Thu Nov 15, 2007 7:07AM30 comments ›
Thu Nov 15, 2007 — by John Ostrander
The Golden Compass and the Golden Rule, by John Ostrander
Tales From The O-zone #40
Well, the film adaptation of the novel The Golden Compass hasn’t even opened yet and the Christian right-wing is already foaming at the mouth about it. The book is the first in a children’s fantasy trilogy called His Dark Materials by British author Phillip Pullman. Pullman is an agnostic/atheist (depending on the article that you read) and has said he is promoting his views through books to children, much as C.S. Lewis did promoting Christianity with The Chronicles of Narnia.
You’ve probably already seen the previews and commercials for The Golden Compass at the movies or on the TV. It’s got Nicole Kidman and a pretty cool looking armored polar bear (which may disturb Stephen Colbert even more than the atheist slant – assuming the writer’s strike ends in a timely fashion for him to comment on it). It’s also got Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, upset. That’s another point in its favor, insofar as I’m concerned, since I really dislike Donohue.
A note or two about the League and Donohue. The League’s full name is The Catholic League for Civil and Religious Rights. From their own website: “Founded in 1973 by the late Father Virgil C. Blum, S.J., the Catholic League defends the right of Catholics – lay and clergy alike – to participate in American public life without defamation or discrimination.” The League’s office is located in the headquarters of the New York archdiocese. Donohue is its main and some say virtually only employee. The site claims "The league wishes to be neither left nor right, liberal or conservative, revolutionary or reactionary.” Donohue, however, is an adjunct scholar at the conservative Heritage Foundation and his frequently bombastic statements link him with the blowhards on the Right.
A quick run of some of those statements. Thinks of them as Donohue’s Greatest Hits. On Jews: “Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews who hate Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular.” (Scarborough Country, MSNBC, 12/8/04) On gays: “The gay community has yet to apologize to straight people for all the damage that they have done – for contaminating the blood supply in New York City and around the country. It seems to me that gay people in this country should apologize to the rest of the people.” (Scarborough Country, MSNBC, 4/11/05) On The Today Show on 10/13/05 he insisted that the problem in the Church of priests abusing children was "a homosexual scandal, not a pedophilia scandal." On Iraq: “The Pope has never declared this war to be an unjust war.” (Hardball with Chris Matthews 10/21/04) Actually, John Paul II did say that “a U.S. led war against Iraq without United Nations' approval would be unjust and illegal.” That’s what we got and the Pope said this on 3/14/03, more than a year earlier. So Mr. Donohue forgot it, never heard it, or was lying.
I don’t think Donohue is a stupid man; far from it. I think it’s possible he thinks the rest of us are stupid. Or that we have no memory. There’s frequent evidence for that.
Donohue’s stated concern is that the movie of The Golden Compass has watered down the book and innocent Christian families might see it and think the books are alright (since the mainstream media can’t be trusted to get the true story out) and buy them for the children who will then be exposed to anti-Catholic, anti-Christian, anti-God screeds which will warp their tiny minds.
The children. Won’t somebody please think of the children.
Bollocks.
It’s not the Catholic/Christian kids Donohue and his ilk are worried about – it’s any kid. It’s your kid, if you have kids. Adults, too. That’s the underlying and unspoken issue. No, I’m not exaggerating. I was raised Roman Catholic, back when the Legion of Decency posted ratings of movies and RCs were supposed to base what they saw or permitted their children to see on that list. So was Donohue.
This is part of the Legion’s pledge as it first appeared in 1933. See if it sounds like anyone today.
I wish to join the Legion of Decency, which condemns vile and unwholesome moving pictures. I unite with all who protest against them as a grave menace to youth, to home life, to country and to religion. I condemn absolutely those salacious motion pictures which, with other degrading agencies, are corrupting public morals and promoting a sex mania in our land. … Considering these evils, I hereby promise to remain away from all motion pictures except those which do not offend decency and Christian morality.
Sounds like Bill Donohue to me. There’s talk of forming a boycott, as there was when The Last Temptation of Christ first rolled out. Anyone remember that? Movie theaters showing the film were targeted and protestors against the film picketed, none of whom had actually seen the film but, by gum, someone told them it was blasphemy and that was good enough for them. Good little soldiers for the Church Militant. Donohue’s Catholic League was one of the principle instigators of the protests.
My late wife Kim Yale went to see the film at the Biograph Theater in Chicago, partially drawn by the spectacle of the protestors and to make her own statement by going to see it. (I, as usual, had deadlines and wasn’t into the film.) She experienced first hand the jeers and insults and fanatical implorings of some of those picketing the film. She told me all about it later. She had fun, waving and blowing kisses at the protestors and, when she could, debating them while she waited in line.
If you turned around and went the other way – denounced and picketed a film for being too PRO-Church and PRO-faith, these same protestors would be outraged. You would be attacking the Church, you would be attacking their Faith, you would be attacking them and your act of protest would be denounced, probably by Bill Donohue. And yet those films also will shape/mold/warp young minds.
I myself was so heavily influenced by Going My Way (the TV show with Gene Kelly and Leo G. Carroll, not the movie with Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald) that I entered the Diocesan seminary for my freshman year in high school. I left after discovering I didn’t so much wanted to be a priest as I wanted to be Gene Kelly. Also, I discovered girls and dating was verboten at the seminary. End of vocation.
Donohue’s gripe about The Golden Compass can also be made about The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. The movie could cause children to read the books and they would then be exposed to the underlying messages. In C.S. Lewis’ case, he was writing a Christian – a Roman Catholic – allegory meant to influence children. Pullman has said His Dark Materials were written as a response to Narnia. He didn’t just picket the Narnia film or the Narnia publishers; he wrote a response. That seems to me to be an altogether sane, civilized and responsible act. He wants his side heard. He did the same thing that C.S. Lewis did. Why should that be okay for Lewis but not for Pullman?
The issue here is not that stories are being told with the intent to shape young minds. That’s one of the reasons we tell stories to children. I think that children, even more than adults, use stories to explain this very confusing world into which they have been thrust and how to deal with it. Stories enter into the very core of our being and the stories we most love help shape us into who we are. So, yes, the issue becomes what stories are being told and what values extolled – you should be careful with what stories you tell your children and I have no problems per se with that or Donohue’s stated concern.
My problem is I don’t buy all of his Kool-Aid. I know the Roman Catholic Church; it’s very good at getting out information it wants to disseminate (less so about the naughty bits they don’t want you to hear about). It will make sure the word gets out to its followers just as the other denominations like the Baptists and the Lutherans and so on will do if they feel a warning is warranted. So what’s really going on? I think Donohue is savvy enough to know that if he can affect opening weekend box office receipts for The Golden Compass, it’s less likely that the other two films will be made. If the first film is perceived as a failure, it will impact the sales of the books as well. The best way is to make it all seem like some sort of threat to the poor innocent children.
Won’t somebody please think of the children?
Here’s an idea for a counter-protest. Relatively easy to do and, maybe, enjoyable. The Kim Yale protest. Buy a ticket. Go see the film as soon as you can after it opens. If there are protestors, wave to them and blow kisses. Hollywood listens to the box office receipts; make the first week-end for The Golden Compass a success. Nothing can infuriate someone like Donohue more than to be made to feel impotent and that’s worth doing.
As Roger Ebert used to say, “Save me the aisle seat.”
John Ostrander writes GrimJack: The Manx Cat, new installments of which appear every Tuesday here on ComicMix, and much of Munden's Bar, new installments of which will reappear anon here on ComicMix. Both for free. His new Suicide Squad mini-series is out there from DC Comics, and his Star Wars: Legacy is out there from Dark Horse, both at finer comics shops across the galaxy.
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Comments (30)
MARK WHEATLEY (8:22 AM on Thu Nov 15, 2007)
John, I think you skipped one important factor here. Pullman is an exceptional author. And just based on how good his books are I would hope a LOT of kids start reading them. Not because of an agenda - but because they make up an exceptional story. On the other hand - one reason they are making the movie is that the books are already very popular on an international basis. So I think the cat is out of the bag.
Rick Taylor (10:48 AM on Thu Nov 15, 2007)
Mark - I hope you're right.
John - I hear you. God forbid we actually EXPLAIN everything to kids so they can make their own choices as apposed to just pushing our opinions onto them. Donohue's one-sided opinions scare me on many levels but the most frightening thought is that we only see one side of ANY story and then form an opinion.
Marilee J. Layman (5:26 PM on Thu Nov 15, 2007)
Not your fault. The software is currently leaving up the text box and comment preview when it posts the comment. You have to pop to another page and back if you want two comments on the same article. Like I'll do right after this.
Rick Oliver (11:36 AM on Thu Nov 15, 2007)
I'm going to get those Jews in Hollywood to back my big-budget remake of The Devils, starring a CGI version of Oliver Reed!
Luigi Novi (11:31 AM on Thu Nov 15, 2007)
Good essay, John. It was great to read some of your stuff again.
Um, by the way, I still haven't gotten my grade for that Spider-Man story I did for my final project in your class in 1994........
John Ostrander (11:57 AM on Thu Nov 15, 2007)
We'll assume teacher error and retro assign you an A since i have no idea what I did with it at this point. And I trust that SINCE 1994 you've discovered just HOW important a grade is in the real world.
Nice hearing from you, Luigi.
Vinnie Bartilucci (12:05 PM on Thu Nov 15, 2007)
Movie companies PRAY for controversy. The natural human response when you are told not to look at look at something is to look. Banned things become twice as desirable. Heck, it's the plot point of the first main story in the bible.
mike weber (12:50 PM on Thu Nov 15, 2007)
I don't believe that C.S.Lewis was Roman Catholic; he was what is described as an "Anglo-Catholic" - probably pretty much what the Church of England was immediately after Henry nationalised the monasteries (thank you, Flanders & Swann) and granted himself a do-it-yourself divorce...
mike weber (12:55 PM on Thu Nov 15, 2007)
Something else i meant to say:
My wife Kate, who is almost aggressively non- (not exactly anti-) Christian, refused to read the next two books after "Golden Compass" because she didn't care for the overall negativity she perceived.
I also felt that they were pretty well non-positive, shall we say, but persevered.
I wonder how Donohue is going to react to the two rebellious angels with the ... unconventional ... relationship in the final book if it gets filmed.
John Ostrander (12:57 PM on Thu Nov 15, 2007)
One of the points of my essay is how folks like Donohue often have an agenda separate from what their stated concerns are. I saw a fascinating documentary on Nova this week called "Judgement Day" that was about the effort to force the Dover school system in PA to teach "intelligent design" aka "creationism" side by side with Darwin's theory of evolution in the science class.
One of those interviewed was Phillip E. Johnson, an early proponent of "intelligent design" in his book "Darwin On Trial". What underlines his rejection of evolution is that he sees it, essentially, as a sign of moral decay. In an interview that can read on the Nova site about the documentary (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/id/defense-id.html), he links "evolution" with what he calls "naturalism". In the interview he defines that as "Naturalism says nature is all there is, and nature is made of those particles.. . .A philosophy of naturalism or materialism is what generates the Darwinian theory." He says there is a good and bad side to this and adds, "The negative side is that the naturalistic viewpoint leaves the way open for a kind of freedom from divine authority, a kind of moral anarchy."
As revealed in the special, in a later book on "The Wedge", he states that when evolution is overturned, there will be a return to morality, as he sees it. That, I think, is the underlying agenda and it works with Donohue as well. Whatever they SAY, what they're after is a society that conforms to THEIR beliefs and that is, to my mind, fundamentally and inherently anti-American. It's why there is a separation between church and state. It is black and white thinking -- if you don't share their views on God (like the very existence of the same), then you are WRONG. Their beliefs are absolute.
To my mind, there is no essential difference between them and the fundamentalists Islamic mullahs. There is their way or there is HELL. That's why there can be no compromise on abortion or homosexuality among others.
Films/books like THE GOLDEN COMPASS are excuses to advance the underlying philosophy. Stated concerns about "the children" are simply excuses. It's a culture war and has been for some time.
Rick Taylor (1:20 PM on Thu Nov 15, 2007)
Ah, Mr. Oliver, politically correct as ever. How's it going Pliver?
Rick Oliver (4:28 PM on Thu Nov 15, 2007)
RT: I still have to work for a living. Other than that, I can't complain.
Rick Taylor (4:50 PM on Thu Nov 15, 2007)
Same here, sir. Good to hear from you. From your comment you sound like the same Oliver I knew. Best wishes.
Allyn Gibson (12:47 PM on Thu Nov 15, 2007)
John, one correction.
C.S. Lewis was an Anglican, not a Roman Catholic, much to his friend Tolkien's disappointment. (Tolkien was a Roman Catholic.)
John Ostrander (1:52 PM on Thu Nov 15, 2007)
My mistake -- although I used to say that High Anglianism was RC Lite -- all the ritual, none of the guilt.
mike weber (12:50 AM on Fri Nov 16, 2007)
Really high High Church Anglican often seems more Catholic than Catholic chuirches.
Incense, asperges, the whole nine yards.
My Dad told a story of when he was a senior acolyte in the High Church Episcopal church his family attended - duirng the Eucharist, it was the duty of the senior aoclyte who was not serving the priest in the consecration to press a button by the altar where he was kneeling to ring a chime to symbolise the miracle of transubstantiation. Thedre was a button next to where the acolyte was supposed to kneel.
One day, during an ordinary Morning Prayer service, as the priest was reading the Gospel, Dad's knees were a bit sore, and he shifted some - and didn't look where he was going.
Ding Dong...
Dan (4:09 PM on Thu Nov 15, 2007)
I've used the same line, except substitute Lutherans for High Anglicanism. Still works.
Scavenger (7:19 PM on Thu Nov 15, 2007)
Oh, like you'd know!
Oh, you would?
(Hi Allyn...everyone one else was saying hi to old friends, so I thought I should too:)
Dan (4:10 PM on Thu Nov 15, 2007)
I've used the same line, except I substitute Lutherans for High Anglicanism. Still works.
Rick Taylor (6:54 PM on Thu Nov 15, 2007)
I was raised Lutheran and was told during my entire experience in the church that we 'weren't Catholic'.
Years later I went to a Catholic funeral and really couldn't see any difference between the two.
From that point on I referred to the Lutheran religion as "Catholic Lite'.
Marilee J. Layman (5:47 PM on Thu Nov 15, 2007)
Years ago, when I did the day-to-day management of OMNI magazine's forum on AOL, I checked the SFF library and found a file waiting for check and to be released. It was the first chapter of The Golden Compass. I read it to check for Terms of Service violations and thought it was well-written, but boring. I have a strong preference for SF rather than fantasy. I emailed Pullman to tell him I was releasing the file he'd uploaded and forgot about it until a bit later when it suddenly became popular. So I'm not going to the movie.
I understand why some religious people are insistent about protecting their beliefs. After all, even though I was an atheist starting at age six, I pretended to be an evangelical fundamentalist Christian until I left home because my father already hurt me every day and I was pretty sure he'd kill me if I embarrassed him at church.
It taught me to evaluate what people tell you is true. We, as people in general, tend to be led by persuasive, beguiling people. The most important thing we need to teach kids is critical thinking. If they blindly believe people, they will become those people. All I have to do is look at my brother for evidence.
Rick Oliver (8:00 PM on Thu Nov 15, 2007)
IMHO, those who view Pullman's work as an anti-Christian or anti-religious screed are somewhat myopic. The true target of Pullman's ire is dogma, and dogma is not restricted to any particular faith or religion in general. The various scientific fields are crippled by their own forms of dogma that discourage the free flow of new ideas. Religion may be the most visible offender, but it doesn't have a monopoly on dogma.
Marilee J. Layman (8:04 PM on Thu Nov 15, 2007)
A new study shows that it isn't "influentials" that make trends, it's "easily-influenced" people:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-11/uocp-scr11...
Matthew Ceplina (12:56 AM on Fri Nov 16, 2007)
Interesting link. I agree with the statement. But then again, its easy to influence me.
John, you provided another reason to see the movie in theaters. Probably won't see it opening weekend though.
Steve Atkins (2:54 AM on Fri Nov 16, 2007)
There was a similar "pre-emptive strike" in the Bible Belt when it became obvious that the Harry Potter phenomenon was catching on in the region.
These kinds of people remind me of all the accounts of Wertham and his unnecessary tolling of the alarm bells that I have heard and read about.
What a load of you-know-what.
Elayne Riggs (6:42 AM on Fri Nov 16, 2007)
Donohue was also the idiot whose wacko minions succeeded in getting two prominent bloggers, Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan, fired from John Edwards' presidential campaign. He's about as unAmerican as they come.
Vinnie Bartilucci (9:50 AM on Fri Nov 16, 2007)
We need to do one of those online questionnaires like the which hobbit are you things, except it's "which Christian are you?" Ask questions about beliefs on certain touchy issues and have the program suggest the best sect and schism for you. Any takers?
John Tebbel (9:55 AM on Fri Nov 16, 2007)
It's great to see Bill Donohue begin to get some of the roasting he deserves.
As bad as he is, cheifly as the assistant to Daily News reporters who need a controversy on deadline, Donohue is a cat's-paw. He does the work his bosses in the uniformed clergy know is impolitic. The bosses can pretend to care only about angels' choreography and immortal souls while Bill Donohue, Inquisitor, can wallow in the trenches to lie and snort and bleat and humiliate good artists and the good audiences that support them. So all join in to counter-smear Bill Donohue but reserve your old-school American, tyranny-hating hate for his masters.
Jeff Barrett (1:29 PM on Wed Nov 21, 2007)
You know, part of me has been waiting for the controversy to start over The Golden Compass. I heard about the books quite a while ago, but never got around to reading them until I found out a movie was being made based on the first one, so I made sure to read through before the controversy hit so I had enough perspective to know who to laugh at.
The books speak strongly about dogma, but this is the first I heard Pullman was atheist himself. I never particularly thought they were anti-Christian, at worst they sounded like they were written by a disillusioned or former Christian. One event in particular, during the climax of the series (Which I won't spoil), struck me as rather profound. It was quite simple, and what it said, to me, was that the church we see is not the church that was meant to be. The church we see has locked away the old church, and if and when find it, it may be too late to go back.
mika (4:19 PM on Thu May 8, 2008)
I think your stupid for in the movie golden compass you kill my GOD and im going to protest against you now im only 12 but i love my god and you cant stop me