The Golden Compass

[deb1]

Isn’t Lucifer seen as the good guy in this film? that alone would cause me not to want to see the film.

 

[deb1]

WHOA –

My red-flags are going up – but not because this might be an atheist film – but your determination to keep posting in order for people not to watch it.

I find that stranger than a film coming out of Hollywood of an atheist theme. I find it suspect.

Why don’t you tell us why you are REALLY so down on it?

Because, from what I understand, Lucifer is seen as the good guy and God as the bad guy. The first film is going to be the least objectable, just as the first book was the least objectable.

The poster can’t prevent you from seeing the film so why get upset with him? Apparently, Fire and Ice simply feels strongly about getting this warning out.

 

[puzzleannie]

there are already several on-going threads already, check out the one on this rock forum with preview of their articles, best I have read so far.

 

[deb1]

Its the best I could do. I went to yahoo and put in “Goden Compass” it went to the yahool movie review sight. There I took
a review(cut n paste) and inserted it onto my CAF reply. This person had read the trilliogy and was aware of the author and his background. The author seemed very fair to me; he said some nice things about the trillogy author; but said it wouldnt be good for young children i.e., the immature.

Thank you for pointing out that this movie is not a light hearted fantasy like Harry Potter. If the author was just a atheist who wanted to write children books then I wouldn’t care. I don’t have anything against his nonbelief.

The writer seems to have a desire to mock and destroy our faith by reaching our kids. From what I understand he wanted to write the antiNarnia.

I doubt that anyone is unaware of Narnia’s Christian themes, so a parent who didn’t want their child exposed to Christianity could avoid the movie. The Golden Compass is not being billed as a anti Christian movie, so some people are not aware of its contents.

The director tried to take out some of the more objectionable parts, which is good, but a Christian parent should be aware beforehand what is in the books.

You can’t make a informed decision for your child if you don’t have information like this.

 

[puzzleannie]

why not join in one of the already existing threads
check out the one the this rock forum for the upcoming articles in that magazine, best thing I have read so far.

 

[blessedstar]

What a half tale to tell. Evil is full of half tales, half truths.

Yes humanity did kill God by their sins, but no man can kill God unless God allow it to be taken from Him, so God laid down His Incarnate life for humanity, but He also took it back up again.

Sad thing is people will let their children see this film and they will let their innocent minds be filled with half truths and full blown lies and starve them of the Truth. They don’t recognise that their children are starving just because they see flesh on their bones. Children in the Third World are literally starving in their flesh, but the children of the Western World experience a greater poverty, they are starved from the very beginning, starved of their mother’s womb by abortion, if their life is not taken they have every material possession but are starved of God and therefore starved of Love and have nothing. The children of the Western World are living in times of unparralled great starvation and so are their parents and they desire to spread this starvation to the ends of the world. This is a famine beyond compare in history.

Who will feed them?
**
You will feed them.**

Write to your government representative about abortion, create local workshops to feed the spirit of the little ones, if you are an artist use your talent to feed the little ones, if you are a musician use your talent to feed the little ones, if you are a mother or father use your vocation to feed the little ones, if you are a Priest use your vocation to feed the little ones, whoever you are and whatever your talent, use it to feed the little ones.

Pray one Hail Holy Queen everyday for all the children of the World.

In the Living Prayer of my life

 

[RobNY]

This is the most inane idea I think I’ve ever heard. Killing God? That doesn’t make sense on any level. That idea would even sound absurd to most of the atheists I know.

Have you ever read Nietzsche?

God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?

It is truly a perplexing and fascinating thing-- the collective murder of God. It isn’t much discussed, but Rene Girard does offer some discussion on it.

Ironically, a Good Saturday Christian could identify with some of Neitzsche’s words.

He has several renditions of it, but I find this one particularly haunting:

This prodigious event is still on its way, still wandering; it has not yet reached the ears of men. Lightning and thunder require time, the light of the stars requires time, deeds, though done, still require time to be seen and heard. This deed is still more distant from them than the most distant stars—and yet they have done it themselves.

-Rob

 

[KCtheMommy]

Because, from what I understand, Lucifer is seen as the good guy and God as the bad guy. The first film is going to be the least objectable, just as the first book was the least objectable.

The poster can’t prevent you from seeing the film so why get upset with him? Apparently, Fire and Ice simply feels strongly about getting this warning out.

I am not upset at all!

I was just wondering what the post was about, and why the big push not to see a film. I grew up in L.A. though, so undermining films or supprting them inappropriately (like giving out pencils, folders, etc with movie themes on them at elementary schools. School should not be used for advertising if you ask me.) is second nature to me.

Fire and Ice said it’s an “atheist film” but this does not suggest atheism, it suggest the opposite. Especially since God and Lucifer are both featured. I would call that a religious film. What religion I don’t know!?! I don’t know much about it, but the days of movie dates are long gone for me! Unless of course it’s animated or rated G/PG.

I was just saying if you are going to post that people shouldn’t see a film, and post a number of times: more info would be helpful! I’m not mad, I wasn’t mad, just a bit suspicious. Atheism, i.e. lack of God is a very COMMON theme in most films these days. That’s what I didn’t get. I was thinking “what else is new?” LOL

 

[rayne89]

snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp

This is the snopes link that is quite alarming. The movie is supposed to be watered down. The big danger is children who like the movie will go out and buy the books. The author has openly admitted to having an agenda.

 

[rayne89]

Catholic League president Bill Donohue discussed the league’s reaction to the upcoming movie, “The Golden Compass”:
“New Line Cinema and Scholastic Entertainment have paired to produce ‘The Golden Compass,’ a children’s fantasy that is based on the first book of a trilogy by militant English atheist Philip Pullman. The trilogy, His Dark Materials, was written to promote atheism and denigrate Christianity, especially Roman Catholicism. The target audience is children and adolescents. Each book becomes progressively more aggressive in its denigration of Christianity and promotion of atheism: The Subtle Knife is more provocative than The Golden Compass and The Amber Spyglass is the most in-your-face assault on Christian sensibilities of the three volumes.
“Atheism for kids. That is what Philip Pullman sells. It is his hope that ‘The Golden Compass,’ which stars Nicole Kidman and opens December 7, will entice parents to buy his trilogy as a Christmas gift. It is our hope that the film fails to meet box office expectations and that his books attract few buyers. We are doing much more than hoping—we are conducting a nationwide two-month protest of Pullman’s work and the film. To that end, we have prepared a booklet, ‘The Golden Compass: Agenda Unmasked,’ that tears the mask off the movie.
“It is not our position that the movie will strike Christian parents as troubling. Then why the protest? Even though the film is based on the least offensive of the three books, and even though it is clear that the producers are watering down the most despicable elements—so as to make money and not anger Christians—the fact remains that the movie is bait for the books. To be specific, if unsuspecting Christian parents take their children to see the movie, they may very well find it engaging and then buy Pullman’s books for Christmas. That’s the problem.
“We are fighting a deceitful stealth campaign on the part of the film’s producers. Our goal is to educate Christians so that they know exactly what the film’s pernicious agenda really is.”

forums.catholic-questions.org/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=2898076

 

[rayne89]

Several key themes of the novels, the rejection of organised religion and the abuse of power in a fictionalized Catholic Church, are to be diluted in the adaptation. Director Weitz said “in the books the Magisterium is a version of the Catholic Church gone wildly astray from its roots” but that the organisation portrayed in his film would not directly match that of Pullman’s books. In an attempt to avoid a religious backlash, the Magisterium will instead be a critique of all dogmatic organisations.[30]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/His_Dark_Materials:_The_Golden_Compass

 

[rayne89]

His Dark Materials centers on a world run by the sinister and dictatorial Magisterium, a force that suppresses free will, demands conformity and punishes anyone who deviates from the norm. “The first volume, the one that’s being adapted, doesn’t have much in it, in terms of the author’s philosophizing,” says Kilday, who has read the trilogy. “The latter volumes do have more, and they are a kind of metaphorical attack on the church…”

…“Basically, today, Catholics themselves are far less willing to obey either the priesthood or their alleged spokesman and forgo seeing a film,” says Doherty, author of Hollywood’s Censor: Joseph I. Breen and the Production Code Administration.

baltimoresun.com/entertainment/bal-to.compass24oct24,0,5148844.story?track=rss

 

[rayne89]

LONDON – A debate over a movie’s anti-religious antagonism – or lack thereof – is heating up ahead of its upcoming release, with some accusing Hollywood of “castrating” the anti-Catholic themes present in the novel from which it is based…

…“It was clear right from the start that the makers of this film intended to take out the anti-religious elements of Pullman’s book. In doing that they are taking the heart out of it, losing the point of it, castrating it,” said Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society, a British organization that promotes secularism and which Pullman is an honorary associate of.
“It seems that religion has now completely conquered America’s cultural life and it is much the poorer for it," she said in The Guardian newspaper Sunday. "What a shame that we have to endure such censorship here too.”

…
Nicole Kidman, who is reportedly Christian herself, has also defended the movie.
She acknowledged that the movie “has been watered down a little,” but that it still introduces a world that is “dominated by the Magisterium, which seeks to control all humanity, and whose greatest threat, is the curiosity of a child.”

…Although he is a self-professed atheist and a supporter of the British Humanist Association, Pullman has found support from some Christians – most notably Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams. They point out that the English writer’s negative portrayal of the “Church” in “His Dark Materials” amounts to an attack on dogmatism and the use of religion to oppress, not on Christianity itself. Williams has gone so far as to propose that “His Dark Materials” be taught as part of religious education in schools.
Others, however, view the “His Dark Materials” series as a direct rebuttal of C. S. Lewis’ series “The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” as both feature children facing adult moral choices, talking animals, religious allegories, parallel worlds, and concern the ultimate fate of those worlds. Furthermore, the first published book from “Narnia” begins with a young girl hiding in a wardrobe, as does the first “His Dark Materials” book.

christianpost.com/article/20071015/29713_Critics_Slam_‘Golden_Compass’Movie_for’Castrating’_Anti-Church_Themes.htm

 

[deb1]

I am not upset at all!

I was just wondering what the post was about, and why the big push not to see a film. I grew up in L.A. though, so undermining films or supprting them inappropriately (like giving out pencils, folders, etc with movie themes on them at elementary schools. School should not be used for advertising if you ask me.) is second nature to me.

Fire and Ice said it’s an “atheist film” but this does not suggest atheism, it suggest the opposite. Especially since God and Lucifer are both featured. I would call that a religious film. What religion I don’t know!?! I don’t know much about it, but the days of movie dates are long gone for me! Unless of course it’s animated or rated G/PG.

I was just saying if you are going to post that people shouldn’t see a film, and post a number of times: more info would be helpful! I’m not mad, I wasn’t mad, just a bit suspicious. Atheism, i.e. lack of God is a very COMMON theme in most films these days. That’s what I didn’t get. I was thinking “what else is new?” LOL

I understand.

The film-and I haven’t read the book-is aimed at kids so if you have young children, then a warning about the film’s content is appropriate. But yes, more information should be included.

From what I understand-and I have not read the books- the Magesterium and the Church are the bad guys. Lucifer is a fallen angel and is the good guys. Kids have daemons that follow them around and are part of their souls. And the ending is that God-who was evil anyway-is killed.

No, this doesn’t sound like atheism, this sounds like anti religion. If I was an atheist parent I think that I would be equally troubled to take my child to see this movie.

 

[fire_and_ice]

Blessed star, great quote! FYI to all people: the movie is an adaptation of the first book in the trillogy. Its watered down. The other books in the authors trillogy get more and more anti- God with the last book killing God. We all fear that unsuspecting parents, aunts, uncles, Grandparents, God parents, mentors etc will take their child to the movie, then the child will want the books, subsequently, their guardians will buy it for them, and so they end up reading the books which could have very harmful affects.

 

[newbetx]

There seems to be bits and pieces here…

The first two books set up the third which is where the issue lay? Is that right? So the first movie might seem OK? Is that also correct?

My son was given the Golden Compass as a required reading book. I will have to look into this further. I’m a slow reader so trying to read all the books prior to bringing this up with the teacher would be poor timing. I’d like to have the facts straight without having to generate them myself.

A pointer to any anti-Catholic quotes by the author would be helpful. Thanks.

 

[estesbob]

I have not read the books. However havingseen how people in these forums distort the Harry Potter books to make them into evil personified I frankly don’t trust the criticisms I read about these books.

 

[KCtheMommy]

If I was an atheist parent I think that I would be equally troubled to take my child to see this movie.

Yeah – no kidding huh? Well rounded bad idea. I think I’ll skim the book and see what this is all about.

So if you do take your children to see the movie you might have to follow it up with say The Exorcist so they can see what demons are really like?

 

[MH84]

Its disturbingly ironic that Ian Mcshane played Judas Iscariot in Jesus of Nazareth.

 

[HannahLisa]

I read this trilogy two or three years ago. At the time, I thought the series was well-written and interesting. I also recognized that it was overtly anti-Christian and atheist. If I recall correctly, while the books never mention the Christian God by name, it is very easy for older readers to see the intended meaning of the characters. I don’t think younger children would see it though. Now I’m reading other people’s comments and realizing that my perspective has changed in those years. If I were to read the books now, I probably would not finish them because of the content.

I don’t know anything about the differences between the movies and the books. Regardless of the actual appropriateness of the content of this movie, it may be better to simply not see it on principle.