Thursday, 13 December 2007
The Golden Compass: taking a bearing
Despite mediocre reviews, the invitation of friends and prospect of a wintry CGI spectacle lured me to go see The Golden Compass last night. Certainly watchable, though my impetus to read the books has been slightly dampened by a family member's first impressions of 'Northern Lights': 'kidult' lit. The Lord of the Rings books and films won't I guess be easily matched. Clear parallels in Compass with both the Rings trilogy and CS Lewis' Narnia chronicles: quest, power, good v evil, talking animals,... which reminds me of atheist author Philip Pullman's castigation of Lewis's creation in a review two years ago as 'racist' - White Witch?, 'misogynistic', and if I recall, moralising. (heard my first whiff of news today that the Narnia franchise is alive and kicking; a family acquaintance is in Prague working on props for sequel 'Prince Caspian'). Though I'm no expert, Pullman's anti-religion, anti-Church stance seems only thinly disguised behind the clerical robes of the 'Magisterium' henchmen and nun-like aspect of the captured children's sinister guardians in the north (I'll do my homework later). Against this dark backdrop - suffocating grip of authoritarianism, being told what to think and do - is pitted the wild spirit of 'free thinking' embodied in Lyra and her uncle, Lord Asriel. What intrigues me here is the transfer - less charitably I might say hijacking - of universally recognised values, both good and evil. In Narnia it's Aslan - Christ figure - who's both wild and good ('not a tame lion'), and the White Witch, symbolic of Satan, who proffers Turkish Delight but specialises in turning things to stone; in Compass it's the Magisterium and its cohorts who get the boos and hisses - they've even got the slavering wolves. A fuller dissection of this Pullmanesque-Enlightenment view would need to wait. Meanwhile, Compass is still worth seeing, if nothing else for the giant wrestling polar bears and daemons expiring in clouds of gold dust .
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5 comments:
It may just be me, but I never "got" the overt Christian references in the Chronicles of Narnia until someone in upper school pointed it out. One of those "how could I have missed it" moments.
They're never going to match the LOTR films. They were too good.
Just noticed the "thoughts lurking in the undergrowth". Very good, and a little creepy I have to say! But in a good way.
Yeah, I never really got the christian bit either, and I went to see it with a bunch of christians
Thanks for dropping by my blog and for the review of the film. I still want to see it but it may have to wait till DVD.
I have always thought that sci-fi and fantasy give us a great opportunity to provide commentary on the human experience. Though when it is done well it never comes across so obviously and avoids overt moralizing.
I actually think that is what makes CS lewis' Narnia series work. Despite common perception, Narnia is NOT completely allegorical; Lewis always denied that it was. Lewis saw allegorical writing as always having a one to one transfer of meaning. While Aslan certainly is a Christ figure he did not want his stories to be seen as completely allegorical where we would associate every little detail of Narnia with the gospels.
The Narnia stories instead play a bit of "what if"- What if God became incarnate in another world- what would that look like? in Narnia God became incarnate in a Lion. Lewis basically introduced the idea and the world and decided to let it play out. It made great fantasy stories that commentated on the real world (the way Lewis and many other Christians see it)in a way that was not preachy or too overt.
Clearly the Dark Material series is written from a different world view and I think it is wrong to hold this against the author. I am hearing from your review that his agenda may be more obvious and I think this takes away from the quality of the fantasy and frankly the quality of the commentary he is making. But it still seems like an interesting world he has created.
I have been wondering though, what would Lewis do with the Dark Material premise. I wonder if there is a way to create an incarnational God- an Aslan if you will-in the context of the world Pullman creates. Of course this would change the premise because I doubt an Aslan character would be the incarnation of the false God the Authority in Lewis' mind though Pullman might see it that way.
But what if Aslan entered the world of Dark Materials- where would his allegiances be? I can't help but to think that he would side with Lyra and Lorek in their battle against the oppression that comes from the Magisterium and the "Authority".
I think a story like this would be great commentary on what an incarnational God does in a world where the church becomes oppressive and where atheists are concerned for justice.
Anyway, sorry for babbling on, just thinking off the top of my head. Maybe I'll re work these comments into another post about the topic.
Anyway thanks aging for visiting my blog and sharing your review.
Thanks for your comments and insights folks. I agree James that Narnia isn't meant to be comprehensively allegorical; however I'd have to add that it is striking how little known the clear allegorical content is today - Aslan's death and 'resurrection', thwarting the deep magic with deeper magic being perhaps the most salient element. An indication of how far the Christian narrative has slipped from public consciousness, at least in the west - probably in Britain more than the States. That's just an observation, not meant to sound know-it-all; I'm aware I grew up reading CS Lewis' diverse writings including the plainly Christian stuff.
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