My earlier column about the controversy swirling around The Golden Compass generated a lot of thought-provoking comments, and I thought that, with the film's opening date coming up on December 7, this might be a good time to address one of the questions underlying a lot of the comments we've had on the subject: Is a story, in this case, just a story? Or is it a tool with which to push or indoctrinate a set of beliefs?
One of our commenters, Rodway, included a link to this post titled "Sympathy for the Devil" over on Plugged Online, a movie blog arm of Focus on the Family. The site's "About Us" section says about its mission:
"Plugged In is a Focus on the Family publication designed to help equip parents, youth leaders, ministers and teens with the essential tools that will enable them to understand, navigate and impact the culture in which they live. Entertainment is a potent influence on our culture for both good and evil. Through our reviews and discussions of that entertainment, we hope to spark intellectual thought, family discussion, spiritual growth and a strong desire to follow the command of Colossians 2:8. "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ."
So you can probably figure out going in which side of the debate this post is going to weigh in on. Nonetheless, the piece does offer a fairly reasoned argument to its target market for why Christian parents should keep their kids away from The Golden Compass, both in its (likely to be) watered-down film form, and its even "more dangerous" written form to which your children (so implies the author) will surely be led if they watch the film.
One of my favorite writers and philosophers, Joseph Campbell, says in his tome Hero With a Thousand Faces, "It is possible to speak from only one point at a time, but that does not invalidate the insights of the rest," and I find that quote particularly relevant in any discussion of The Golden Compass. Does Pullman's exploration of his own ideas around organized religion invalidate the insights of Christianity? The truth is, this is more than a movie, it's a representation of a particular world-view and set of ideas. If it wasn't, it would matter neither to the Christians who consider it a heretical tool to lure children into Atheism (I guess that makes Atheism the new Satanism) that the film exists, nor to the Atheists that New Line has reportedly watered down author Philip Pullman's ideas to make it more palatable to the Christian Right. But does the fact that the film is about religion mean that people of faith shouldn't see it and discuss it?
Should children be exposed to stories with ideas of spirituality that differ from their parents' faith? If watching a movie with ideas that run counter to your family's religious beliefs causes your children to ask questions, are you prepared and willing to engage with them in an open discussion about it? Do you believe that your religious path is the one and only true path, or that (to loosely borrow from Campbell) it's one of many paths leading to the same place? Are you willing to let your children explore ideas and find their own path, or do you feel that it's a parents' job to firmly set the path and guide your children down it? The way you answer those questions might help you determine whether The Golden Compass is right for your family. On the other hand, if you feel that studios cater too much to the Christian demographic, you might be more inclined to support the film just because of the controversy.
If you are a fundamentalist Christian, the truth is you are probably not going to like this film (or perhaps, even read the books yourself to make your own judgment independent of what religious leaders say about it), and New Line knows that, in spite of any attempt at their end to dilute the story's inherently religious nature. Quite simply, fundamentalist Christians are not this film's target market, and New Line is banking on the likelihood that there are many more people -- especially in the coveted tween market -- who will pay to see a cool fantasy film with a spunky heroine and cool special effects than people who will stay away with it for religious reasons.
(They might also be counting on that most onerous of human tendencies -- the one where we tend to covet all the more that which our parents forbid us from having -- ask the cosmetics industry how much money it makes from tweens and teens whose parents don't know they buy makeup.) The religious right, of course, is banking on having enough power to persuade their flocks to collectively stay away from it, and they probably will largely succeed.
In the case of The Golden Compass, the story is clearly more than "just a story" -- I wonder, though, if Christians would be getting their feathers ruffled so about it all if Pullman had made the mythical universe Lyra inhabits set in a desert setting rather than a mirrored version of England, made her dark-skinned and dark-haired instead of fair and blond, and referred to the Authority as "Allah" instead of "God"? Is it only the perception that Pullman is attacking their personal religion that has folks so riled up? Or would Pullman attacking the God of Islam offend as strongly?
At any rate, the bottom line for New Line is not really whether fundamentalist groups like Focus on the Family will win this battle by preaching to the choir, but whether the cumulative effect of their speaking out on the film will bleed over enough into the fringe of the mainstream audience to make a serious dent in their bottom line.
Now's your chance to speak out on The Golden Compass. Tell us what you think:
1. I'm a huge fan of His Dark Materials and I find it disgusting that New Line is trying to appease a group of people that will never see the movie no matter how watered down it is. It's insane that the studio is so afraid of angering the christian right that they'll dilute such a wonderful book! I also wonder how they're going to keep the religious aspect out of the 3rd movie as it is such an integral part of The Amber Spyglass.
Posted at 8:24PM on Nov 25th 2007 by AmberM