Author Topic: The Golden Compass movie  (Read 2102 times)

Chimera

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The Golden Compass movie
« on: December 08, 2006, 07:40:04 PM »
Just a website for now: http://www.goldencompassmovie.com/  The movie won't be out until Dec 2007.

Great book by Philip Pullman. Looks like it could be an awesome movie. Here's hoping they do it right!
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Aen Elderberry

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Re: The Golden Compass movie
« Reply #1 on: December 08, 2006, 11:01:52 PM »
This does look cool.  It has the look of a well crafted fantasy.

But what do you folks think about Pullman's philosophy which includes an extreme dislike for C. S. Lewis as well as being hostile to religion in general?

http://www.surefish.co.uk/culture/features/pullman_interview.htm
Quote
The book ends with Lyra, the trilogy's heroine, having a vision of a Republic of Heaven. What are the key values in the Republic, rather than the Kingdom, of Heaven?

Firstly, a sense that this world where we live is our home. Our home is not somewhere else. There is no elsewhere. This is a physical universe and we are physical beings made of material stuff. This is where we live.

Secondly, a sense of belonging, a sense of being part of a real and important story, a sense of being connected to other people, to people who are not here any more, to those who have gone before us. And a sense of being connected to the universe itself.

All those things were promised and summed up in the phrase, 'The Kingdom of Heaven'. But if the Kingdom is dead, we still need those things. We can't live without those things because it's too bleak, it's too bare and we don't need to. We can find a way of creating them for ourselves if we think in terms of a Republic of Heaven.

This is not a Kingdom but a Republic, in which we are all free and equal citizens, with – and this is the important thing – responsibilities. With the responsibility to make this place into a Republic of Heaven for everyone. Not to live in it in a state of perpetual self-indulgence, but to work hard to make this place as good as we possibly can.

I admit that I am a fan of the overtly Christian Lewis and I'm not sure I can get excited about an overtly anti-Christian Pullman.  But I'd like to know what others think.

(If this question isn't appropriate for the forum then I apologize and will try not to be too offended if it's deleted.)
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Fellfrosch

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Re: The Golden Compass movie
« Reply #2 on: December 09, 2006, 12:32:32 AM »
It's not an inappropriate question at all--we like this kind of stuff around here.

My thoughts on Pullman are actually the same as my thoughts on Lewis: as long as it's good writing (and Pullman is a stellar writer), I don't care what his views are on religion. I read all of the Narnia books when I was kid, and had no idea they were supposed to be Christian. I pity anyone who likes them because they're Christian, rather than because they're good, because that to me is a completely wrong-headed way to approach art. I love Roger Ebert's quote on the subject: "It doesn't matter what art is about, but how it is about it."

Ironically, while I actually enjoy Pullman's word-for-word writing much more than Lewis's, I think Lewis is able to carry out his allegory a little better. By the end of Amber Spyglass (the third book in the series), Pullman has pretty much dropped all pretense of allegory and has his characters start spouting off unsupported love letters to atheism. Please note that I'm not complaining about the atheism: his depiction of God as an ancient, broken being was really cool. I can read about that in a fantasy book and not feel threatened by it religiously. What I am complaining about is that the messages started to get way too heavy-handed by the end. The quality of the writing and presentation fell apart, and that disappointed me.

As for whether the movie will be overtly anti-Christian, I don't know. I highly doubt it. Most of the Christianity in the first Narnia movie was completely drained out, and I imagine The Golden Compass will be the same (although honestly, there's not a whole lot of anti-Christian stuff in that book to begin with).
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Entsuropi

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Re: The Golden Compass movie
« Reply #3 on: December 09, 2006, 11:11:03 AM »
I thought most of the christian elements remained in Narnia (since the elements resolved around Aslan, mainly, rather than speech). But I agree with you on the heavy-handedness being a bad thing. I didn't like magicians nephew too much, because it was so blatantly a genesis rewrite.
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Re: The Golden Compass movie
« Reply #4 on: December 09, 2006, 05:40:55 PM »
I think Pullman's a great writer, but I think he lets himself get in the way of his writing.  I stopped reading His Dark Materials halfway through the third book, because I felt like it had been one big gimmick.  It frustrated me that he made a certain sort of promise at the beginning of his first book--what it was going to be like, etc.--and then he changed the meaning of the series as it progressed.  It was like it was a trap to sucker people into listening about his rants against religion.  Heavy handed, underhanded, and mishandled.

Sigyn

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Re: The Golden Compass movie
« Reply #5 on: December 10, 2006, 03:17:22 AM »
I think I'm in the minority here, but I really dislike Philip Pullman.  I only read the first book in this series.  It annoyed me so much that I decided I had absolutely no desire to read any more.  Every time I hear anything he's said in interviews, I just dislike him more and have less desire to read any of his other books (I have read one other book by him, Ruby in the Smoke, and it annoyed me too).  Yes, he is has a very engaging style, but I didn't like any of the things that actually happened to his characters.
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Fellfrosch

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Re: The Golden Compass movie
« Reply #6 on: December 11, 2006, 07:46:09 PM »
What is it you didn't like? The writing style? The themes? The characters? I'm interested, because I thought that Golden Compas especially was one of the better-written fantasies I've ever read.
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Sigyn

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Re: The Golden Compass movie
« Reply #7 on: December 12, 2006, 05:44:27 PM »
It was well written.  That's probably what made me dislike it even more, because I was more drawn into the story, and I hated what was happening.  It's been a while since I read this book, so it is difficult for me to remember particulars (I've worked quite hard to block them out, thank you).  I just remember finding the conflict terribly disturbing and not liking the main character.  THe whole book just made me feel icky inside.  I know that isn't a very helpful description.  I really dislike books where terrible things happen to little kids.
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Fellfrosch

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Re: The Golden Compass movie
« Reply #8 on: December 12, 2006, 06:54:43 PM »
Huh, weird.
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Pink Bunkadoo

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Re: The Golden Compass movie
« Reply #9 on: December 13, 2006, 06:47:53 AM »
I was also frustrated with the series.  Major frustration didn't set in until the third book.  It was like he set up this big mythic thing and then it didn't happen.  Like the knife, called "God Destroyer," didn't destroy any gods.  (I guess that's a spoiler?)  Parts of it were just stunning, though.  I may read it again some year.
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Re: The Golden Compass movie
« Reply #10 on: December 14, 2006, 08:21:38 PM »
The knife kind of set things in motion to help destroy a god's power. It's just that "Kind of Destroyer of a God's Power" isn't a very cool name for a knife, so they abbreviated it.
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WriterDan

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Re: The Golden Compass movie
« Reply #11 on: December 14, 2006, 09:37:28 PM »
I tend to agree with Sigyn.  I really didn't care much for this series of books.  Granted, they were well written, but nothing much seemed to happen.  I thought these books were just a big flop, but then I heard that they were making a movie out ot it and was really suprised.  Don't know why anyone would want to do that, but then again there is always the chance that the movie will be much better than the book.  Say, in the instance of Eragon.  Don't think it'd take much in either case.
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