The World Beyond BetterMost > The Culture Tent
Movie News
oilgun:
Did anyone know about The Golden Compass controversy? Catholics are up in arms because they say the story's goal is to indoctrinate kids into atheism. Isn't this ridiculously ironic? Christians concerned about child indoctrination? A catholic school board in my area has actually pulled the books from the school libraries.
School board pulls ‘anti-God’ book
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/278845
Excerpt:
--- Quote ---Halton's Catholic board has pulled The Golden Compass fantasy book – soon to be a Hollywood blockbuster starring Nicole Kidman – off school library shelves because of a complaint.
Two other books in the trilogy by British author Philip Pullman have also been removed as a precaution, and principals have been ordered not to distribute December Scholastic book flyers because The Golden Compass is available to order.
"(The complaint) came out of interviews that Philip Pullman had done, where he stated that he is an atheist and that he supports that," said Scott Millard, the board's manager of library services.
"Since we are an educational institution, we want to be able to evaluate the material; we want to make sure we have the best material for students."
Following a recent Star story about the series, an internal memo was sent to elementary principals that said "the book is apparently written by an atheist where the characters and text are anti-God, anti-Catholic and anti-religion."
--- End quote ---
Well, guess what movie has suddenly become my most anticipitated, lol! I don't even like fantasy films but I'll be seeing this one on opening weekend!
Meryl:
--- Quote from: oilgun on November 22, 2007, 09:39:01 am ---
Did anyone know about The Golden Compass controversy? Catholics are up in arms because they say the story's goal is to indoctrinate kids into atheism. Isn't this ridiculously ironic? Christians concerned about child indoctrination? A catholic school board in my area has actually pulled the books from the school libraries.
--- End quote ---
Actually, now that you mention it, oilgun, it doesn't surprise me at all. These books really do go after organized religion, specifically Christianity. Many of the basic ideas Pullman used come from Milton's Paradise Lost. Here are Wikipedia links to His Dark Materials and Paradise Lost. The articles help explain some of the reasons for the controversy.
It is ironic that Christians are decrying the indoctrination of children. I guess that can apply to everyone who wants their children to be brought up in only the belief system they feel is right. Trouble is, this is one heckuva big, complex world, full of innumerable belief systems. Also, we have access to more information at our fingertips than ever before. Parents have their work cut out for them, trying to keep their kids unexposed to other beliefs.
Shasta542:
I had gotten the news about this movie in an e-mail and I never take those at face value. I check "Snopes" to see whether they deem it true or not. Snopes may not always be right either, but they said this was true. In an interview the author said his books were about "killing God". I think children can be exposed to all kinds of belief systems without being shown a fantasy about killing God and angels -- not sure the movie shows this. I think those things happen in the follow up books.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp
oilgun:
--- Quote from: Meryl on November 22, 2007, 01:28:13 pm ---Actually, now that you mention it, oilgun, it doesn't surprise me at all. These books really do go after organized religion, specifically Christianity. Many of the basic ideas Pullman used come from Milton's Paradise Lost. Here are Wikipedia links to His Dark Materials and Paradise Lost. The articles help explain some of the reasons for the controversy.
--- End quote ---
Thanks for the Wikipedia link, meryl, it's very informative. It sounds like the zealots are overreacting yet again. Also, I just realized that pullman wrote I Was a Rat, I love that book! I read it to my nephew a few years ago, it's a great story!
Front-Ranger:
--- Quote from: Meryl on July 10, 2007, 11:55:15 am ---
Lee, you're right about His Dark Materials. It looks like it could be really good. The website for that film is stunningly beautiful: http://www.goldencompassmovie.com/?. The cast is gorgeous, too: Daniel Craig, Nicole Kidman and Eva Green, as well as Sam Elliott.
I've read the trilogy of books the movie is based on, and they're highly imaginative and dramatic. I don't know how they're going to condense the story into one movie. Maybe there's more than one? Anyway, I'm really looking forward to it.
--- End quote ---
Now that the movie The Golden Compass is out, I thought it would be good to post the web site link again. We should all go there and get our daemons. Me, I have a monkey gibbon on my back, name of Aguippa.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version