'the golden compass'

We ended up not seeing the movie at the theaters, movie tickets costing what they do, but we hope to rectify that fault when the movie comes out on DVD. A friend of mine out here who saw the movie called it one of the best he's seen since "Fellowship of the Ring," and since we've lent him Natahsa's copy of "Measure for Measure," he's going to lend us his copy of the DVD once he buys it.

I will say we've read the first two books of the trilogy, in no small part due to the ironic endorsement of those opposed to the movie, and we've enjoyed it immensely. Pullman is exploring deep themes in his work, about the nature of the soul, knowledge, God, faith, authority, innocence, and plenty else. I just checked out "The Amber Spyglass" from the library, and we probably will start it tonight. (Though maybe not. We're also watching "Tin Man.")

I can understand why some Christians find the book offensive. Pullman essentially subverts the entire Edenic myth into a fall upward, toward greater knowledge and maturity; and his depiction of the church is dishonest, taking its worst moments and traits and putting them forth as examples of the church at its best. He ignores the church's work for peace, women's rights, equality, education and child welfar in favor of its dark record of colonialism, subjugation, castration, and so on.

But in doing this, he actually is doing the church a great favor by forcing us to confront many of the things we have done (and may still do) but have never really come to terms with and made recompense for. Like any good book -- and "His Dark Materials" is good, despite its weaknesses -- it points us Truthward, and can stir the soul toward a better understanding of our own sin, greater repentance, and even greater commitment to doing what is right.

I could go on, and I'm sure I will, since it's a deep book and I'm still trying to process everything we've read, but there is one irony that amuses me immensely: A number of the people in the book claim a measure of moral superiority over the other parties. The Magisterium claims superiority because it is the leadership of the church, and thereby privy to an understanding of the Authority that allows it to commit unspeakable acts against children and other people in pursuit of a higher good (just as the church in our world often has done); those opposing the Magisterium just as frequently reveal themselves to be as capable of cold-hearted indifference when they pursue the greater good.

One final thing for now: Pullman's trilogy is essentially a well-written critique of authoritarianism, specifically of the religious sort. And when "The Golden Compass" came to the theaters, the first response of several outspoken religious authorities (and, I'm sure, many of less prominence) was to tell their followers not to see it -- exactly what the Magisterium would have done in Pullman's imaginary world.

I'm sure that's an irony Pullman has enjoyed immensely.

the golden compass

Sometime tomorrow I plan to walk downtown to our public library and see if I can borrow a copy of Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy.

 

I've been largely indifferent to the trilogy ever since I first heard of it, years ago. A friend of mine read it and wasn't impressed, and since I was past the age where I was shelling out money for children's books out of general curiosity, I was content to let it lie there.

 

The revelation that J.K. Rowling based the character of Gilderoy Lockhart on Pullman also didn't inspire me to seek the books out, either.

 

But, thanks to the success of the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings franchises, New Line Cinema has brought "The Golden Compass," the first book in Pullman's trilogy,to the big screen. And the Religious Right is upset.

 

Now I'm intrigued, and I want to read the book.

 

People invariably assume that my sudden interest is due to a deep-seated contrarian streak, sparked by the recent call from Focus on the Family founder James Dobson for Christians to boycott the movie.

 

It's not quite that simple, though. While I can be contrary, and while I do have a chip on my shoulder, the plain fact of the matter is that I love Story. It draws me, in all the terrible ways it undermines my ease and self-confidence, and questions my half-baked assumptions, it draws me inexorably closer into a confrontation with Truth.

 

Truth makes us uncomfortable, and when we feel really uncomfortable, we get angry. Sometimes we learn from anger, and become truer ourselves. Sometimes, like Ebenezer Scrooge, it's easier to extinguish the light of truth than it is to learn from it.

 

Like I said, I don't know much about the books, except that they've angered or offended a lot of the right people in the ecclesiastial heirarchies of both the evangelical and Catholic churches. I know that the main character, Lyra, is transported to an alternate world, where she is caught up in a battle with a group called the Magisterium that resembles the Catholic Church, where she is aided by daemons, and where she ultimately discovers a pretender God who turns to dust when she confronts him.

 

That doesn't bother me in the least. As my friend Rob the aging hippy said today, all Pullman has done is show how pathetic the God is whom he doesn't believe in. By extension, I suppose he's shown how pathetic are the people who believe in such a weak and impotent God. That's not a problem for me; I don't believe in that God either.

 

But I do believe in Story, a grand and epic tale of which Pullman and I are privileged to be part. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God," is how one writer began the "Once upon a time" of that grand Story.

 

All stories echo and proceed from that first one. Why be afraid of this one?

reaing 'the golden compass'

We're a small portion through "The Golden Compass," and I'm fascinated with just about every aspect of the book so far: not just the characterizations of Lyra, Asriel, the Master and others; but also with the imaginative setting he's created in Jordan College, a world where people's souls are visibly expressed outside their bodies; and the tremendously rich language, like alethiometer and anbarology.

 

Good book. Wish I could figure out what all the fuss is about.

golden compass again

We have about 50 pages to go in "The Golden Compass." Natasha has given up on glaring when I read the name of Lyra's mother as "Ann Coulter." We have concluded that Lucy Pevensie from "Narnia" would not have made it even half as far as Lyra has, and while we do see some similarities between Lyra and our children, I don't think either of them is capable of the wholesale devastation Lyra wrought at the Arctic facility.

The panserbjorne king, Iofur Raknison, seems pretty unlikely and hastily thrown-together as a character, but aside from that, the story has been incredible.

I suspect the reason for my disquiet over Raknison is that he is a bear who wants to a human, when Pullman is merely using the bears as a representation of one Icelandic race or another in a pagan state that is crossing over to Christendom for political reasons, as surely was the case for some courts as the Catholic Church expanded into predominantly pagan areas in Northern Europe.