I'm sure many of you have seen the warnings for the new children's movie coming out this Friday - The Golden Compass.

The Catholic League is boycotting it. The author of the original books readily admits he is an atheist and specifically tried to undercut religion as he wrote the stories.

The studio has "toned down" the anti-religious aspect, they say. It's a family film!

No. It's even worse than I thought.

Disclaimer: I have not read the books. However, even if you blow off everything author Philip Pullman has said in past interviews about religion; even if you think the films are harmless fantasy, you need to know that the anti-religion aspect was deliberately written into the film.

From an interview with the screenwriter/director, Chris Weitz, who has this to say:

I don't think the books are anti-religious per se. I think that the books are anti-hierachical. Which is to say that the books are, if anything, anti-organized religion. Other than that, I feel the books are actually spiritually kind of rich.

...in the film, the evil to be combatted is more dogma and authoritarianism on any level.

....[he notes] that the second and third stories become more "cosmological."
(Script Magazine, Vol.13 Number 6)

And "rich" with non-organized religion they are. A central element to the movie are daemons (and no, spelling it with an "a" doesn't make it any less obvious what they are.)

Obligatory Snarky Aside from Mama:
(And, of course it spiritual. Man is intrinsically spiritual, since he has both soul and body. The question is not "is it spiritual" but rather, which spirit?) (Fortunately for us, God in His wisdom has already provided us with good spirit friends. They are called Guardian Angels.
Matt.18:10, Psalm 91:11-13, Heb. 1:14)

Daemons, in this movie, are familiar animals, a manifestation of the child's spirit outside their body that is, according to the Golden Compass Movie website:

an animal spirit that accompanies them throughout life.

As a tie in, your child can visit the website, fill out a questionnaire, and find out who their daemon is. From the website:

In our world, it is possible that people have daemons as well, only they are invisible. If you would like to learn more about your daemon...select "Meet your Daemon".

How blatant the adversary is! He is not even trying to hide the nature of his plans to corrupt the children. It's cool and popular now to have a personalized daemon.

Perhaps there will even be trading cards made available? Did they learn nothing from The Amityville Horror? Invisible demon friends of your children are never a good thing.


BTW- if you want a sense of writer/director Wietz's moral compass, check out his past work which includes:
Writing Antz, a cartoon I won't let my kids see.
Producer for the American Pie franchise, and a stint on American Pie as an actor - specifically, "Male Voice in P*rn Video"

Labels: Catholic, children, Rants and Raves