A Look at The Golden Compass

 

Slowly but surely, I have developed an irritation for propaganda asking me to boycott books, films or theatre productions considered to carry messages contrary to mainstream Christian thought.

I must admit that I put up with, and even signed up to petitions against Jerry Springer: The Opera a couple of years ago, and have previously been sympathetic to calls for parents to ban their children from seeing films such as the Harry Potter series.

But lately, I have come round to a slightly different school of thought. Call me radical, but I think it is very important to find out why a film or book is deemed unsuitable, as opposed to acquiescing to what is effectively the mentality of the mob.

So, in the spirit of research and open-mindedness, off to the cinema I went to see The Golden Compass.

The film is based on Northern Lights, the first book in the trilogy His Dark Materials by the British author Philip Pullman. It begins with these words:

“There are many universes and many earths, parallel to each other.

Worlds like yours, where people’s souls live inside their bodies. And worlds like mine, where they walk beside us, as animal spirits we call daemons.

So many worlds, but connecting them all is…dust“.

The film centres around the adventures of the protagonist Lyra Belacqua, an orphaned girl living in a fantasy world where the boundaries around lifestyles and even thought are strictly prescribed and governed by a ruling dictatorial council known as the Magisterium.

When her best friend Roger is abducted to be used in the council’s secret research project, she sets off on a prolonged journey to save him. As can be imagined, her search for him is peppered with obstacles and challenges which she must quickly overcome.

It is easy to see why the film attracts controversy. Pullman is a popular atheist (he describes himself variously as a committed materialist and a Church of England atheist), and is sceptical of anything tagged spiritual. Although raised in the Church of England, he considers God to be nothing more than a metaphor or fictional character. He says he is religious but not a believer, and like Richard Dawkins, concludes that those who believe in God are deluded.

Anyway, back to the film. I must admit, I did not like it. However, this has to do primarily with my general distaste for fantasy-style movies, as opposed to the contents of its subliminal messages. So, while The Lord Of The Rings and Narnia are well-known for having Christian subtexts, it is important to note that I did not like those films either.

Though I have not yet read Pullman’s books, reviewers say that any anti-Christian messages in them have been edited by the filmmakers. My personal view is that the movie has been made in such a way that its target audience will see its central theme as a battle between free speech or independent thought and the ruling dictatorship. Its statement is more anti-establishment as opposed to anti-Christian.

And I consider being anti-Christian and anti-organised religion to be two very different things.

Pullman himself seems to allude to this. In an e-mail interview on a film review blog*, he implies that he was tackling the issue of theocracy – the political exercise of religious authority in a totalitarian fashion – as previously embodied in the Soviet Union. He says he is against the belief in a “one-size-fits-all”approach, which results from clinging to the extreme of dogmatic fundamentalism.

So, what’s my verdict? While the film is not exactly my cup of tea, I wouldn’t ask others not to see it, or stop my children doing so. The books carry a much more potent message, but I would like to think that I would not stop them reading those either: it would make more sense for them to watch the film and/or the read the books, and have an intelligent conversation about them afterwards.

I am of the opinion that to raise children who are sharp, informed, witty and capable of making the right decisions regardless of the situation they find themselves in, shutting them away in a Christian bubble is not the answer.

That approach tends to be myopic and narrow-minded, and life works very differently.

I am not advocating exposing children to harmful elements, but the world is not full of people who share the same beliefs. The youth must be equipped to interact constructively with others from different backgrounds and belief systems, and must learn the process of discernment and intelligent decision-making, instead of having life choices made for them by right-wing propaganda and church machinery.

Besides, if one’s faith cannot withstand subliminal messages in a film, I put it to you that it needs to be re-examined. The true message of Christianity transcends organised religion and ruling establishments; indeed, Jesus had no time for either.

While Christianity’s meaning and relevance may not be evident to some, feigning ignorance of the existence of opposing views shuts down opportunities for open and frank discussions.

But that’s just my opinion: go see the film and make your own mind up!

*http://filmchatblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/philip-pullman-extended-e-mail.html