Golden Compass

[Stormhammer]

What a GREAT movie Very Happy Dialogue and acting were amazing, as well as the CGI, although it did seem a bit rushed ( but its a lot of story to cram into 2 hours... they should have made it longer IMO ) - atop of that, the movie follows the book pretty darn close, which is hard to come by. Definitely a great family movie, although keep in mind it IS PG-13, and there IS violence ( no blood or gore, but people still die and you know they are dead by other means ) - and by the looks of things, the sequels seem to be a sure thing, following the sequel books The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. IMO, well worth the $9 I spent.

[Deke]

It definitely looks interesting. I've never read the book but have heard good things. And two polar bears in armor fighting, it's like the epitome of badassness :)

It pisses me off to know end though that this movie is catching hell from certain religious peoples.

[SampaGuy]

i thought it was alright, kinda boring at times

[OneSlow5pt0]

i belive thier is 2 more books too.......and yall know what happens in the last book,right.

thing i didnt like though is the subject was very watered down.

[112480]

looks good

[addandrew]

ehhhhh

[Glides]

REligious nuts are always going to provide an intelligent person with an abundance of things to laugh at whenever a book like that gets turned into a movie. They attacked Harry Potter now the Golden COmpass. They even attacked The Chronicles of Narnia and it was based after religion. But by god they came all over The Passion of the Christ with it's incredibly violent and bloody scenes.

It's not ok to show Bears in armor or pre-teen witches but it's downright, good ol Christianity if a man get's the flesh whipped off his bones for all too see.

Organized religion is the single most hypocritical juggernaut to ever have walked the earth. The saddest part is that Christianity is nothing but hodge podge conglomeration of previous religions that it took over. But all these idiots think it's the best thing since bagged milk in Canada.

[Stormhammer]

REligious nuts are always going to provide an intelligent person with an abundance of things to laugh at whenever a book like that gets turned into a movie. They attacked Harry Potter now the Golden COmpass. They even attacked The Chronicles of Narnia and it was based after religion. But by god they came all over The Passion of the Christ with it's incredibly violent and bloody scenes.

It's not ok to show Bears in armor or pre-teen witches but it's downright, good ol Christianity if a man get's the flesh whipped off his bones for all too see.

Organized religion is the single most hypocritical juggernaut to ever have walked the earth. The saddest part is that Christianity is nothing but hodge podge conglomeration of previous religions that it took over. But all these idiots think it's the best thing since bagged milk in Canada.


There are more religious groups saying GO WATCH IT, simply because it brings about another view point, and allows for discussion etc - others wont comment because " why comment on a movie I have not seen yet"

[OneSlow5pt0]

the whole series is about bringin down God.......while dark forces are the good...........but the movie seems very watered down in this

[Nittanys1]

damn i was going to go today but didnt....

[BuBBa DRiFT]

read the latest Time magazine

he wrote the book to present the church as the evil people in the movie.

THATS why its getting such hysterics, because unlike harry potter, this religious "association" is on purpose.

[Stormhammer]

the whole series is about bringin down God.......while dark forces are the good...........but the movie seems very watered down in this


The film is anti-magesterium.

The Magesterium is a fictional religious sect.

The creature calling itself God in these books is a fake, a poser. It is not actually God. Actually I take it back, it wasn't even called God. It was called The Authority. And the death of the Authority was by pure accident in the book - this old looking man was in a "crysallis" type of thing, they opened it and helped him out, his eyes full of wonder, and the wind blew and he just started to disintegrate into dust.

The Author himself has stated it is NOT anti-Christian or anti-God.

[OneSlow5pt0]

The film is anti-magesterium.

The Magesterium is a fictional religious sect.

The creature calling itself God in these books is a fake, a poser. It is not actually God.

The Author himself has stated it is NOT anti-Christian or anti-God.

but........u know how people will get riled up with just the idea of it

[Stormhammer]

^^ yeah I know, and especially how the Authority was the first being to come into concious existence from Dust - some people are like omg God came about from evolution wtf?

Its a ****ing fantasy book in the end - as a child I never picked up on any of it, when I reread it I was like ha, wow... Heaven has cannons? FSCKING SWEET!

But lets not forget the drama over Harry Potter lolol

[Stormhammer]

here's a good sum up of the final book that causes all the controversy

" The protagonists do not fight against "God" in the story. They fight against The Authority, the first Angel, who set himself up to appear as God (who has no involvement whatsoever in any happenings in the universe, He simply created it), so all beings would worship him instead of the universe's actual creator. Not only this, but once The Authority begins to weaken from old age, he cedes his prerogative powers to Metatron, who is the REAL driving force behind the evil committed in God's name. The Magesterium, and all other oppressive forces of religion, act under HIS direction.

God simply doesn't enter into it. He's a distant being who created the universe, and then sat by to watch the spectacle unfold, just as any God who may exist probably did...i.e, God is a passive, non-interventionist entity that set everything in the universe in motion. He's not to blame for any of the actions carried out by any beings in the universes, whether they claim to act on his behalf or not.

The driving point of the story is that AUTHORITY may be bad, abused and misused. In this case, it just happens that the people misusing it are religious in nature. We can all see, very clearly, that throughout history, organized religion HAS been guilty of similar twisting of power, pushing of agendas and generally acting in a less than laudable manner. It is THIS that Pullman conveys a dislike for, and his thoughts very much mirror my own.

Even if this were to be pushing an agenda, it is not "atheism" as such; secular rationalism, yes. But such a thing, to the self-righteous far-right American Christian mind is the same thing. Atheism is simply the state of a lack of belief in a higher power, not some form of nihilistic, hedonistic, wayward devil-worshipingp that it gets painted as by the more extreme of religionists and supernaturalists. In fact, as the book shows, such a life philosophy is good for cultivated strong moral values, like not abusing trust, keeping promises, protecting others who cannot protect themselves, and to stand up to wrongful, oppressive authority. Are those things, without a god being involved or not, things that any right-thinking human can say are bad values? "

[Stormhammer]

1) Does God or the word 'Christian' or 'Catholic' come up in this movie? No.

2) Is this movie anti-religious? Fox, the most right-wing Christian media source in America, says:

I’ve seen the whole movie, a sumptuous two-hour adventure that has as much to do with being anti-Christian or Catholic as "Flipper." So much for that.

3)Does God DIE in these books? These are actually two questions. Here is the question broken down:

3a) Does God-- Refer to 4b. [[blah]]
3b) --die in these books? Yes. Refer to the exact passage in question, which is posted at the end of this thread

4)Do the children KILL God in these books? These are also two questions. Here is the question broken down:

4a)Do the children kill---No. Refer to the exact passage in question, which is posted at the end of this thread.
4b)--God in these books? You decide:

This is the literal definition of the fictional God in the book, according to the book:

"The Authority, God, the Creator, the Lord, Yahweh, El, Adonai, the King, the Father, the Almighty--those were all names he gave himself," explains the angel Balthamos. "He was never the creator. He was an angel like ourselves--the first angel, true, the most powerful, but he was formed of Dust as we are...The first angels condensed out of Dust, and the Authority was the first of all. He told those who came after him that he had created them, but it was a lie.

This is the metaphorical definition of the actual God who dies in the book, according to the author:

The God who dies is the God of the burners of heretics, the hangers of witches, the persecutors of Jews, the officials who recently flogged that poor girl in Nigeria who had the misfortune to become pregnant after having been forced to have sex - all these people claim to know with absolute certainty that their God wants them to do these things. Well, I take them at their word, and I say in response that God deserves to die.

The Authority, then, is an ancient IDEA of God, kept alive artificially by those who benefit from his continued existence.

Below is the exact passage in question, in full. SPOILER:

“Oh, Will, he’s still alive! But—the poor thing. . . .”

Will saw her hands pressing against the crystal, trying to reach in to the angel and comfort him; because he was so old, and he was terrified, crying like a baby and cowering away in the lowest corner.

“He must be so old—I’ve never seen anyone suffering like that—oh, Will, can’t we let him out?”

Will cut through the crystal in one movement to help the angel out. Demented and powerless, the aged being could only weep and mumble in fear and pain and misery, and he shrank away from what seemed like another threat.

“It’s all right,” Will said “We can help you hide, at least. Come on, we won’t hurt you.”

The shaking hand seized his and feebly held on. The old one was uttering a wordless growing whimper that went on and on, and grinding his teeth, and compulsively plucking at himself with his free hand; but as Lyra reached in, too, to help him out, he tried to smile, and to bow, and his ancient eyes deep in their wrinkles blinked at her in innocent wonder.

Between them they helped the ancient of days out of his crystal cell; it wasn’t hard, for he was as light as paper, and he would have followed them anywhere, having no will of his own… But in the open air there was nothing to stop the wind from damaging him, and to their dismay his form began to loosen and dissolve. Only a few moments later he had vanished completely, and their last impression was of those eyes, blinking in wonder, and a sigh of the most profound and exhausted relief.

[Stormhammer]

Also here's a good review

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2007/11/25/god_in_the_dust/




Funny thing is this whole controversy just skyrocketed the sales of his books :lmao:

[idriveasloweclipse]

Its ok to make movies as long as they do not challenge the super irrational mind-**** called Christianity. These are the same people who think we should be teaching a religion that is fictional to kids in public schools. Sometimes I wonder how people become so gullible.

[BuBBa DRiFT]

its not religion that Pullman has a problem with, exactly, or religious believers; its what happens when the religion mixes with politics. "Religion is at its best when it is furthest from political power, the power to send armies to war, to rule every aspect of our lives, to tell us what to wear, what to think, what to red--when religion gets hold of that, watch out! Because trouble will ensue."

Pullman has even received warm praise from members of the clergy, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, for his exploration of spiritual issues.

[BKgen®]

ok, here's something i got in an email a couple days ago:


I checked this out at snopes.com; unfortunately, it's true... There will be a new children's movie out in December called " The Golden Compass." The movie has been described as "atheism for kids" and is based on the first book of a trilogy entitled "His Dark Materials" written by Phillip Pullman. Pullman is a militant atheist and secular humanist who despises

C. S. Lewis and the "Chronicles of Narnia." His motivation for writing this trilogy was specifically to counteract Lewis' symbolisms of Christ portrayed in the Narnia series.

Clearly, Pullman 's main objective is to bash Christianity and promote atheism. Pullman left little doubt about his intentions when he said in a 2003 interview, "my books are about killing God." He has even stated that he wants "to kill God in the minds of children." It has been said of Pullman that he is "the writer the atheists would be praying for, if atheists prayed."

While " The Golden Compass" movie itself may seem mild and innocent, the books are a much different story. In the trilogy, a young streetwise girl becomes enmeshed in an epic struggle to ultimately defeat the oppressive forces of a senile God. Another character, an ex-nun, describes Christianity as "a very powerful and convincing mistake." In the final book, characters representing Adam and Eve eventually kill God, who at times is called YAHWEH. Each book in the trilogy gets progressively worse regarding Pullman 's hatred of Jesus Christ.

"The Golden Compass" is set to premier December 7, during the Christmas season and will probably be heavily advertised. Promoters hope that unsuspecting parents will take their children to see the movie, that they will enjoy the movie, and that the children will want the books for Christmas. Please boycott the movie and the books. Also, pass this information along to everyone you know. This will help to educate parents, so that they will know the agenda of the movie.

I'm a Christian myself and I realize this could just all be religious propaganda made up. However, from some of the stuff I've heard and seen, this guy hates C.S. Lewis and his parallels to Christianity in the chronicles of narnia... and apparently all the golden compass books are a direct counter-attack to Lewis' books.

But here's my deal...

People, I realize you have issues with the book/movie, but don't go crazy exteme over it and try to boycott it. Atheists have just as much right to make a movie as anyone else. But IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE MOVIE, DON'T GO SEE IT. It's not that hard. Stop making Christians look bad.

[Dirty Octopus™]

YES THAT IS ALL!!! :super:

[Hulud]

i know nothing about this movie besides the fact that the "christians" are protesting it.

so i want to see it now lol

[idriveasloweclipse]

i know nothing about this movie besides the fact that the "christians" are protesting it.

so i want to see it now lol



yeah me too, the people protesting it are drawing so much attention to it. It looks like their plan is working in their disfavor.