Monday, August 20, 2007

His dark materials

Ross Douthat comments on a number of films that will be released this fall. He isn't encouraged. Among them is the film of a book that was intentionally written to counter what Philip Pullman - "one of England’s most outspoken atheists" - considered the bad influence of the Narnia tales. Apparently the film is somewhat less than explicit about its villains:

...The Golden Compass, adapted from Philip Pullman's Narnia-for-atheists trilogy, is apparently just a story about a clash between a generic good and a generic evil, and any resemblance between the bad guys and any major Western religion is entirely coincidental:
"Conspicuously absent, for instance, is any reference to Catholicism; instead, the malevolent organization that snatches children to surgically remove their souls is referred to in the movie only as the Magisterium. 'It has been watered down a little,' admits Kidman, who stars as the icily evil Mrs. Coulter. Not that she's complaining. Quite the contrary. 'I was raised Catholic,' she says. 'The Catholic Church is part of my essence. I wouldn't be able to do the film if I thought it were at all anti-Catholic.'"
I'm not sure which I prefer - this kind of gutless BS, or straightforward anti-Catholicism. ....
Ross Douthat (August 20, 2007) - The Courage of Their Convictions (Movies)

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