The Golden Compass: entertaining fantasy, anti-religious polemic, or what?
With The Golden Compass set to hit theaters this weekend, there’s much chatter online this week about the controversial children’s fantasy series and its alleged anti-religion themes. Philip Pullman, the author, has made no few controversial statements of his own, ranging from criticisms of CS Lewis to a declaration that his books are “about killing God.” In the aftermath of the Harry Potter and The Da Vinci Code controversies, how should we approach this film and the book series on which it’s based?
InterVarsity Press published a book last year that shed light on Pullman’s novels and their themes. They’ve put a lot of great related content online to help you sort out what to think of The Golden Compass, starting with a lengthy interview with Philip Pullman about God, the Bible, and Pullman’s agnosticism.
They’ve also made available excellent study/discussion guides for Northern Lights (aka The Golden Compass) as well as for its sequels, The Amber Spyglass and The Subtle Knife. There’s much more about Pullman’s novels and their spiritual themes at the IVPress website. Reading through these materials, one thing seems clear: before Christians rush to defend or condemn the books and movie, it’s worth reading up on exactly what themes and ideas they’re built around.
At Hollywood Jesus, David Bruce has posted a visual analysis of the film and is calling for discussion about the movie and its themes. And elsewhere in the Gospel.com community, bloggers are talking about the upcoming movie: Jim Dahlman’s written an essay about the cultural controversy surrounding the film at the Culture Beat blog, and two posts at ThinkChristian have sparked considerable discussion about it.
If other ministries or bloggers in the community speak up about the film this week, we’ll make a note of it here. In the meantime, take a look at these resources, and check back here this Friday to see what film analysis ministries like Past the Popcorn and Hollywood Jesus have to say about the film once it actually hits theaters!
