Should our family watch The Golden Compass?*

Dakota Blue Richards stars as Lyra in "The Golden Compass (©2007 Laurie Sparham / New Line Cinema)   Why “His Dark Materials”? The title of Philip Pullman’s novels — along with many quotes featured in the series — comes from John Milton’s famous epic poem “Paradise Lost.”

* With new material not available in the print edition

A mysterious, truth-telling compass, shape-changing creatures, ferocious, armored bears racing across snow-covered landscapes, and a scrappy 11-year-old named Lyra Belacqua as the heroine — all that and more are promised in The Golden Compass, a film scheduled for release this December and based on the first volume in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, a Carnegie award-winning series for young adults. But there’s more to these books than a well-told adventure story. Here’s the scoop on this immensely praised but controversial trilogy.

What’s the series about, and why is it so popular?

His Dark Materials is an adventure trilogy by British author Philip Pullman (see sidebar for where to find plot summaries). The first volume, known under two titles — The Golden Compass and Northern Lights — was published in 1995. The popularity of the books is partly owed to the excellent writing, complex characters, compelling story, and sophisticated themes. The books raise complex questions about love, life, faith, good and evil, choice versus fate, serving self versus serving others, and more.

Why might the series be anti-Catholic?

The Christian Church featured in the world of the novels — a parallel world to our own — is portrayed as a powerful group of misguided, sin-obsessed individuals bent on oppressing truth, knowledge, and “every good feeling.” The group is often referred to as “the Magisterium.” In this world, the Authority — the God of Christianity, and also a representative of authority in the general sense — is a tyrannical liar who only pretends to have created the universe and who, by the time the trilogy’s ultimate battle is waged, is a pitifully frail old man who is relieved that someone has come along to put an end to his existence.

The character Mary Malone, a former nun introduced in the second book of the trilogy, sums up what would appear to be the author’s view: “The Christian religion is a very powerful and convincing mistake, that’s all.”

Is the author anti-God?

Given the views expressed through the series, and Pullman’s outspoken atheism, one might expect the answer to be an unequivocal “yes.” “I’m trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief,” Pullman told The Washington Post in 2001, and in 2003 he told the Sydney Morning Herald: “My books are about killing God.” In the 2007 interview with Beliefnet, however, he discusses how although the action of killing a (false) god appears in the books, the books are about saving the divine (which in the books appears not in the Authority, but in “Dust,” or consciousness, which the Church of the books aims to destroy).

Lyra, played by Dakota Blue Richards, embarks on a quest to save the world (© 2007 Laurie Sparham / New Line Cinema)   Learn about the books and film online To learn more about The Golden Compass film, visit goldencompassmovie.com. To read plot summaries for the series, visit randomhouse.com.

Some of Pullman’s other statements suggest that he is more against corrupt religious institutions and harmful conceptions of God than against the elementary idea of the divine.

“I think the (religious) impulse is a critical part of the wonder and awe that human beings feel,” he said in the Sydney Morning Herald interview. “What I am against is organized religion of the sort which persecutes people who don’t believe. I’m against religious intolerance.”

It is this kind of religion that his books are clearly vilifying. The Church portrayed in the novels does not reflect any of the good qualities we know our Church to contain. It is a Church that does not embody Jesus. In an interview with the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, in 2004, Pullman says:

“[Jesus] doesn’t figure in the teaching of the church, as I described the church in the story. I think he’s mentioned once, in the context of this notion of wisdom that works secretly and quietly, not in the great courts and palaces of the earth, but among ordinary people and so on. And there are some teachers who have embodied this quality, but whose teaching has perhaps been perverted or twisted or turned, and been used in a fashion that they themselves didn’t either desire or expect or could see happening.”

Moreover, the Authority of Pullman’s novels, though identified in Lyra’s world as the God of Christianity, is not a god any Catholic would rightly worship: He is not the Creator but an angel who set himself up to be a god — much like Satan. Donna Freitas and Jason King argue in their book Killing the Imposter God: Philip Pullman’s Spiritual Imagination in His Dark Materials that Pullman is dealing with “only one understanding of God — God-as-tyrant…. But he says nothing about the many other gods that are worshiped across the world’s religions or about more sophisticated understandings of the Christian God.”

What do Catholics say about the books?

Unsurprisingly, there have been sharp reactions from some Catholics to the works. Leonie Caldecott, writing in The Catholic Herald, Britain’s leading Catholic newspaper, called the books “worthy of the bonfire.” Catholics in the United States have been equally vocal, and the books have now been banned from some Catholic school libraries.

There are also Catholics, aside from Donna Freitas of Killing the Imposter God, who have found redeeming qualities, and even Christian themes, in the books. Daniel P. Moloney concluded his review of the series in the journal First Things with the following:

I can fairly characterize His Dark Materials in this fashion: imagine if at the beginning of the world Satan’s rebellion had been successful, that he had reigned for two thousand years, and that a messiah was necessary to conquer lust and the spirit of domination with innocence, humility, and generous love at great personal cost. Such a story is not subversive of Christianity, it is almost Christian, even if only implicitly and imperfectly. But implicit and imperfect Christianity is often our lot in life, and Pullman has unintentionally created a marvelous depiction of many of the human ideals Christians hold dear.


Will the film, and its anticipated sequels, be anti-Catholic?

Chris Weitz, the film’s screenwriter and director, has said, “In the books, the Magisterium is a version of the Catholic Church gone wildly astray from its roots. If that’s what you want in the film, you’ll be disappointed. We have expanded the range of meanings that the Magisterium represents.”

How do I talk to my kids about all this?

Regardless of how the films plays out, the fact remains that many young people — including some Catholics — will read the books, if they haven’t already. How can parents deal with this in a way that can strengthen rather than weaken our faith?

• Before watching or reading, do some homework. The best way to respond to any questions your child may raise is to read the books as well. To learn more about a positive interpretation of the books, you may wish to read Killing the Imposter God: Philip Pullman’s Spiritual Imagination in His Dark Materials, mentioned above, which explores the spirituality of the trilogy from a variety of perspectives. (Readers should be aware, however, that some of these perspectives fall outside official Church teaching. Catholic parents can use these moments to alert children how, and why, this is the case.)
• Listen, and ask good questions. Encourage your children to reflect about the issues the book raises in a thoughtful and intelligent manner. Instead of first telling them what you think of the books, or refuting them point by point, ask them for their point of view, including specific questions like, “What did you think about this part?” or “What did you think when so-and-so did that?” “What do you think about what so-and-so says here?” This can help pave the way for a thoughtful discussion.
• Look for the reasons behind the reading. If your child responds fervently in favor of the anti-authoritarian, anti-Christian message that may be gleaned from the books, gently try to understand why he or she feels that way. Maybe he or she is upset with the Church. Why? This is an opportunity to open a much-needed discussion about our Catholic faith and our children’s relationship with that faith.
• Acknowledge the positive. Pullman’s novels display an unfortunate distaste for religion, but there is a good deal of virtue portrayed in them, in the form of love, compassion, honesty, bravery, self-sacrifice for the good of others, and the Christian notion that the kingdom of heaven (in the series, The Republic of Heaven) is built, day by day, by choosing good, by living a life of helping others. Children may become hurt, defensive, or angry if the books are dismissed part and parcel as “trash” or “sacrilege,” without an acknowledgement of their positive — and, in some cases, Christian — elements. It is these elements, along with the good writing, smartly drawn characters, and imaginative story, that attract young readers to this complex and controversial trilogy.

Conclusion

Taken at face value, there are positive elements but also anti-Catholic and anti-Christian elements in Philip Pullman’s trilogy. In exploring what Catholics on both sides of the debate about the books are saying, Catholic Digest is not offering an endorsement of The Golden Compass or the film. It is our hope that families will make a prayerful, informed decision whether or not to see the movie or read the books, and that, if they choose to do so, they will engage in serious discussion from a Catholic viewpoint. Such a discussion can be an important opportunity to engage children in a better understanding of why we as Catholics believe what we believe. The suggestions we offer for such a discussion are given with the goal of helping families and their children respond to what they may encounter in the larger culture in an intelligent manner: to discuss, ask questions, and respond with faith and conviction. CD

Julie Rattey is managing editor of Catholic Digest. This article © 2007 Catholic Digest. To subscribe, visit catholicdigest.com.

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