Readers’ views on Golden Compass

The movie The Golden Compass has generated a certain amount of comment from Catholics, at least, although it appears to be generating less interest at the box office than its makers would like. The B.C. Catholic has received its share of commentary on the movie and the books of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, the first of which gave rise to the movie. Here are some letters on the movie, on a Nov. 19 B.C. Catholic editorial, and on columns by BCC film reviewer Alan Charlton in the Oct. 10 issue.

Harry Forbes, a movie reviewer for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and The B.C. Catholic's Alan Charlton have both given positively glowing reviews of the immoral film Brokeback Mountain and the anti-Catholic film The Golden Compass, and of many other unsuitable films, I would add.
The USCCB changed Mr. Forbes's classification of Brokeback Mountain to O (morally offensive) from L (limited adult audience: many adults will find the problematic content troubling) and has now removed his positive review of The Golden Compass from its movie web site. Also, Father Thomas Euteneuer, the president of Human Life International, has called for Harry Forbes to be fired as the public spokesman for the USCCB.
It is more than sad when Catholic sites/publications publish movie reviews that undermine the teaching of the magisterium and subvert our children. The Golden Compass is evil and should be labelled as such. If Alan Charlton cannot see this he should not be reviewing movies for The B.C. Catholic.
Maureen Khan
Vancouver

I saw the preview for the movie The Golden Compass a couple of months ago and decided I would go to see the movie. I was very intrigued and fascinated because it reminded me of the Harry Potter series.
Last week I went to see the movie for a friend's birthday party. The movie was horribly violent and I didn't like it at all. In one scene, at the end of a battle between two "ice bears," one of the bears rips off his jaw and chomps onto the other bear's neck and breaks it. In another scene two boys are waiting by a gate and suddenly out jumps a monkey and kills one of the boys.
The movie is not fun, and it left me feeling sort of sick. I do not recommend it, and I think most kids would not enjoy it. You would do better to save your money and wait for the next Harry Potter.
Thomas Shaw, age 11
Grade 6, ICS, Vancouver

We live in a time when evil runs unchecked, and when men and women of wholesome values and Christian faith are ridiculed and mocked by the media and the corporate giants who run the movie industry. Philip Pullman is the author of the book Northern Lights, sold in the United States as The Golden Compass, now also the name of the movie. He is a committed atheist who wrote his book to preach his disdain for religion. He brags that his books are "about killing God," and he feeds his written poison to the young and most impressionable in our society.
I have seen the Golden Compass, and found its atheist message to be clear, as Pullman pitted the educated and free thinkers in the society he created against the Magisterium, which clearly was meant to be the Catholic Church, perhaps the most easily portrayed symbol of Christianity.
I can understand Pullman's motives: he wants to make money and attack God. I do not understand parents bringing their children to this violent, hate-filled work, and I certainly do not understand the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops refusing to condemn this movie, even as the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights and several Protestant organizations were calling for a boycott.
It seems that my Catholic leaders are following the wrong compass.
Joseph Richard Gutheinz, Jr.,
Houston, Tex.

I don't understand how Alan Charlton's glowing review of the Golden Compass could be included in The B.C. Catholic, especially on the front page. Many print media, as well as various clergy in the U.S. and Canada, have condemned this movie for its anti-religious and anti-Catholic elements, which are likely to be undetected by the vulnerable children flocking to see it.
After reading Alan Charlton's apologia for The Golden Compass in the Dec. 10 issue of The B.C. Catholic, one can only wonder if author Philip Pullman ever dreamed of finding such enthusiastic support for his blasphemous work from within the very Church he despises and desires to destroy.
The headline for Mr. Charlton's second article suggests watching the movie is "up to individual choice." This is altogether banal, for what on God's green earth isn't? He offers several feeble reasons for viewing the film, which only rewards Pullman and New Line Cinema. The most absurd is that allowing our children to do so might improve their literacy.
Parents must take seriously their roles as the primary educators of their children, rather than relegating them to a culture bent on obliterating all trace of Christian faith. Directing them towards such blasphemous and hateful trash as Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy is an utterly irresponsible dereliction of duty.
Mr. Charlton obviously has fallen into the same trap as the Catholic apologists for the Harry Potter series of movies, allowing himself to be blinded by the glittering allure of a cinematic spectacle through which an insidious and diabolical undercurrent runs. While aware of it, he considers it of little consequence.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have since retracted the outrageous review issued by Harry Forbes (with both Mr. Forbes' competence and position in that office now in question). As well, the Catholic League's successful boycott that led to dismal box office receipts is jeopardizing the filming of any more of Philip Pullman's blasphemous trilogy.
Loretta Draper
Maple Ridge

I have to say that this article lost any credibility it might have had when it compared Rowling's comment that Dumbledore was gay, which was not indicated anywhere in the books, with feeding my daughters poison. If willingly giving up your life to save your friends isn't a message you want spread, why are you Catholic?
Garrett Fitzgerald
Brewer, Me.

Philip Pullman has told us: "I'm trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief." "I've been surprised by how little criticism I've got. Harry Potter's been taking all the flak.... Meanwhile, I've been flying under the radar, saying things that are far more subversive than anything poor old Harry has said. My books are about killing God."
While Pullman has pulled back somewhat from these blunt admissions of intent since the release of The Golden Compass movie, presumably in an attempt to maintain a larger share of the American viewing market, they nevertheless remain part of the public record.
The problem I have with Philip Pullman's Golden Compass book (and the movie), and increasingly with the rest of the books in His Dark Materials series, is that in the Pullman world, the Church is peopled by utterly detestable and unprincipled men and women. They use all manner of coercive means to force people to accept the Church as the great controlling and fun-destroying power in their lives.

This is, of course, a great lie and a monstrous distortion, but a lie which many outside the Church already imagine to be true and a lie which Pullman asserts continuously throughout his series. In the third book, The Amber Spyglass, the author has one of his characters explain: "I met an angel.... She said that all the history of human life has been a struggle between wisdom and stupidity.
"She and the rebel angels, the followers of wisdom, have always tried to open minds; the Authority and his churches have always tried to keep them closed. That's what the Church does, and every church is the same: control, destroy, obliterate every good feeling."
Throughout His Dark Materials the church condemns growing up, particularly sexual awakening. It would have us all remain passive, joyless, dependent children.
Reviewing His Dark Materials in The Atlantic Monthly, Hanna Rosen expressed puzzlement at it all, "The most curious aspect of Pullman's theology is the primacy he places on teen sexuality ... the whole series builds up to a celebration of losing your virginity."
The new movie admittedly tones down some of the more blatant anti-Christian parts of the book.
In an incisive review of the movie Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver observed, "The aggressively anti-religious, anti-Christian undercurrent in The Golden Compass is unmistakable and at times undisguised."
But the question is begged, will people believe the distorted image in this fiction or will they remember the face of Pope John Paul II, of Mother Teresa, and of so many others who are the real face of "lived out Christianity" and the Catholic Church?
The answer, I think, is yes; many will believe, at least to some degree, this diabolical image of the Church. The Pullman presentation will reinforce and strengthen existing prejudices and sow seeds of doubt and suspicion in many people's minds, especially in the minds of children who have little experience of the Church as she really is. That's why these purely fictional books can be damaging to the Church and the project of Christ in the world.
As John Paul II wrote in Redemptoris Missio, "The Church proposes; she imposes nothing. She respects individuals and cultures, and she honours the sanctuary of conscience."
Like a forced marriage, a forced or coerced conversion is, in the eyes of the Church, invalid. Through the ages the Church has been engaged in helping men and women to overcome their selfishness and conquer their pride, in helping men and women learn to bear the beams of love that come from the Father and become a beam of love and truth in their own lives, in their families, and in the larger community.
J. Fraser Field, managing editor,
Catholic Education Resource Centre
Powell River

Shame on you who run this so-called Catholic newspaper. Only in Canada is this stupid movie the Golden Compass given any respect. The daily edition of the official Vatican newspaper has printed a harsh criticism of it, describing it as a hopeless story based on the ideology of the 1970s.
In a long editorial article, Andrea Monda, a well known literary and movie critic who writes for several Italian newspapers, says "the Golden Compass of Chris Weisz is as much of an anti-Christmas film as it can be."
For the person who wrote the article and splashed it on the FRONT page of The B.C. Catholic Newspaper, take heed: if you were a real Catholic you would proclaim Our Lord, and profess your faith.
Susan Holmes
Powell River

I just wanted to say a big thank you for publishing the two articles on the Golden Compass in this week's paper.
Both articles were informative and interesting. I found Alan Charlton's article "Golden Compass up to individual choice" particularly well-reasoned, well-written, and intelligent. I am most impressed to see this article, and am clipping it out to save for future reference.
Joyce Nickel
New Westminster

The B.C. Catholic welcomes letters to the editor. We reserve the right to edit letters for style, clarity, and length. Please include your name, city, and phone number or e-mail address. Send to: 150 Robson St., Vancouver, B.C., V6B 2A7; fax 604-683-8117; e-mail bcc@rcav.bc.ca, or use the Web form at http://bcc.rcav.org/letter.htm.