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Golden Compass
Dec. 10th, 2007 02:16 pmThis will be part movie review and part rant. Contains no more spoilers than you get from the trailers.
So. For the review portion, let me say the film effects are great. The world isn't defined to my taste and a lot of stuff feels hurried and it feels like a middle-movie, having the same tone as The Two Towers or Empire Strikes Back So. Nothing I particularly disliked about the film but nothing that I really loved either.
Now, on to the rant!
It's come to my attention that the film is being boycotted by various religious groups, screaming that it's anti-religion or some bloody nonsense like that. I think perhaps if I'd heard these whinges beforehand, it might have upped my enjoyment of the film as I'd have been actively doing something to piss of the religious right. Instead, I'm left having watched a film that was not especially moving and then finding out there's a bunch of self-righteous indignation about it.
So... Is the Magesterium a power-broker with a hint of a religious undertone? Sure. Absolutely. Does that make it an attack on all that is holy? Don't be stupid. Compared to most films I've seen which deal with a theocracy, this one was pretty thin on the parallels. No one was dressed up in funny gowns or waving about anything ornamented in a way to suggest they were a member of any church. No one was called a bishop, priest, cardinal, or pope. There was one person named Coulter (some rightwingnut pointed this out rather loudly) and she was even blonde and psychotic. However, she wasn't Annie's version of psychotic. No foaming at the mouth, no screaming, jumping up and down, or flinging feces, and she didn't seem like she'd ever lived in a trailer park.
If you saw your religion reflected in the Magesterium, perhaps there's something wrong with your religion and you need to address that. Certainly, this isn't the first film that's had a corrupt theocracy that the 'heros' are fighting against. Here's a few. There are many more.
You can probably name a few hundred others. Of course, none of these are films 'for kids'. That's got to be what the religious groups are squawking about, right? Okay. So what about Narnia, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty? I know... Evil queens are DIFFERENT, right?
Oh very well. You know that I've kept an ace in the hole. Let's go ahead and play it. Prince of Egypt... More to the point, the story of Moses. According to the bible, the religion of Egypt is corrupt and full of falsehoods. Moses goes before Pharoh and his clerics and for each bit of magic they do, he does as well. He even transforms a stick into a snake. Rather like the daemons in a way. In fact, there's a lot of parallels. Moses (Lyra) (an orphan BTW) spends some time as guest of the pharoh (Magesterium) before he challenges their power and flees. He is found by his friends and then guides the Israelites (Gyptians) through the desert. No golden compass is mentioned but only he knew the way, and mana (dust) falls from heaven and several other parallels that you can find for yourself if you're bored.
Not a perfect parallel but there certainly are a number of similarities. So I have to ask. Is the story of Moses an anti-religious anit-christian story? How about the story of Jesus? He says some rot about the churches being corrupt too. Perhaps christian groups should boycott Jesus next. It only seems sensible. He apparently doesn't stand for anything they want to believe in these days.
Anyhow, that's my take on it. The movie is probably passible if you really need to get out of the house and will probably be better in the context of a sequel but it's nothing special. The noise and nonsense from the right wing though. Definite thumbs down. Plot holes the size of arks. (Which are an entirely different story)
So. For the review portion, let me say the film effects are great. The world isn't defined to my taste and a lot of stuff feels hurried and it feels like a middle-movie, having the same tone as The Two Towers or Empire Strikes Back So. Nothing I particularly disliked about the film but nothing that I really loved either.
Now, on to the rant!
It's come to my attention that the film is being boycotted by various religious groups, screaming that it's anti-religion or some bloody nonsense like that. I think perhaps if I'd heard these whinges beforehand, it might have upped my enjoyment of the film as I'd have been actively doing something to piss of the religious right. Instead, I'm left having watched a film that was not especially moving and then finding out there's a bunch of self-righteous indignation about it.
So... Is the Magesterium a power-broker with a hint of a religious undertone? Sure. Absolutely. Does that make it an attack on all that is holy? Don't be stupid. Compared to most films I've seen which deal with a theocracy, this one was pretty thin on the parallels. No one was dressed up in funny gowns or waving about anything ornamented in a way to suggest they were a member of any church. No one was called a bishop, priest, cardinal, or pope. There was one person named Coulter (some rightwingnut pointed this out rather loudly) and she was even blonde and psychotic. However, she wasn't Annie's version of psychotic. No foaming at the mouth, no screaming, jumping up and down, or flinging feces, and she didn't seem like she'd ever lived in a trailer park.
If you saw your religion reflected in the Magesterium, perhaps there's something wrong with your religion and you need to address that. Certainly, this isn't the first film that's had a corrupt theocracy that the 'heros' are fighting against. Here's a few. There are many more.
V for Vendetta, Riddick, Water World, Tank Girl, The BeastMaster, Star Wars, Krull, Planet of the Apes, etc.
You can probably name a few hundred others. Of course, none of these are films 'for kids'. That's got to be what the religious groups are squawking about, right? Okay. So what about Narnia, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty? I know... Evil queens are DIFFERENT, right?
Oh very well. You know that I've kept an ace in the hole. Let's go ahead and play it. Prince of Egypt... More to the point, the story of Moses. According to the bible, the religion of Egypt is corrupt and full of falsehoods. Moses goes before Pharoh and his clerics and for each bit of magic they do, he does as well. He even transforms a stick into a snake. Rather like the daemons in a way. In fact, there's a lot of parallels. Moses (Lyra) (an orphan BTW) spends some time as guest of the pharoh (Magesterium) before he challenges their power and flees. He is found by his friends and then guides the Israelites (Gyptians) through the desert. No golden compass is mentioned but only he knew the way, and mana (dust) falls from heaven and several other parallels that you can find for yourself if you're bored.
Not a perfect parallel but there certainly are a number of similarities. So I have to ask. Is the story of Moses an anti-religious anit-christian story? How about the story of Jesus? He says some rot about the churches being corrupt too. Perhaps christian groups should boycott Jesus next. It only seems sensible. He apparently doesn't stand for anything they want to believe in these days.
Anyhow, that's my take on it. The movie is probably passible if you really need to get out of the house and will probably be better in the context of a sequel but it's nothing special. The noise and nonsense from the right wing though. Definite thumbs down. Plot holes the size of arks. (Which are an entirely different story)
