AJC.com > Opinion > Woman to Woman > Archives > 2007 > December > 08
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Should parents be warned about ‘family’ movies like ‘The Golden Compass’?
Shaunti Feldhahn, a right-leaning columnist, writes the commentary this week and Andrea Cornell Sarvady, a left-leaning columnist, responds.
Rebuttal
E-mails from far right groups like the Catholic League are whipping around the country, warning parents that THE GOLDEN COMPASS movie will lure children into reading Phillip Pullman’s darker fictional trilogy.
“He wants kids to denounce God and Heaven” one woman pronounces in an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article on the controversy, “but does it in a very subtle way that parents may not pick up on.”
Or kids, for that matter. Picture evangelical teens sneaking copies of “The Golden Compass” the way other kids sneak cigarettes, and finding themselves terribly confused—by not by a challenge to their faith. “Dear Lord” they’ll say, “Please help my parents with their fear of fictional talking polar bears.”
Pullman does kill off an ineffectual God in the final book, and did once say that he’s undermining Christian belief. Yet that infamous quote read in context is merely part of a glib attack on other fantasy books for being racist and misogynistic. In fact, the primary focus of the 2001 Washington Post article was surprise at how well readers could separate fact from fiction, finding artistry instead of offense. Editor Joan Slattery said at the time, “I think it’s a testament to the intelligence of his fans that nobody has objected to it.”
Ah, Joan. Never underestimate the power of hysterical groupthink.
Pullman’s books are mainstream bestsellers; over seven million copies have been sold in the U.S. alone. More importantly, this is award-winning fiction. They’ve won the American Library Association’s Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults, Publisher’s Weekly Best Book of the Year, England’s prestigious Carnegie Medal and, even the “Carnegie of Carnegies”, a special award given to one book in the 70-year history of the Medal. Yet none of that counts for anything, because a fictional God is disparaged?
Parenting is hard: How much easier sometimes to hop on a campaign, taking comfort in the righteousness of its tone. Here’s another suggestion: Picture a favorite literature teacher from school, one that inspired you to challenge yourself with every novel. Would that respected mentor say that you’ve remembered the class, but forgotten the lesson? Devotion to the ultimate Good Book, however strong, is no reason to fear the others.
.JPG)
-1.JPG)
Services »
Commentary
By Shaunti Feldhahn
The Golden Compass is the first book in a controversial but wildly popular British trilogy by Phillip Pullman. And it’s now a blockbuster holiday kids’ movie. What parents don’t know is that the books are about children on a quest to save the world from an oppressive and senile God named Yaweh (which is God’s name in the real Hebrew Bible), and from the deception and control of his religious leaders. They save the world, in part, by actually killing God.
Most American parents have been completely unaware of the series. When first published here in 2001, Joan Slattery of Knopf Books for Young Readers told the Washington Post that she was “pleasantly surprised and relieved” that there hadn’t been any complaints.
Well, that’s all changed. And parents must be warned that this special-effects-laden, exciting movie is based on books that they - hopefully - would never want their kids to read.
The movie promotion, of course, never mentions these concerns, and the author has been indignant about claims that he has a subversive agenda. Which is funny, since he proudly told the Washington Post in 2001 that in the trilogy, “I’m trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief.”
Now, I applaud the studio for watering down the most overtly anti-religious material from the first book for the movie. At least they made it more family friendly. But as Kiera McCaffrey of the Catholic League explained in an interview, “Making family friendly movies is laudable, and we are not so concerned with the film per se — but it poses a bigger problem. Because parents and kids will see this movie and then want the books…and the books aren’t watered down.”
Parents need to know that the first step will lead to another. And the next books are disturbing. We saw this trend with Harry Potter - as each book and movie got darker and darker, to the point that many parents would never have let their kids read the last book, had it come out first.
I’m sad that parents even have to worry about this, especially at this time of year; that as many families celebrate the birth of Christ, a foothold is given to books that want to do anything but.