The Golden Controversy

I took my kids to see The Golden Compass this weekend and over all I thought it was a really good movie. Now that having been said, I have not read the book(s) but it is on order from the last Scholastic Book Order in my daughter’s class.

There has been some controversy around this film. Some have seen the film as anti-Christianity and pro-atheist. After having seen the film I must admit that the only anti- that I walked away with from the film was definitely an anti-authoritarian theme and some subtle anti-Catholic themes, but nothing striking or worth making a fuss over. Apparently the film toned down some of these themes from the books. I just assumed that this was an example of people being overly sensitive but according to the Wikipedia article on the His Dark Materials trilogy. In the section on Influences, the author is quoted as having some anti-CS Lewis feelings.

So maybe this book and series is an attempt to present a fantasy adventure with a different point of view, and honestly is that a bad thing. The American Family Association and Catholic League have both said extremely negative things about the book and film, but the “U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops described the movie as "an exciting adventure story with a traditional struggle between good and evil."”

I’m sure that I will have more to say on this subject once I have read the books, but this seems to be something that has been a) blown out of proportion and b) something that should have no affect on someone’s faith. If your faith is challenged by a work of fiction, then maybe your faith wasn’t that strong to begin with (or maybe it was one hell of a book…pun intended).

In the end I don’t see anything in the film that should keep Christians away since it really was a movie that focused on the struggle between good and evil. But then again, so did Harry Potter…