christian author, and therefore, does reflect his belief. However, Lewis just not pound his opinion onto you, nor is his work meant to bash atheist or for any other selfish, dark purpose. In fact, I read all 7 of his book between the age of 8 and 13. I never knew he was a christian until later.

The Golden Compass on the other hand, was made for the sole purpose of bashing and undermining. Pullman is not creating entertainment. His work is a symbol of his intolerance and hatred, nothing more (he even said that he wrote the books to be anti-Narnia and to kill God, nothing more).

Now, for all your words, I seriously doubt you would stand there and let it be if someone openly insulted and degraded for the sole purpose of bashing your beliefs.

Also, for your little rant about hipocrisy, you are one yourself. It is not ok for christians to "brainwash" children but it is ok fro Pullman to do so? Note that this series is for children (and strategically so), and Pullman said his goal is to "kill God in the mind of children" or at least in children book. The novels shouldn't even be for kids (it has content such as castration and genital mutilation), which further convinces me that he insists on making it "children's book" for brainwashing purposes.

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The Loki Myth writes:
on Dec 07 2007 09:07 PM

Well I just got back from the movie. It was too short! I was just getting into it and it was over. The dirigibles were awesome. The Poler bear Yurik was awesome and stayed true to the book for the most part. The effects were on the money too. But I'm not even sure how long the film ran, all I know is that it seemed like 10 minuets.
Azurite: I have to disagree with your point of view. No matter how important you or any other feels an idea or belief is, if it is unproven, it deserves criticism and close scrutiny. Especially if people are going about telling others that it is REAL and trying to recruit others to that belief system. I get a little concerned when I see people toting around bibles and stating that every word in it is FACT, when in my opinion and the opinion of any rational, logic using, critical thinking, Atheist or Agnostic, the bible should be on the FICTION shelf. I believe in most book stores they sidestep this argument by placing it in its own section. LOL.
You may think, whats the harm in religion, its a good thing, isn't it? Well, not in the long run it hasn't been. Not in my opinion anyway. Religion has a very sorted History. It really hasn't been that long since the Holocaust. (6 million Jews killed by Christians) And don't try to say Hitler was an Atheist, even if he was, which he wasn't! German Christians supported the Nazis because they believed that Adolf Hitler was a gift to the German people from God. Hitler frequently referenced God and Christianity both in public and private. And ever soldier that threw a Jew into the ovens or gave them a gas shower was a Christian. Lets go back a little further. How about the Salem Witch Hunts, Inquisition, and Crusades? And thats just the Christians! It is my opinion that religions are a hot bed of intolerance, injustice,bitter conflict, discord, and antagonism and need to be criticized at every turn, and damn your feelings. You implication is that believers shouldn't have to be faced with criticism. This is wrong: religion and theism aren't owed any deference or respect. If I were not critical of religion, you might get the impression that religion and theism are inherently good, positive, and worthy of belief. I would have been remiss, having thrown fuel on the fire. Being polite is not always correct.
Anyway enough about history. My point is, If your belief system is truly benign, I hardly think it would draw any criticism at all.

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The Loki Myth writes:
on Dec 07 2007 09:31 PM

Asurite wrote: "I am sure everyone, regardless of religion, has a belief or ideal that is extremely important and meaningful to them. If someone were to slap you in the face, insult and undermine your belief, simply because he/she disaggrees, and call it bullcrap, you can't possibly say you won't retaliate or be offended."

Response: Being an Atheist this kind of thing happens to me every time I bump into a Christian or a Muslim. I don't get upset that they don't agree with my point of view, I'm more then happy to debate them! I have REASON, LOGIC, and CRITICAL THINKING on my side, wile their strong suit is myth and superstition. Its a no brainier. I would even thank them for the discourse.

Thank You for the Discourse.

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