The Golden Compass by, C.S. Lewis

I went to see the Golden Compass yesterday, as I said I would.  I thought it was a good movie overall and I expect that the book is much better.  It did suffer from what I call Lord of the Rings syndrome,or LOTRS for short.  LOTRS occurs when a production team attempts to fit a long and complex story into a movie.  The LOTR all told, was at least nine hours long and an incredible movie but it did not do the story justice at all.  It was like a condensed children’s version of the story but, to do it right they would have had to at least double the length.  No one wants to sit through that so, they did the best they could.  I suspect the Golden Compassis the same way, though I still have not read it.  They had to tell the story, introduce the audience to a foreign universe, introduce new characters, and get the audience emotionally invested in the characters’ individual plights all in less than two hours.  Still it is more than worth the price of a movie ticket.  The polar bear fight is worth the price of a movie ticket. 

So what is my fundamentalist Christian take on the movie?  Well, one of the primary reasons I wanted to see the movie was to see if they could make a entertaining good v. evil story, without it being an allegory for Christ.  They could not.  I think this is telling.  It was (and is, it is a trilogy so the story is not over) a beautiful messiah narrative.  The Christian undertones where at least as strong as the Chronicles of Narnia. C.S. Lewis would have been proud to call it his own. 

I find it interesting that the Magisterium, the organization that represents the church or religion and evil looks more like a secular anti-religious organization than a church.  The truththat the Magisterium is attempting to stamp out is a world filled with the supernatural and the mystical.  The most poignant example of this is the daemons.  In Pullman’s universe, the souls of humans walk beside them at all times in the form of animals, known as daemons.  They are like the person’s spirit.  They are part of what makes a person who they are.  The Magisterium preforms experiments to deprive children of their daemons, that is their souls.  So, the Magisterium is working to rid the world of the spiritual.  That does not sound like any religion that I know of. 

The heroes of the story are attempting to preserve the truth and the villains are persecuting them, in an attempt to smother the truth.  This is exactly the story of the early church and persecution by the Roman Empire and others.  It is the story of the protestant revolution and persecution by the Vatican.  It is a Christian story. 

I still await the day when some one will have the creativity to make a good and evil story with out paralleling reality. 

See also my previous post on the Golden Compass, The Compass and the Cross

The Compass and the Cross

The movie dreaded by all good gentiles, “The Golden Compass” is set to come out on December 7th.  It has caused a lot of commotion, especially in Christian circles.  The controversy has centered around the story being inherently anti-Christian.  The author, Philip Pullman has been called the anti-C.S. Lewis and his fantasy trilogy, “His Dark Materials” the anti-Chronicles of Narnia.”  “The Golden Compass” is the first book in the series and has just been made into a full length film, complete with big name stars and a 150-million dollar budget. 

So what is the big deal?  To start with, Philip Pullman is an outspoken atheist and has called the “Chronicles of Narnia” “religious propaganda.”  In “His Dark Materials” the “Church” is an evil entity bent on controlling everything and “Christianity” is also spoken of as an evil.  (I should note at this point that I have neither seen the movie nor read the books, so I have no first-hand knowledge of it.  I know, I know, I was as surprised as you are that the author of “UnderAgeThinker” was not invited to any special screening but I wasn’t and there is nothing that I can do about it.  I’m not going to beg.)  So with the church and Christianity as the bad guys it was obviously not written to be pro-Christian and I think it is safe to say, was meant to be anti-Christian.  I can’t wait to see it.  I am a Christian, by the way. 

Why, you ask, would I want do watch such a thing?  Because I have a sneaking suspicion that even a leader of the atheist community will not be able to write a good epic story with out paralleling the epic of the Bible (plus the trailer looks great.) Every great epic that I know of has done so.  They wouldn’t be great stories otherwise.  They speak to us because they are what we long for.  The late Dr. Joseph Campbell articulated this point in his book “The Hero with a Thousand Faces.”  Every great epic, from the “Iliad” to “Star Wars” has carried with it Christian undertones because it is these very undertones that make a story great. 

My prediction is that this atheist Chronicles of Narnia will have one or more Christ figures who will be called to action on behalf of the good or just.  They will face off against one or more Satan figures (though they may be called the Church or Christianity).  The Christ figures will have the guidance of some mentor along the way, but at some point they must stop relying on the mentor.  They will be tempted away from their calling.  They will be dealt some defeats.  They will resolve to do right whatever to cost.  Evil will seek to dominate through oppression, it will seek to take from others.  Good, the Christ figures, will triumph over evil by making a great, noble, and voluntary sacrifice for others, that is they will triumph by giving of themselves for others.  In short, I expect it to be a perfect allegory for Christianity. 

Now all that said, I still do believe it could be a dangerous movie and have detrimental as well as good effects.  This is because the church is the bad guy and will surely be portrayed in a negative light and one that is not representative of what the body of Christ is or should be.  Many people who know no better could be swayed into believing that the church is malicious.  So I would advise caution towards this movie especially when children are concerned, but I do not think there should be anything like a mass boycott or protests, these things only feed the stereotype of Christians that this movie is sure to promote.   Instead point out the parallels between the Christ figure and the figure of Christ. 

Be sure to check out my latter article on The Golden Compass, The Golden Compass by, C.S. Lewis.