The Golden Controversy

For the past couple of years, I've found it ironic that conservative Christians complained so much about Harry Potter while remaining oblivious to His Dark Materials, a popular young adult fantasy trilogy. Harry Potter's portrayal of magic is innocuous; His Dark Materials, on the other hand, is deliberately subversive--and its main target is Christianity.

Now that the trilogy's being filmed, of course, all that has changed. Christian groups are organizing boycotts, Hanna Rosin is writing articles . . . . and the director, is desperately trying to convince people to watch his movie.

The really ironic part? The studio apparently insisted on diluting (or deleting) all the religious references in the first book, in an effort to pacify Christians. The Christians weren't fooled, though--so all they've done is upset the fans and the atheists. Hence the poor director's desperation. (He hasn't said he's desperate, but when you keep protesting that "Nobody's seen the movie!"--well, you sound a little desperate.)

Rosin's article does a good job outlining the concerns of both sides. It also has a good summary of the trilogy's major plot points, if you want to get an idea of the storyline without reading the books (otherwise--spoiler warning!). It also has some fascinating quotes by the author, Philip Pullman, and the director, Chris Weitz.

The trilogy's title comes from Paradise Lost, and the story revolves around the idea of the Fall. This much is clear in the first book, The Golden Compass (or The Northern Lights, if you're British. American publishers seem to like changing titles, for some reason). But it's not until the second book, The Subtle Knife, that you realize where the story is going. In The Amber Spyglass (the final book), the ideology starts to take precedence over the story, which becomes increasingly slow, dull, and frustrating as a result. The long-delayed climax is, well, anti-climactic. (Though it has nothing against the weather. :-)

It would be nice if I could simply dismiss the books, but it's not quite that simple. The Golden Compass is among the best of recent fantasy novels. It has rich and complex characters, a fully-developed and fascinating parallel universe, and a well-constructed, exciting plot . . . all building to a climax that is shocking and beautiful, and leaves you eager for more.

Sadly, the more doesn't measure up . . . the second book, while good, doesn't work quite as well; and the third, as I said, is kind of a mess. Not only because it gets hijacked by its own "message," but because it's argument against Christianity is fallacious (the famous "straw man," in fact). Basically, he sees the Fall as represented the change from innocence to experience, from childhood to adulthood. In the book--and in his own explanation of the book--this is defined in sexual terms:

“This is exactly what happens in the Garden of Eden,” Pullman told me. “They become aware of sexuality, of the power the body has to attract attention from someone else. This is not only natural, but a wonderful thing! To be celebrated! Why the Christian Church has spent 2,000 years condemning this glorious moment, well, that’s a mystery. I want to confront that, I suppose, by telling a story that this so-called original sin is anything but. It’s the thing that makes us fully human.

A complete misreading of the Genesis story, obviously . . . and not the way any branch of orthodox Christianity has ever interpreted it. (It's hardly surprising that Pullman also misreads Lewis--calling Narnia "morally loathsome . . . ugly and poisonous," apparently because he thinks it advocates eternal childhood and denigrates sexuality.)

And that's hardly all; we've also got a rebellion against "the Authority," who turns out to be a senile angel who's pretended to be the Creator in order to control people. (There isn't a Creator. Life comes from Dust . . . but that's another post.) Our youthful protagonists end up killing him. Accidentally; he's glad to die, though. Turns out death is a happy thing, where we dissolve into molecules that float off and become part of the grass and the trees and the sky, and we'd rather have that than a purely spiritual afterlife.

So, given all this, how does one respond to the movie? I'm kind of looking forward to it, honestly. It looks like the filmmakers have done a brilliant job translating Pullman's world to the screen, and like I said, The Golden Compass is a really good story.

For anyone with children or young siblings, though, I'd advise caution. Weitz has explained that he hopes this one is a big hit so he can make the next two without watering them down--and, given the nature of the stories, I don't see how they could be made at all without the religious (or anti-religious) ideas taking center stage. It would be easy to get excited about the first movie, and not realize until later where it was gong . . . which could be a problem with children who aren't old enough to understand the issues.

For older fantasy fans, though, I'd recommend the first book. And the movie? Well, I haven't seen it yet. :-)