Why are people saying that the movie "the golden compass" is controver!
Question: i was just wondering if anyone heard why they are calling it controversial.
Answers: i was just wondering if anyone heard why they are calling it controversial.
Probably because they haven't read the book. Philip Pullman, particularly in certain circles in the U.S. has been accused of being an atheistic anti-religious demon; This is ridiculous.. he is not anti religion, but anti theocracy, which is not at all the same thing. In advanced cultures, religion should have no place in the political arena, if this is the case, you might as well join the Islamist imams and ayatollahs..I haven't seen the film, but the books of the Golden Compass trilogy are great. Read them and judge for yourselves with an open mind. If you want Christic symbolism in children's fiction, then do the Chronicles of Narnia...
no im sorry i didnt
Because the author, Philip Pullman, is an atheist and said he wrote the books to try to sway young minds to follow his point of view:
" THE GOLDEN COMPASS, a new movie targeted at children, will be released
December 7, 2007. This movie is based on a the first book of a trilogy
by atheist Philip Pullman. In the final book a boy and girl kill God
so they can do as they please. Pullman left little doubt about his
intentions when he said in a 2003 interview that "My books are about
killing God."
The movie is a watered down version of the first book and is designed
to be very attractive in the hope unsuspecting parents will take their
children to see the the movie and that the children will want the books for Christmas.
The movie has a well known cast, including Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, and Sam Elliott"
If you google the Golden Compass controversy a lot of info comes up about it.
The movie basically states their is no god. controversial? yes.
Apparently in the move the church is portrayed as evil.
Come on, it's a movie. It's not like everyone that sees it will automatically walk out of the movie brainwashed and hate the church!
They are saying this i think that in the movie they kill god but some people care about them doing that and some don't but i care
Anti-religion content in it, basically.
That and the book was called Northern Lights in the UK, but that's nowhere near as talked about =p
I think the book it is based on is anti-religion and these extreme religious groups are getting their panties all up in a bunch.
The Catholic church is saying it has an atheist anti God message. The baddies somewhat resemble church officials. So with them behind the movie it will be an huge success!
read the yahoo news stories
its a book written by an agnostic author
they "claim" it promotes atheism
i will see it this weekend and judge for MYSELF!!
Because the underlying them pokes at the Catholic church. It portrays a religious organization that seeks to control everyone. Catholics are up in arms over it.
'The Golden Compass' is an entertaining fantasy about love, courage, responsibility and freedom," a New Line spokesman said. "We look forward to the Dec. 7 opening."
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'The Golden Compass' But the removal of the Godless themes from the movie has some Christian organizations seething.
"They’re intentionally watering down the most offensive element,” Donohue said. “I'm not really concerned about the movie, [which] looks fairly innocuous. The movie is made for the books. ... It's a deceitful, stealth campaign. Pullman is hoping his books will fly off the shelves at Christmastime."
Some atheists and fans of the books aren't happy, either. They say the studio has caved to pressure from the Christian right by sanitizing the tale for the big screen.
In "Compass," the curious 12-year-old protagonist, Lyra (played by British newcomer Dakota Blue Richards), stumbles on an adventure very close to home when she overhears talk of an amazing substance called Dust, which can unite the world but is so feared that many are scrambling to eradicate it.
Lyra travels to an alternative universe where everyone has a spiritual alter-ego, or demon, in animal form — and she goes there not knowing what she'll find or what her role will be. In her quest for the truth, she receives a magical golden compass that has the answers for those savvy enough to decipher it. Kidman plays Mrs. Coulter, who turns out to be Lyra's mother; Daniel Craig (the current James Bond) co-stars as her "uncle" Lord Asriel — who is really her dad.
The anti-religious themes get progressively stronger with each book in the trilogy; in the final installment, the characters succeed in killing a character called God — who turns out to be a phony, and not God after all. The series has soared to the top of bestseller lists in the U.K. and other countries but has not caught on in the United States.
The Catholic League has mounted a PR campaign against the movie after researching Pullman's own writings about his series. The organization has published a pamphlet called "'The Golden Compass': Unmasked," which is for sale on its Web site.
Evangelical groups like The Christian Film and Television Commission, run by Ted Baehr, and James Dobson's Focus on the Family say they're taking a wait-and-see approach to the movie, although Baehr has plenty to say about the literary version of the series. (Both Baehr and Donohue say they've read "The Golden Compass" and had staff members read the other two.)
"I don't think a boycott will be effective. We have to see the film before we make that evaluation," Baehr said. "We'll put out writings on the book. Children who buy into this are going to be trapped in a sad, desperate world."
Pullman, a co-screenwriter on the project, hasn't commented much on the controversy, but in an interview last week with the Western Mail, a Welsh newspaper, he defended the movie version of his fantasy.
“This must be the only film attacked in the same week for being too religious and for being anti-religious — and by people who haven’t seen it," he said. "I have very friendly and happy relations with the filmmakers, and I'm very happy with what they are doing."
Trade publications like The Hollywood Reporter and Variety have been buzzing for years about New Line Cinema's deliberate attempts to water down the movie version in anticipation of the backlash from faith-seeking moviegoers. The film has been in the works since 2004.
Chris Weitz, the movie's director and co-screenwriter, wrote on a "Dark Materials" fan site three years ago about the push-and-pull at the studio, according to film source IMDB.com. Followers of the writer's trilogy had been complaining in chat rooms about the news that the first movie would be stripped of its down-with-religion references.
New Line "expressed worry about the possibility of perceived anti-religiosity" and instructed those making the movie that if the Godless themes stayed put, the project would turn "unviable, financially," Weitz wrote in December 2004 on Bridgetothestars.net. In those discussions, he said, Pullman suggested that the Church and God in his trilogy could become "any arbitrary establishment that curtails the freedom of the individual."
"You will probably not hear of the 'Church,'" the director wrote, sparking one fan to retort that Hollywood had engaged in a "blatant cop-out to the Bible Belt of America."
Pullman has not been shy in the past about verbalizing his beliefs — or, some might say, nonbeliefs — and his intentions in writing the "Dark Materials" novels.
The novelist has said they are in response to C.S. Lewis' "The Chronicles of Narnia," the popular children's fantasy series of which "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" is the first book — written by Lewis to teach Christian ideals to kids.
"I loathe the 'Narnia' books," Pullman has said in previous press interviews. "I hate them with a deep and bitter passion, with their view of childhood as a golden age from which sexuality and adulthood are a falling away." He has called the series "one of the most ugly and poisonous things" he's ever read.
In spite of complaints about the forthcoming film, Pullman fans and atheists are still excited about the exposure it will give his novels. They say the American literary market is sorely lacking material for those who don't believe in God, and they scoff at the idea that the series is hazardous to children.
"Philip Pullman and I would say it is religion that poisons everything," said Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the atheist advocacy group the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and a co-host of Freethought Radio, a talk show that recently went national on Air America Radio.
Gaylor said her now-18-year-old daughter read the "Dark Materials" books "over and over" when she was a middle-school student about the same age as the heroine.
"What this book is about is casting off Church authority," Gaylor said. "I think it's very, very positive. There should be something for freethinking children. It's a very good yarn."
Others believe that the uproar over atheist themes and their absence from the movie is much ado about nothing, because children and parents will form their own interpretations anyway.
One thing "Compass" debaters seem to agree on is the quality of Pullman's writing; even his critics begrudgingly praise his prose. Donohue, for instance, calls him "very talented."
"The writing of his 'Dark Materials' is so masterful that it is bound to spark the spiritual imagination of anyone who reads it," said Craig Detweiler, co-director of Reel Spirituality, a pop culture and religion think tank at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif.
"In this era of the messy marriage of politics and religion, we desperately need more imaginative expressions of faith and doubt."
Detweiler accused conservative Christian activists like Baehr and Donohue of cashing in on the controversy for their own gain, just as they accuse Pullman of doing. And he thinks the controversial author could actually have the opposite effect on readers than the one he or his critics think — and lead people to find faith in a true higher power instead of merely a dogmatic, power-hungry establishment.
"It undoubtedly makes people question, but inspires them to look harder for more authentic religion," Detweiler said. "Pullman takes license in pointing out the scary, false gods and destructive idols we've created. In that sense, I think he's doing a great service."
it's the exact opposite of narnia.....they're trying to convince the people who watch it that there is no God
because it deals with the christian religion
Because humans need to justify there own importance. See we are unimportant, but we need to feel important, so we add moral debates to subjects where one isn't necessary. Really quite simple.
It's all over the front page of Yahoo....the story line is anti-religion....the people calling it controversial are the Catholic League.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071204/enn...
It's because the author is atheist. And in the books characters mention that God is a lying, lazy maniacal tyrant. Some reports say the kids kill God in the book so they can do whatever he wants, but this is not true. They free God from his prison, and he dies. There is a very strong anti-religion theme thru all three books
I've heard that the movie is made be an atheist and is religiously charged, so all the religious groups are boycotting the movie.
pfft.. it's just some hollywood big shot starting sh*t to drive up sales and make people curious to see it... for this reason... I will not be seeing it and don't care how controversial it supposedly is... and if really want to know, the I'll just rent the damn book from the library.
Because, instead of looking at the movie on its own merits, people are saying "Well, the movie came from the books, and the books had an atheistic theme."
Obviously some people don't understand the concept of "entertainment" and "fiction".
I asked this question and it got deleted, so watch out.
The answer is, the story was written by an atheist, and it was intended to counter these stories (chronicles of narnia) that have Christian morals attached to them. So in the end, the little girl (the hero) kills "God."
Although most of the controversial anti christian parts were fixed for the childrens book/ movie, Catholics fear that it will intice children to read other books by the famously anti- christian author.
the guy that wrote it is an atheist, so some religious wingnuts have decided to politicize it, even though the movie itself is pretty neutral
It is atheist movie about kids trying to kill God (at least in the books)
but it is bad it was written as a response against the Chronicles of Narnia. It was from an atheist that didn't like the Chronicles of Narnia.
it's an account of war between the calm, rational world and the fiendish hierarchy of the Magisterium - an organisation which pursues the souls of children.
... And there's a lot to cram in along the way: daemons, white bears and uncles finding dust in the Arctic. This is not a sugary-sweet kid-flick of the Disney variety, but something altogether sourer and darker.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/entertainmen...
Heres an article to explain.
It basically says that some people think that the movie is anti-religious... but I don't know why they waited for the movie to come out, why didn't they care when the books came out?
And who cares if the author's opinion is different from their own? All they have to do is sit down with their children and explain why they believe that the book/movie is wrong, and no one is forcing them to see the movie anyways!
One mans opinion is not going to unravel a persons personal beliefs...just disagree with it and get on with your lives!
The concern is that while the film doesn't necessarily embrace Philip Pullman's "destroy God" perspective, the book it is based on, part of a trilogy called His Dark Materials, has an unmistakable anti-God theme. The books are pretty much the opposite of the Narnia and Christian parents don't want the film to inspire their kids to read them.
Because the main character is a straight (butt-sex hating) white man with AIDS. And we all know that's impossible.