November 28, 2007

  • ~What Every Parent Should Know About “The Golden Compass”~

    The Golden Compass

    Interview With Pete Vere and Sandra Miesel

    INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, NOV. 14, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The film “The Golden Compass” isn’t simply about using fairy-tale magic to tell a good story, it corrupts the imagery of Lewis and Tolkien to undermine children’s faith in God and the Church, says Catholic author Pete Vere.

    In this interview with ZENIT, Vere and Sandra Miesel discuss the movie adaptation of the fantasy novels written by Philip Pullman. The film, staring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, will be released in the United States in early December.

    Vere and Miesel are co-authors of the booklet “Pied Piper of Atheism: Philip Pullman and Children’s Fantasy,” to be published by Ignatius Press next month on the topic of “The Golden Compass.”

    Q: The first movie of “The Golden Compass” trilogy is being released at Christmas. For those unfamiliar with the series, what kind of books are these and to whom do they appeal?

    Vere: To begin, the books are marketed for 9-12 year olds as children’s fantasy literature in the tradition of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and J.K. Rowling. “If you’re a fan of ‘Lord of the Rings,’ ‘Narnia ‘ or ‘Harry Potter,’” the critics tell us, “you’ll love Pullman.”

    Personally, I just can’t see a child picking up these books and reading them. I see them more as books that adults give kids to read.

    Having said that, “The Golden Compass” (1995) is the first book in Pullman’s trilogy. The second book is titled “The Subtle Knife” (1997) and it is followed by “The Amber Spyglass” (2000).

    Collectively, the trilogy is known as “His Dark Materials,” a phrase taken from John Milton’s “Paradise Lost.” This is appropriately titled in my opinion, since each book gets progressively darker — both in the intensity with which Pullman attacks the Catholic Church and the Judeo-Christian concept of God, as well as the stridency with which he promotes atheism.

    For example, one of the main supporting characters, Dr. Mary Malone, is a former Catholic nun who abandoned her vocation to pursue sex and science. The reader does not meet her until the second book, by which time the young reader is already engrossed in the story. By the third book, Dr. Malone is engaging in occult practices to lead the two main characters, a 12-year-old boy and girl, to sleep in the same bed and engage in — at the very least — heavy kissing. This is the act through which they renew the multiple universes created by Pullman.

    Another example is Pullman’s portrayal of the Judeo-Christian God. Pullman refers to him as “The Authority,” although a number of passages make clear that this is the God of the Bible. The Authority is a liar and a mere angel, and as we discover in the third book, senile as well. He was locked in some sort of jewel and held prisoner by the patriarch Enoch, who is now called Metatron and who rules in the Authority’s name. When the children find the jewel and accidentally release the Authority, he falls apart and dies.

    Additionally, Pullman uses the imagery of C.S. Lewis’ “Narnia” chronicles. “His Dark Materials” opens with the young heroine stuck in a wardrobe belonging to an old academic, conversing with a talking animal, when she discovers multiple worlds. So the young reader is lulled early on with the familiar feel of Lewis.

    Nevertheless, Pullman’s work isn’t simply about using fairy-tale magic to tell a good story. He openly proselytizes for atheism, corrupting the imagery of Lewis and Tolkien to undermine children’s faith in God and the Church.

    Q: Many Catholics, including William Donohue of the Catholic League, are speaking out against the movie. What should parents know before they let their children watch this film?

    Vere: I don’t recommend any parent allow their children to view the film. While the movie has reportedly been sanitized of its more anti-Christian and anti-religious elements, it will do nothing but pique children’s curiosity about the books. I’m a parent myself. My children would think it hypocritical if I told them it was OK to see the movie, but not to read the books. And they would be right.

    It’s not OK for children — impressionable as they are — to read stories in which the plot revolves around the supreme blasphemy, namely, that God is a liar and a mortal. It is not appropriate for children to read books in which the heroine is the product of adultery and murder; priests act as professional hit men, torturers and authorize occult experimentation on young children; an ex-nun engages in occult practices and promiscuous behavior, and speaks of it openly with a 12-year-old couple; and the angels who rebel against God are good, while those who fight on God’s side are evil. This is wrong. And while it’s been softened in the movie — or at least that’s what Hollywood is telling us — it’s still there in the books.

    Miesel: Furthermore, there’s a great deal of cruelty and gore in the books, not just battles but deliberate murder, sadism, mutilation, suicide, euthanasia and even cannibalism. There are also passages of disturbing sensuality and homosexual angels who are “platonic lovers.”

    I agree with Pete. Avoid both the movie and the books. It would be best if people didn’t picket or make a public fuss because that’s just free publicity. If the movie fails at the box office, the second and third books won’t be filmed.

    Q: The author, Philip Pullman, is an outspoken atheist. Does this come across in the books and the movie as a secularist position or more in the form of anti-Catholicism?

    Vere: It’s not an “either/or” situation. What begins as a rebellion against the Church turns into a rebellion against God. This then leads to the discovery that God — and Christianity — are a fraud.

    The 12-year-old protagonists — Lyra and Bill — discover there is no immortal soul, no heaven or hell. All that awaits us in the afterlife is some gloomy Hades-type afterlife where the soul goes to wait until it completely dissolves. Thus Pullman uses anti-Catholicism as the gateway to promoting atheism.

    Q: The trilogy is being compared to “Harry Potter” and “The Lord of the Rings.” Is there a comparison to be made with either?

    Vere: On the surface, yes. You’ve got wizards, heroines, strange creatures, alternate worlds, etc. Although for reasons already stated, the real comparison — by way of inverted imagery — is to C.S. Lewis’ “Narnia” chronicles. Pullman, who has called “The Lord of the Rings” “infantile,” has a particular dislike for Lewis and “Narnia.” This is reflected in Pullman taking Lewis’ literary devices and inverting them to attack Christianity and promote atheism.

    As Pullman said in a 1998 article in The Guardian: “[Lewis] didn’t like women in general, or sexuality at all, at least at the stage in his life when he wrote the ‘Narnia’ books. He was frightened and appalled at the notion of wanting to grow up. Susan, who did want to grow up, and who might have been the most interesting character in the whole cycle if she’d been allowed to, is a Cinderella in a story where the ugly sisters win.”

    Miesel: That nasty quote is factually wrong on both points. Lewis began corresponding with his future wife in 1950, the year the first “Narnia” book came out, and married her in 1956, the year the last one was published. Susan’s problem isn’t “growing up,” but turning silly and conceited. She doesn’t even appear — much less get sent to hell — in “The Last Battle.”

    Vere: Thus what we see here is more contrast and corruption than comparison. Also, the work of Tolkien, Lewis and Rowling is primarily driven by the audience. It is the average reader who purchases these works, reads them, and makes them popular.

    Pullman’s work, on the other hand, appears to be driven by the critics. The only people I know recommending Pullman’s work are English majors and university professors. I don’t know a single electrician, hairdresser or accountant who recommends Pullman’s work by word of mouth. Thus the books haven’t resonated with the average person to the same degree as “Lord of the Rings,” “Narnia” and “Harry Potter.”

    Q: Nicole Kidman, a Catholic who stars in the film, has said she wouldn’t have taken the role if she thought the movie was anti-Catholic. What do you make of this response?

    Vere: The film has not yet been released, so I cannot comment on it. However, Christ asks very pointedly in the Gospels: Can a good tree bear rotten fruit? The movie is the fruit of the books and Pullman’s imagination. These are anti-Christian and atheistic at their core. How does one sanitize this from the movie without completely gutting Pullman from his story?

    During an interview with Hollywood screenwriter Barbara Nicolosi a couple of months ago, I asked her whether it was possible to tone down the anti-Christian elements for the movie. Nicolosi is the chair of Act One, a training and mentoring organization for Christians starting out in Hollywood.

    She had given the question thought. A few years ago one of her friends — an evangelical Christian — had been asked by her agent to pitch on the project, that is, propose to write the screenplay adapting “The Golden Compass” to film.

    “We read [the book] and there was just no way we could come in on this,” Nicolosi told me. “Pullman’s fantasy universe is nihilistic and rooted in chaos. You cannot fix that in a rewrite without changing the story Pullman is trying to tell — which is atheistic, angry and at times polemical.”

    But let’s suppose it is possible. Let’s suppose Kidman is right and that the movie has been sanitized of its anti-Catholicism. The books remain saturated with bitter anti-Christian polemic. So why promote a movie that will only generate interest in the books among impressionable young children?

    For the Christian parent, the movie cannot be anything but spiritual poison to their children — for the movie is the fruit of the book.

Comments (6)

  • Thank you!

  • Lol, Presvytera, he used to be my boyfriend
    Things did not work out and we are now both happily married to other people, but we spent a few years together, in college. I used to be very involved in Syndesmos in Amsterdam, but never on internationally. His parish is my home parish, my cradle as it were. Fr. Alexis, of blessed memory, was my spiritual father.
    I met his wife too, we all knew each other before they got married, at a Syndesmos conference in Belgium (I guess I did go international lol)
    What do you all do with Syndesmos in your parish? I don’t think our new parish is affiliated so it would be nice to introduce it to them (we are now going to a Greek parish – St John the Baptist in Portland OR)

  • I LOVE your blog! we share a lot of interests–Orthodoxy (obviously ), homeschooling, gentle parenting, etc. thanks so much for visiting!

  • I thought I posted this already, lol. Here it is again:
    Wow, it is a small world, also considering the conference you mentioned is the one I went to as well
    I have been to Essex a couple of times as well. Loved it there.
    I don’t think Hildo and Tania have any children unfortunately. I am not keeping in touch with them I am afraid, though I stay in touch with Jim Forest and hear news through him.
    Yes, I know Nina as well. I don’t know the details of their divorce but I remember it was ashock to everyone. He was abusive. I have been to her dad’s parish quite a few times. It has been a while, I don’t think she’d remember me without seeing me, though everyone knows me from having been Hildo’s girlfriend, lol.
    I don’t get to go home often, I have only been back twice. My parents come regularly though.
    How wonderful you and Fr. met that way. There are quite a few Syndesmos marriages, lol.

  • I am so sorry to hear this about Lucas and Nina’s situation. I really have no idea, except that we did not have any reason to doubt Nina’s words. I know she missed home too, but that would not be a reason to make up such a story. I don’t know in what way she said he was abuse either. What a crucifixion for him if she did not tell the truth. We may never know. May God have mercy on them.
    I think I do remember Vasilia, and I certainly remember the French group. They were singing old country songs in French, what a heritage they had. We visited them in Paris as well. Old Russian aristocrats, lol.

  • Merry Christmas

    When I read Pullman’s trilogy 10 years ago, it startled me that I found it in the Juvenile literature section.  It is where it remains to day.  His writing is explicit and aggressive.  I found myself arguing with the author immediately, and I was making notes instantly.  (When I don’t own the book I always keep a running notebook, instead of writing in the margains.  Librarians don’t like it when you write all through what they loaned you.)

    Anti-biblical and anti-theological, Pullman’s work is an abrasive attack on anyone with devout faith.  It should not be suggested reading for children, or even adults who are not steady and firm about their faith. 

    I contend that it is important to read Pullman’s work and know exactly what he represents.  This critic review that you have presented is thorough and well informed.  By the time I got to book 3 I was furious at the author, at how aggressively he attacked anyone who might include the pillars of faith within their morale choices and integrity.  This author is one whom I have explained to my oldest 2 that they will not read him, this movie is to be intentionally avoided and spoken plainly about.

    Nicole Kidman knew exactly what she was doing, as does anyone who is involved with this media extravaganza.

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