The Golden Compass (spoilers)

LoudmouthMormon · Profuse Pontificator

The Golden Compass (spoilers)

mirkwood · Senior Bucketkeeper

LoudmouthMormon wrote:

* The movie definitely considers itself the first installment. The cool battle at the end is a clear portent for bigger things to come.

Haven't read the books, haven't seen the movie, but this (the bold) is what I have been told is where the trap really lies. As the story progresses it becomes more and more blatantly anti-religion. The first book/movie is supposedly designed to make you a fan before the whammy of the rest of the saga.

I won't be taking my kids to it, because I have not personally looked at it enough to see if I feel there is a problem. I've read many good vs. evil books and have no problem with them.

Duke of Mirth · Profuse Pontificator

I frankly don't want a penny of my money going to the creep that wrote the original books which is why I won't be going. The movie may be benign but I don't want that guy thinking my money is somehow supporting his beliefs and anti religion public statements.

Dyany · Senior Member

The producers of the movie worked hard to remove any 'anti-religious' items from the movie (thus raising the ire of atheistic hard-core book fans), but one of the big things I have seen, and agree with, in protest of the movie is if kids like the movies they will want to read the books. And the books, esp. as you get into them, are blatantly anti-religious. Considering that the books are one of the top sellers on Amazon.com right now, I would say that prediction has proven true.

mirkwood · Senior Bucketkeeper

Conspiring men in the last days.

Mahonri · Senior Bucketkeeper

Won't be watching it.

Somehow my 13 year old ended up seeing it.... we thought he was going to see something else.

He won't see the next movies if I can help it.

LoudmouthMormon · Profuse Pontificator

I dunno. I can't seem to get with the "the battle for your children's souls will occur in the pages of fiction books they read" bandwagon. I mean, people are acting like an epidemic of athiesm will break out based on the popularity of fantasy books written by an athiest to forward his agenda. If such things occur, shouldn't an epidemic of 'there is no God - just good guys and bad guys' have already occured with the Harry Potter books?

What's wrong with exposing children to different belief systems at certain ages?

As a youth, I read all sorts of fantasy and sci-fi books. In elementary school I read the Hardy Boys books, and their parents drank wine and smoked! I read the Battlefield Earth decology from the founder of Dianetics/Scientology. I read Piers Anthony's Xanth series, with it's absolute dearth of supreme being, his Space Tyrant series, where the good guy legalizes all drug use and eliminates age of consent laws, and his Incarnations series, where humans take on the roles of god, satan, death, time, etc.. I read Frank Herbert's Dune books, with it's very convincing portrayal of religion as something that dictates behavior of the masses, with people occasionally able to sieze the reigns. I read Stephen R. Donaldson's Covenant series, where god and satan have to play by the rules, and the hero rapes a 14 yr old girl in the first 25 pages. And yet here I am, staring at my temple recommend right now. These books served as a backdrop against which I tested my evolving belief system. They didn't serve as a belief system to be poured into an empty head, devoid of the Light of Christ.

My kids just finished reading Huck Finn. You want a counterculture danger to your kid's belief systems - show them Mark Twain. Throughout the book, Huck struggled with his loss of respect for his friend Tom Sawyer, who was helping to free Jim the slave. Huck's faith in his friend was restored, when it was revealed that Tom knew all along that Jim was free, and was just looking for excitement and adventure. And yet, my kids seem to have the same distaste for the concept of slavery they had at the start.

Well, anyway, if Pullman is actually seeping his way into the souls of our youth, someone should tell Deseret Book about it, so they can stop selling his books.

LM
[In the odd position of being the homeschooling dad, lecturing people on sheltering their kids too much.]

Duke of Mirth · Profuse Pontificator

That is your view and your choice and you are entitle to it. Every kid and family is different so I defer to them for their own families. I don't think kids will run out and become athiests but I do think that it may have the questioning things that they might not have. While the Chronicles of Narnia, the LOTR, or even Charles Dickens Christmas Carol did not make become a non Mormon, they did influence how I think about my faith and in a good way. We look for parallels to our own lives in many films. I can not tell you how many comparrisons I have heard from others about the gospel in different sci fi movies or books. We tend to take what we know and what we learn and make comparrisons and log similarities in our brains. I saw the Mississippi River for the first time a couple years ago and immediately thought back to reading Huck Finn in my teen years which invariable reminded me of the controversial nature of some of the language in the book which reminded me of Jim Crow, Slavery etc. Whenever I see a pregnant woman I think of those Alien's movies. I don't try to do this it just is how my brain works. When I see an aircraft carrier I think of Top Gun which reminds me the famous suck your face off Top Gun kiss on the motorcycle which reminds me of EFY and some lady who spoke who told us it wasn't proper to kiss like that which advice I snickered at and proceeded to ignore as a teen because it looked like it was fun to suck face with a hot girl, which makes me feel stupid for not listening to the counsel of those who knew better now that I'm an adult. Now I know it is illogical and thankfully I have higher order reasoning skills now but many young people do not and will be influenced by it. So that's why there are parents who can step in and who know their children and can make those decisions based on what they know is good for their children. I know my children and they would probably want to read the book after seeing the movie and I knowing them I don't really think they need that sort of thing at this stage in their lives. If they want to read them as an adult that is their choice.

Janey · Senior Member

I'm not going to see the movie because I'm tired of CG animation and special effects. I want a movie where nothing blows up, and animals don't talk or act like humans.

As a child and a teen, I read lots of fantasy books, and several books with anti-religious messages. They were pretty easy to spot, and I quit reading the ones that were so far off my actual experiences with religion that they were obnoxious. I did that without ever even discussing the issue with my parents - they didn't read my books. I think a kid who has had good experiences with religion (nice Primary teacher, bishop who shakes his hand, parents who teach him to pray) is not going to have his worldview changed by a book or movie. But kids who don't know much about religion may have a problem.

LM - did you read Anne McCaffrey's dragonrider books? Those have an anti-family theme all the way through, with all the unwed births, dragon mating, and fostering that goes on. In her more recent dragon books (or at least the Masterharper of Pern book), she's even gave up the word "marriage" in favor of "espouse". Didn't affect my ideas about the importance of family, although I did roll my eyes at some of her more anti-family statements.

It's up to the parents. Whatever they feel comfortable with. I can understand the concern even if it isn't a very big concern for me personally.

LoudmouthMormon · Profuse Pontificator

Tired of CG? You Heretic!

The running joke in the LM family is we timed the birth of our children to coincide with the LOTR movie releases. I remember reading Tolkein in Jr. High - hoping against hope that moviemaking might eventually evolve the capacity to do the books justice.
biggrin

I never read the dragonrider books, but I played an incredibly dumb Commodore64 Dragonrider game once.

I certainly agree that parents need to keep their kid's specific maturity levels and impressionability (is that a word?) in mind when figuring out what they can and can't see. As I mentioned, my 6 and 3 yr olds will be skipping this one, although we might read the books down the road when studying other worldviews.

LM