Right on cue, Jesus freaks flipped the fuck out last Christmas. But not over their (supposed) Lord and Savior. The Golden Compass, a film adaptation of Philip Pullman’s fantastic His Dark Materials book trilogy, hit theaters amidst huge fervor. See, the story’s set in a parallel universe in which people’s souls exist outside their body as animals who talk, and children are covered in mysterious particles called dust that some believe hold the key to opening doors to other dimensions, and this orphan girl has a magical compass thingy called an alethiometer that tells the future through…wait, slow down.
Er, actually, turns out the controversy (thanks Fox News—the most hilarious source I could find) was more about the book’s anti-religious themes. A church-like group called the Magisterium controls Europe in this fictional world, and they’ll stop at nothing to maintain power, even at the expense of soul-lobotomizing a few kids. Lyra, the series’ central character, finds herself in the midst of somewhat of a holy war as concerned citizens attempt to take down the Magisterium and, inevitably, God. It was such a problem that New Line was anticipating the anger long before the film went into production. They even went through a few scripts—the first by Tom Stoppard, the second by Chris Weitz—trying to get it right so they wouldn’t offend the Right. Weitz, who signed on as a director as well, couldn’t handle the pressure and resigned, but later returned saying he’s done a lot of “growing in the interim.” (I’m guessing the only thing that grew was his salary offer.)
In the end, a watered-down script went into production, keeping most of the religious undertones out of the picture and focusing more on Lyra’s plight. Still, the film remained at the forefront of churchgoer criticism, but this time on two fronts: pro-religious groups were angry that this film was made at all, weak religious themes or not; different pro-religious groups were angry that the safer, more accessible film version would encourage young people to go out and read Pullman’s books, which, to put it lightly, hit atheism much harder. Many pushed for a boycott of the film when it was released.
But guess what, riled-up whack jobs? The film, being released on DVD April 29, tanked in the US. And, get this, it sucks. It’s not so much a reimagination of the series as it is a “kitchen sink” of book-to-film adaptation, packing as much as it can into a finite number of scenes. Forget plot and character development: Let’s just get those CGI polar bears on screen as quickly and as often as possible. Oh, and the witches do magic for some reason—never mind making their backstory or reasons for joining the rebel cause important. At all. And the balloonist Lee Scoresby, one of my favorite characters from the book, let’s just have him look rugged and play with his rabbit, which is not a euphemism as much as it is an annoyance. Not to mention the tacky Hollywood ending—any fan of the books will be offended.
True, distraught moviegoers might turn to the books for solace, but I highly doubt it’ll be for “more on the war against God.” Just “more.”
Tags: atheism, God, The Golden Compass, The Religious Right
