The Golden Compass... Movie

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gideon_thorne
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The Golden Compass... Movie

Post by gideon_thorne »

Okay. This looks cool. Its even got a neat concept behind it.
http://www.goldencompassmovie.com/
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Post by dcs »

Parents should be warned that it is based on the first book of Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy.
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Post by serleran »

Looks interesting. A neat twist on the old "familiar thing." Hehe.

And, why the warning? What's so "foul" about some fantasy?

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Post by gideon_thorne »

serleran wrote:
And, why the warning? What's so "foul" about some fantasy?

Ya. I looked up the books and am inclined to put a 'so what' comment up myself.

There's nothing there that would concern anyone.
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Post by moriarty777 »

Hmm... I think this looks kinda fun.

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Post by dcs »

serleran wrote:
And, why the warning? What's so "foul" about some fantasy?

I don't recall saying that it was "foul." Nevertheless, both detractors and supporters of the books admit that they are attacks an organized religion (even calling them the "anti-Narnia"), and parents who follow such a religion should (IMO) think twice before introducing their children to the series.
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Post by dcs »

gideon_thorne wrote:
There's nothing there that would concern anyone.

Except a parent who doesn't want his children reading attacks on organized religion, Christianity in particular.

I believe the phrase "His dark materials" is a reference to the fallen angels in Paradise Lost.
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Post by DangerDwarf »

Wow. This looks pretty sweet.

And, what's an anti-narnia?

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Post by Jyrdan Fairblade »

As a big fan of the books, I'm hopeful that these films will manage to do them justice. I'm looking forward to seeing Iorek, the armored bear, on the screen.

But yes, the books grow increasingly contentious as the trilogy continues. I wouldn't say that they're entirely anti-religion though; my interpretation is that the story is anti-establishment and against blindly following said establishment.

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Post by Nifelhein »

Interesting, I am not familiar with the books, but I think I will find the first one to read right away, I am more of a books person than a movies person. The daemon concept is a very interesting spin of a familiar indeed.

The choice of word is intriguing as well, as that is a word that today ended up being demon, originally it did not have the evil meaning it has today though. (Been studying the subject for my next game).
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Post by dcs »

DangerDwarf wrote:
what's an anti-narnia?

The antithesis or "antidote" to The Chronicles of Narnia, which books teach traditional morality and virtues like chivalry.
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Post by SirClarence »

Very nice website and a teaser-trailer that makes me look forward to see the film.

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Post by serleran »

Heh. About what I figured. I think children should be allowed to make their own decisions, exposed to both sides of an argument... And no, you didn't say it was "foul" but that's my first thought when someone says "warn the children!" Not... "its anti-religion." Heck, I'm anti-religion, in the established sense.

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Post by Nifelhein »

My parents left to me the choice of what religion I would want to follow, it ended up I would not follow any of them and became an atheist, my brother who had the same education is not though, and is faithful in many things, no specific religion though.

It does seem well done and interesting, the thing is, most people will just look at this one as if it was coming out on Potter's vacuum, even if it is not true.
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Post by gideon_thorne »

dcs wrote:
Except a parent who doesn't want his children reading attacks on organized religion, Christianity in particular.

I believe the phrase "His dark materials" is a reference to the fallen angels in Paradise Lost.

Eh. Its a fantasy book. Harmless. ^_^
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Post by Inkpot »

Really trying to choose my words carefully here, because I don't want to offend anyone:

What, exactly does a parent have to be afraid of with this film? Even if it *IS* presenting an anti-organized religion message, I would be highly skeptical of the solidity of my faith if a simple differing opinion can shatter it.

I've seen far too many parents (myself included until I woke up) trying to raise their children in a plastic bubble. What produces a healthy, well-rounded and mature adult is allowing them as children to see and experience differing viewpoints and then respecting them and loving them enough to allow them the freedom to think for themselves. A parent has nothing, absolutely nothing to fear from this film. There's room in the universe for more than one opinion.

/steps down off his soapbox

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Post by Omote »

Movie looks interesting, but I hope there is not a ton of anthropomorphism... because that grates on me.

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Post by Orpheus »

I don't know guys. I've known about the series for a long time (I used to work in a book store), but some of the direct quotes I've seen taken from the book mention Christianity specifically and Pullman does seem to have a certain...uh...bias against that religion specifically. It would be different if it wasn't so pronounced.

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Post by serleran »

But, you're forgetting... its a movie. How likely do you think the movie is to stay true to its source? Do you think a Hollywood studio would want to alienate more than half of its potential audience?

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Post by Inkpot »

Orpheus wrote:
I don't know guys. I've known about the series for a long time (I used to work in a book store), but some of the direct quotes I've seen taken from the book mention Christianity specifically and Pullman does seem to have a certain...uh...bias against that religion specifically. It would be different if it wasn't so pronounced.

*shrugs* So? Lots of christians have a bias against nature-based religions, too...does that mean they can't learn from each other? Seriously....IT'S A MOVIE....
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Post by gideon_thorne »

Omote wrote:
Movie looks interesting, but I hope there is not a ton of anthropomorphism... because that grates on me.

.........................................Omote

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I dunno, some of those 'furry' chicks are pretty sexy.
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Post by Orpheus »

Inkpot wrote:
*shrugs* So? Lots of christians have a bias against nature-based religions, too...does that mean they can't learn from each other? Seriously....IT'S A MOVIE....
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Let me preface this by saying that I HATE modern Christian fiction. Most of it is a cash grab by terrible "authors" to make money off of someone wanting to make sure that all of their leisure time is spent with "Christian" material. The same goes for most Christian music as well. That shit sucks! Now onward.

Well, saying that they can learn from one another is one thing, but being critical of a book that says that Christianity and its Church is a "great oppressor" is something else. I'm interested in reading then just to have a look-see for myself, which is something which many of my friends who are critical of Christianity ("agnostic" seems like such a hip word these days ) have never done with the Bible or any other Christian texts. I'll probably go see the movie anyway since it does look cool visually. I would just rather see Narnia or something that jives with how I feel about things.

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Post by Nifelhein »

serleran wrote:
But, you're forgetting... its a movie. How likely do you think the movie is to stay true to its source? Do you think a Hollywood studio would want to alienate more than half of its potential audience?

I am betting on this myself, anyone who has ever seen Aeon Flux *the animation) will see what I mean, I don't expert it to be anywhere near confrontational or polemic.
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Post by Orpheus »

Nifelhein wrote:
I am betting on this myself, anyone who has ever seen Aeon Flux *the animation) will see what I mean, I don't expert it to be anywhere near confrontational or polemic.

I thought about that myself. The only thing is that it appears that The Church is the Big Baddie in the story and I doubt that Pullman gave them the rights to change that core concept.

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Post by serleran »

The story, as in the whole trilogy, or the first book alone? Besides, there have been numerous movies made with that premise, few of which are prefaced with the auto-suspension of disbelief tag of "this is fantasy." Seriously, movies like Stigmata should be higher on the list of "warn the parents!" then this. But, no one will know until they've seen it, so if you're really that worried, you'd probably be better off seeing it before taking the kids... no different than any other kind of movie, I guess. Personally, if I had kids, I'd take them. But, I'm a psycho.

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Post by dcs »

Orpheus wrote:
I thought about that myself. The only thing is that it appears that The Church is the Big Baddie in the story and I doubt that Pullman gave them the rights to change that core concept.

Not to mention the fact that bashing the Church isn't exactly off-limits for Hollywood these days.
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Post by Orpheus »

serleran wrote:
The story, as in the whole trilogy, or the first book alone? Besides, there have been numerous movies made with that premise, few of which are prefaced with the auto-suspension of disbelief tag of "this is fantasy." Seriously, movies like Stigmata should be higher on the list of "warn the parents!" then this. But, no one will know until they've seen it, so if you're really that worried, you'd probably be better off seeing it before taking the kids... no different than any other kind of movie, I guess. Personally, if I had kids, I'd take them. But, I'm a psycho.

The trilogy as a whole. There have been numerous movies made with that premise, but not kids' movies. I don't think that the movies should be utterly demonized, but I do agree with DCS that parents should know what might be in the film if it's something against which they might take offense. I also don't think that most parents have the time or money to preview every movie. Movie time is special time and some of them would probably not like to walk out of the theater feeling like they've been slapped in the face a little. If you agree, however, that the Church (as a whole and not a few of its members) are an evil entity and the premise sounds plausible/agreeable then you probably would have no problem taking your kids. Russian parents may disagree with Red Dawn, but I'd let my kids (remember: I've only got a "bun in the oven" at the moment) watch it, because I see good in it.

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Post by gideon_thorne »

Any organization that has in its care the mind and will of the people has inherent in it to cause harm.

Probably why I am not a big joiner of organizations of any sort. ^_^
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Post by Orpheus »

gideon_thorne wrote:
Any organization that has in its care the mind and will of the people has inherent in it to cause harm.

Probably why I am not a big joiner of organizations of any sort. ^_^

Anti-social artiste.

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Post by serleran »

Yep. Any social structure, of which religion is, has the possibility of inflicting all manners of harm, and, most often in the form of psychological damage, through unacceptable activities (as seen by its constituents) and intolerance. Doesn't mean all members do such, or that the whole does... but there does exist the potential. Maybe I'm evil.

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