I strongly recommend that anyone who is a parent, or interested in what young people are reading and watching, read Mark’s excellent review of The Amber Spyglass, the third of Phillip Pullman’s horrific trilogy which goes under the overall title of His Dark Materials. Dark Materials indeed; as Mark in this and his earlier reviews of the first two books points out, this is one of those very few books that can justifiably be labelled “satanic” (and that is not a label I apply lightly).
The reason I am mentioning it here under the heading “Golden Compass” is that the movie of this first book in the trilogy is about to hit the cinemas on Boxing Day. I have been perplexed for a while about what attitude Christian parents should have when their children express a desire to see the movie.
Just to make it clear, there is no doubt (despite, as Mark notes, Pullman’s recent “spin” to the contrary), that this series of books is designed to be an “anti-Narnia"- to communicate ungodly and anti-Christian values to youngsters (and others) who read them through entering the fantasy world they create. Just as the Narnia books have possibly opened up the minds of people to meet Jesus in the real world, these books seem designed to drive people away from any suggestion of involvement with “the church” or service of God.
I guess my current thinking is that I will discourage my only under-18 daughter from seeing the movie, even though she has read the books. But if she decides (and she is old enough, and godly enough, that I respect her ability to make a decision for herself) to go, then I will go with her and we can talk about it.
But I would seriously suggest that parents with younger children not send their kids. Yes, I know, this just means that they will watch it later at their friends’ houses, and yes, this runs the risk of making it more attractive as “forbidden fruit”. But hopefully as a parent you will, in the act of “banning” it, at least be able to explain in terms the child can understand why it is such a bad idea to get sucked into this (at least in the first two books, reasonably well-written and imaginative) fantasy world which is designed to drive people away from God.
Interested in what other people think- whether they have read the books, and in what attitude to take to the movie.
Hi Neil.
There has been some talk about this film in our church. We have debated whether to warn people against it, but wonder if they would not have encountered it, without our help! [Reminds me of the New Perspective]
In warning people against this film, we also should remember that the agendas of other creators of books and films is not primarily to promote the Christian message.
Are we OK with media created premarily to make money that did not have as specific an agenda?
Hi David;
I guess the obvious response is that not much of the other media around is so consciously and deliberately created to undermine the Christian message in the same sense as this trilogy of books (which the movies will no doubt create a greater readership for.)
Neil F
Dear David;
I don’t want to be alarmist, but I do think this is a serious issue. Your comment suggests that you think that the “blatant” nature of the message will detract from its impact. In fact if you read the books they are quite subtle- the first one is fairly mild, and while it features “the church” as the bad guys it isn’t quite clear where it is all going until into the second book. I guess I know how much personally the imaginative world of Narnia had an impact on me when I was young, and I can see this same effect (in the opposite direction) being used in this series, not even just at an openly rational level, but also in the way that stereotypes of Christians as “child abusers” and “dogmatic authoritarians”, for example, are inserted into the story.
Regards
Neil F
Good to see your interests extending beyond the law faculty.
I have generally opted for engagement with books like this. I read these several years ago when my boys read them. I like to know what they are reading and to have the chance to engage with them about the books they read. I discussed some of the ideas (and there are many including some very interesting ideas from science) with them. Neither of them saw a correlation between Church as they experienced it and that which was described by Pullman. Clearly Pullman has an agenda in writing these books. His dialogue with the Archbishop of Canterbury is interesting (you can find it on the web). The producer of the new Doctor WHo who is a prominent gay activist and atheist has indicated that he intends to use (and has used) that series to promote his agenda. It is important that we teach our children to read and watch with discernment - to read the message that are being communicated and critique them. The books do however ask and answer some big questions and while (like the Matrix and Star Wars) I do not agree with the answers there is an opportunity in the questions to steer the discussion toward Christ.
You could ask ‘Could you believe in a god such as that portrayed by Pullman?” As a Christian I could not - it is a God without redemption. Pullman’s “straw god” contrasts with poorly with Jesus Christ. How can we use the release of this film creatively (like some churches did with the Da Vinci Code) to engage our neighbours and friends with the Gospel?
Having said all of this I will not be taking my 10 year old daughter to see this movie. She is too young. It will be a pretty scarey movie and I know she will lose sleep if she watches it. If either of my boys want to go see it that does not bother me (they are mid to late teens) but I will want to go and see it as well so I can talk to them about it. I am not sure it will have much attraction to this age group however.
Damaris (www.damaris.org.uk) have some useful materials for this sort of engagement including a four part bible study that you can buy through Scripture Union titled “What does the BIble say about The Pullman Trilogy” and a book called “Dark Matter A thinking fan’s Guide to PHilip Pullman” by Tony Watkins. THey have also released a similar guide to the new Doctor Who series.
Christian writer Anthony Horvath has written a critique of Pullman and a useful church bulletin insert for those who are interested:
http://sntjohnny.com/front/archives/132
I recently wrote an informal critique for some of the parents in my church (St Matt’s, Kensington, SA) about the His Dark Materials trilogy. An email had been circulated calling for a Christian boycott of the film, saying that the books were ‘atheism for kids’. I wonder whether this position is too extreme and wrote hoping to give parents some tools they could use in discussion with their children.
Here’s the link. Hope it’s helpful to the discussion.
Dear Ken;
Ummmm… I’m not sure how to make an intelligent response since I’m not sure what you mean. If you mean by “he”, Phillip Pullman, and if your remark means that I am urging people not to go the movie because they might be persuaded to become atheists, I disagree that that is what I have been saying. I have been writing as a Christian parent who has some responsibility for the sort of material my children take in, and attempting to offer some serious views on how parents ought to make wise decisions about that.
Whether or not I would go to see it myself is another issue. My view at the moment is that I won’t, not because I am afraid I might be persuaded to change my mind (I have already read the three books on which the movies will be based, if they end up releasing three movies); but rather because I disagree with Pullman’s world view, and don’t want my money going to support the dissemination of that world view.
However, I might have been misreading your comment, and if so I am sorry.
Regards
Neil F
There have been some very helpful news articles on the forthcoming movie linked in the “News” area. For one that hasn’t turned up yet, but which I found very interesting, see in the latest Atlantic Monthly a piece called “How Hollywood Saved God”, here. The article is good (though definitely not written from a Christian point of view) because it points out how difficult the director and stars are finding diverting questions about the trilogy’s anti-Christian agenda.
Dear Steven;
Thanks for those comments, which I agree with, and the resources, which are very interesting.
Regards
Neil F
Please add my thanks to Neil’s for an excellent post. My 14 year old son wants to see the movie even though he hasn’t read the books. I’ve asked him to read the film review on this website and I’ll also direct him to your post.
He is beginning to appreciate that Christianity (has and still) can withstand the subtlest and the fiercest criticisms, whatever the source.
There is also an article on Pullman’s books in “The Essay” in the Spectrum liftout of the SMH today. The writer seems to welcome Pullman’s desire for children to lose their innocence and seems to think that Christians have an unreal view of innocence and God. She also weaves a paragraph or two about John Howard’s Australia into her essay makes it all seem another exercise in firing a salvo in the culture wars more than any sort of thoughful critique of Christianity.
Moron Pullmann
Whoops
More on Pullmann:
Christianity Today has some thoughtful reflections on the books and movie and the Reformation 21 blog is also well worth a look. If you do, be aware that this is a conversation and there are several comments and points of view expressed.
Reformation 21 and its blog have some great articles and reviews and I always enjoy reading them. Wish they’d rss themselves in a sensible way, but.
This is what I’ve written for our church service sheet tomorrow. The film is currently showing in Bathurst and a few people are concerned about it. Some members children have already read one or more of the books, before their parents had heard anything about them.
Helping our children to engage with our culture with discernment
Do you know what is taught in the books, films and recordings your children listen to? Do you think it matters? Sometimes the message which comes across is different from what the author intended, and many people have enjoyed books such as C S Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia or Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn while being completely unaware that the author had anything else in mind than writing a great story.
Some Christian people are concerned about The Golden Compass, Philip Pullmann’s book and film, which is being promoted widely throughout Australia, because he has said that he wrote the book as an antidote to the Christian message which lies under the surface of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and other Lewis stories.
Pullmann says that he wants to introduce children to an atheist view of the world. Some Christians feel that we should boycott the film entirely, while others, like Christian fantasy author Jeffrey Overstreet, feel we need to be discerning, but not afraid of him. Overstreet says “God is not threatened by Philip Pullmann. People who stop to think through Pullmann’s story, and how he ‘refutes’ Christianity will see what a feeble attack against Christian belief it really is.”
Overstreet recommends guidance and discussion rather than banning Pullmann’s work, and thus making it fascinating and appealing to sample the forbidden fruit! He also thinks Pullmann is a great writer that we can enjoy, if we use godly wisdom. Overstreet stresses that parents need to know what their children are encountering in our culture, and to talk through things with them.
You can read the full article, from Christianity Today at http://tinyurl.com/yrtsdj
Someone once told me that Christians should not be suckers [and fall for everything] or wowsers [and avoid everything] but be thoughtful critics. I still think this is good advice.
Thanks, David, good to hear other people’s responses. One small thing, though- I thought the movie wasn’t being released in Australia until Boxing Day? Or do the cinemas in Bathurst get a special deal?
