23 Nov, 2007
The Golden Compass Movie
Posted by teacherjulie @ 6:56 am
Shelved under Bits and Pieces, Interesting tidbits, Movies, My Thoughts, Parenting

I know I am adding more buzz to this movie and would even encourage more people to see for themselves what the buzz was all about.

A few days ago, I got an email in one of my Google groups about this movie: The Golden Compass. Hubby and I are planning to watch this next month with the children when it is slated to be shown. I was really surprised when I was reading the email that I had to read it twice to make sure what I was reading sink in.

Here is the email I got in bits and pieces:

There will be a new children’s movie out in December called “The Golden Compass” starring Nicole Kidman. The movie has been described as “atheism for kids” and is based on the first book of a trilogy entitled “His Dark Materials” that was written by Phillip Pullman. Pullman is a militant atheist and secular humanist who despises C. S. Lewis and the “Chronicles of Narnia”. His motivation for writing this trilogy was specifically to counteract Lewis’ symbolisms of Christ that are portrayed in the Narnia series.

Pullman left little doubt about his intentions when he said in a 2003 interview that “my books are about killing God.” He has even stated that he wants to “kill God in the minds of children”. It has been said of Pullman that he is “the writer the atheists would be praying for, if atheists prayed.”

As I skimmed it, I couldn’t believe that in a children’s book part of the story is about castration and female circumcision.

Now, I am not starting a crusade here or something to boycott the movie. I feel that as a parent, as a teacher, as a person raised to believe in God, I feel this is something that should not be ignored, especially for my children who are still young and vulnerable.

I am torn between reading the book myself first but then…

Click here for the Snopes article and here for the RandomHouse synopsis of the book.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 23rd, 2007 at 6:56 am and is filed under Bits and Pieces, Interesting tidbits, Movies, My Thoughts, Parenting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Permalink | 8 Comments
23 Nov, 2007 @ 7:31 am
aileen said:

Good morniing, julie! A short reply to your blog: the books shows that corruption occurs whether in the govt or in a church; the Magisterium is about the Church, it doesn’t say Catholic church. Yes, Pullman is an atheist, but the books still talks about the good triumphing over evil. Im reading the 3rd book- a lot about God-they will set it free, not kill -i think. Honestly, i cant wait for this movie (polar bears and Kidman, yay) i will take my 6yr old and his yaya on Dec 5 opening day, lol. Where do you teach? (im fr UP:)

  • Aileen, thanks for the info. I will try to get ahold of the first book then we will decide. I sent you an email this morning because I was already logged out of this blog but it failed to be delivered. I teach in Ortigas Center and in QC.

23 Nov, 2007 @ 11:14 am
nic said:

This “boycott” actually makes the movie even more interesting, aside from the awesome trailer.

  • It does, Nic, you know how it is when something seems to be filled with mystery, the more people will flock to see the the buzz is all about, like the Da Vinci Code and Schindler’s List. Haven’t seen the trailer yet since we are not really movie-goers so we really choose what to watch. We prefer to just wait for the DVD. Thanks for the visit :)

23 Nov, 2007 @ 1:21 pm
mott said:

wow..this is interesting. while I’m not a christian myself, i never believe that ppl shud be stopped from believing in God, in their own way.

  • Yes, Mott, we are all entitled to have our belief, to believe in what we think is right and proper. However other people tend to view us as different, still we have to respect their belief. Thank you :)

23 Nov, 2007 @ 2:33 pm
Rach (Heart of Rachel) said:

This is interesting information Julie. I will look more into it.

If you don’t mind, I tagged you on my other blog: http://mysoulfulthoughts.com/

Happy weekend!

  • Thanks, Rachel. I will go to your other blog which I haven’t linked yet. I was there this morning but I got sidetracked and wasn’t able to give a comment. I saw your list of Sanrio characters. I think I didn’t see Tiny Poem, if I remember it right. She was my favorite then :)

23 Nov, 2007 @ 4:35 pm
pinayhekmi said:

Now you’ve stirred my curiosity even more as well! Let us know what you decide if you do read the book/watch teh movie.

  • I haven’t got the book yet because I bought a different book when we went to the bookstore last week. About the movie, we have lost interest already and the children are not excited to go, so we won’t go na lang. I will just wait for the reviews to come out when the movie has been shown. Thanks, Tin :)

23 Nov, 2007 @ 4:38 pm
pinayhekmi said:

I just the read the article. How sad that someone who may not believe in Christianity cannot feel/understand spirituality. How sad!

23 Nov, 2007 @ 6:14 pm
raqgold said:

i dont know anything about this, huh! but here’s my stand, we should also open our hearts and minds to other things as for the kids, as long as they have proper guidance, am sure it’ll be ok.

  • I agree, Raq, about the proper guidance. We decided to wait for reviews once the movie has been shown. Maybe we will just get the DVD, tipid pa,LOL! Thanks :)

24 Nov, 2007 @ 11:18 am
aileen said:

Hello, Julie!!! Sorry for the late response; life gets in the way, y’know. I checked my email today, something must be wrong there.

Beware:) of the 1st book, the first few chapters are too boring. Its really a story of how religion can be perverted so that God seems to be ineffective; makes me actually think, lol. The trilogy is not a protest against God or any religion.

  • Aileen, I have been through books that seem to be boring to some (Robert Ludlum and Tom Clancy for example). We decided to just wait for the review before we decide to see the movie. Bahala na, or we might just get the DVD para mas tipid,lol! Thanks for coming back, hope to “see” you again here in my blog :)

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