Golden Compass Flop At Box Office

[zealousrap]

p.s. The persons being interviewed actually have a book soon to come out by Ignatius Press on
the atheism of the author, Phillip Pullman.


[quote name='zealousrap' post='1435380' date='Dec 17 2007, 08:36 PM']What Every Parent Should Know About "The Golden Compass"

Interview With Pete Vere and Sandra Miesel

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, NOV. 14, 2007 (Zenit.org).- The film "The Golden
Compass" isn't simply about using fairy-tale magic to tell a good
story,
it corrupts the imagery of Lewis and Tolkien to undermine children's
faith in God and the Church, says Catholic author Pete Vere.

In this interview with ZENIT, Vere and Sandra Miesel discuss the movie
adaptation of the fantasy novels written by Philip Pullman. The film,
staring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, will be released in the United
States in early December.
Vere and Miesel are co-authors of the booklet "Pied Piper of Atheism:
Philip Pullman and Children's Fantasy," to be published by Ignatius
Press next month on the topic of "The Golden Compass."

Q: The first movie of "The Golden Compass" trilogy is being released at
Christmas. For those unfamiliar with the series, what kind of books are
these and to whom do they appeal?

Vere: To begin, the books are marketed for 9-12 year olds as children's
fantasy literature in the tradition of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and
J.K. Rowling. "If you're a fan of 'Lord of the Rings,' 'Narnia ' or
'Harry Potter,'" the critics tell us, "you'll love Pullman."

Personally, I just can't see a child picking up these books and reading
them. I see them more as books that adults give kids to read.

Having said that, "The Golden Compass" (1995) is the first book in
Pullman's trilogy. The second book is titled "The Subtle Knife" (1997)
and it is followed by "The Amber Spyglass" (2000).

Collectively, the trilogy is known as "His Dark Materials," a phrase
taken from John Milton's "Paradise Lost." This is appropriately titled
in my opinion, since each book gets progressively darker -- both in the
intensity with which Pullman attacks the Catholic Church and the
Judeo-Christian concept of God, as well as the stridency with which he
promotes atheism.

For example, one of the main supporting characters, Dr. Mary Malone, is
a former Catholic nun who abandoned her vocation to pursue sex and
science. The reader does not meet her until the second book, by which
time the young reader is already engrossed in the story. By the third
book, Dr. Malone is engaging in occult practices to lead the two main
characters, a 12-year-old boy and girl, to sleep in the same bed and
engage in -- at the very least -- heavy kissing. This is the act
through
which they renew the multiple universes created by Pullman.

Another example is Pullman's portrayal of the Judeo-Christian God.
Pullman refers to him as "The Authority," although a number of passages
make clear that this is the God of the Bible. The Authority is a liar
and a mere angel, and as we discover in the third book, senile as well.
He was locked in some sort of jewel and held prisoner by the patriarch
Enoch, who is now called Metatron and who rules in the Authority's
name.
When the children find the jewel and accidentally release the
Authority,
he falls apart and dies.

Additionally, Pullman uses the imagery of C.S. Lewis' "Narnia"
chronicles. "His Dark Materials" opens with the young heroine stuck in
a
wardrobe belonging to an old academic, conversing with a talking
animal,
when she discovers multiple worlds. So the young reader is lulled early
on with the familiar feel of Lewis.

Nevertheless, Pullman's work isn't simply about using fairy-tale magic
to tell a good story. He openly proselytizes for atheism, corrupting
the
imagery of Lewis and Tolkien to undermine children's faith in God and
the Church.

Q: Many Catholics, including William Donohue of the Catholic League,
are speaking out against the movie. What should parents know before
they
let their children watch this film?

Vere: I don't recommend any parent allow their children to view the
film. While the movie has reportedly been sanitized of its more
anti-Christian and anti-religious elements, it will do nothing but
pique
children's curiosity about the books. I'm a parent myself. My children
would think it hypocritical if I told them it was OK to see the movie,
but not to read the books. And they would be right.

It's not OK for children -- impressionable as they are -- to read
stories in which the plot revolves around the supreme blasphemy,
namely,
that God is a liar and a mortal. It is not appropriate for children to
read books in which the heroine is the product of adultery and murder;
priests act as professional hit men, torturers and authorize occult
experimentation on young children; an ex-nun engages in occult
practices
and promiscuous behavior, and speaks of it openly with a 12-year-old
couple; and the angels who rebel against God are good, while those who
fight on God's side are evil. This is wrong. And while it's been
softened in the movie -- or at least that's what Hollywood is telling
us
-- it's still there in the books.

Miesel: Furthermore, there's a great deal of cruelty and gore in the
books, not just battles but deliberate murder, sadism, mutilation,
suicide, euthanasia and even cannibalism. There are also passages of
disturbing sensuality and homosexual angels who are "platonic lovers."

I agree with Pete. Avoid both the movie and the books. It would be best
if people didn't picket or make a public fuss because that's just free
publicity. If the movie fails at the box office, the second and third
books won't be filmed.

Q: The author, Philip Pullman, is an outspoken atheist. Does this come
across in the books and the movie as a secularist position or more in
the form of anti-Catholicism?

Vere: It's not an "either/or" situation. What begins as a rebellion
against the Church turns into a rebellion against God. This then leads
to the discovery that God -- and Christianity -- are a fraud.

The 12-year-old protagonists -- Lyra and Bill -- discover there is no
immortal soul, no heaven or hell. All that awaits us in the afterlife
is
some gloomy Hades-type afterlife where the soul goes to wait until it
completely dissolves. Thus Pullman uses anti-Catholicism as the gateway
to promoting atheism.

Q: The trilogy is being compared to "Harry Potter" and "The Lord of the
Rings." Is there a comparison to be made with either?

Vere: On the surface, yes. You've got wizards, heroines, strange
creatures, alternate worlds, etc. Although for reasons already stated,
the real comparison -- by way of inverted imagery -- is to C.S. Lewis'
"Narnia" chronicles. Pullman, who has called "The Lord of the Rings"
"infantile," has a particular dislike for Lewis and "Narnia." This is
reflected in Pullman taking Lewis' literary devices and inverting them
to attack Christianity and promote atheism.

As Pullman said in a 1998 article in The Guardian: "[Lewis] didn't like
women in general, or sexuality at all, at least at the stage in his
life
when he wrote the 'Narnia' books. He was frightened and appalled at the
notion of wanting to grow up. Susan, who did want to grow up, and who
might have been the most interesting character in the whole cycle if
she'd been allowed to, is a Cinderella in a story where the ugly
sisters
win."

Miesel: That nasty quote is factually wrong on both points. Lewis began
corresponding with his future wife in 1950, the year the first "Narnia"
book came out, and married her in 1956, the year the last one was
published. Susan's problem isn't "growing up," but turning silly and
conceited. She doesn't even appear -- much less get sent to hell -- in
"The Last Battle."

Vere: Thus what we see here is more contrast and corruption than
comparison. Also, the work of Tolkien, Lewis and Rowling is primarily
driven by the audience. It is the average reader who purchases these
works, reads them, and makes them popular.

Pullman's work, on the other hand, appears to be driven by the critics.
The only people I know recommending Pullman's work are English majors
and university professors. I don't know a single electrician,
hairdresser or accountant who recommends Pullman's work by word of
mouth. Thus the books haven't resonated with the average person to the
same degree as "Lord of the Rings," "Narnia" and "Harry Potter."

Q: Nicole Kidman, a Catholic who stars in the film, has said she
wouldn't have taken the role if she thought the movie was
anti-Catholic.
What do you make of this response?

Vere: The film has not yet been released, so I cannot comment on it.
However, Christ asks very pointedly in the Gospels: Can a good tree
bear
rotten fruit? The movie is the fruit of the books and Pullman's
imagination. These are anti-Christian and atheistic at their core. How
does one sanitize this from the movie without completely gutting
Pullman
from his story?

During an interview with Hollywood screenwriter Barbara Nicolosi a
couple of months ago, I asked her whether it was possible to tone down
the anti-Christian elements for the movie. Nicolosi is the chair of Act
One, a training and mentoring organization for Christians starting out
in Hollywood.

She had given the question thought. A few years ago one of her friends
-- an evangelical Christian -- had been asked by her agent to pitch on
the project, that is, propose to write the screenplay adapting "The
Golden Compass" to film.

"We read [the book] and there was just no way we could come in on
this," Nicolosi told me. "Pullman's fantasy universe is nihilistic and
rooted in chaos. You cannot fix that in a rewrite without changing the
story Pullman is trying to tell -- which is atheistic, angry and at
times polemical."

But let's suppose it is possible. Let's suppose Kidman is right and
that the movie has been sanitized of its anti-Catholicism. The books
remain saturated with bitter anti-Christian polemic. So why promote a
movie that will only generate interest in the books among
impressionable
young children?

For the Christian parent, the movie cannot be anything but spiritual
poison to their children -- for the movie is the fruit of the book.[/quote]

[zealousrap]

here's another article

[url="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071219/film_nm/compass_vatican_dc"]http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071219/film_n...pass_vatican_dc[/url]




Vatican blasts "Golden Compass" as Godless and hopeless

By Philip Pullella Wed Dec 19, 8:31 AM ET

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican on Wednesday condemned the film "The Golden Compass," which some have called anti-Christian, saying it promotes a cold and hopeless world without God.
ADVERTISEMENT

In a long editorial, the Vatican newspaper l'Osservatore Romano, also slammed Philip Pullman, the bestselling author of the book on which the family fantasy movie is based.

It was the Vatican's most stinging broadside against an author and a film since it roundly condemned "The Da Vinci Code" in 2005 and 2006.

"In Pullman's world, hope simply does not exist, because there is no salvation but only personal, individualistic capacity to control the situation and dominate events," the editorial said.

The film, which premiered earlier this month in the United States and stars Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, is an adaptation of Pullman's acclaimed novel "Northern Lights."

The Vatican newspaper said "honest" viewers would find it "devoid of any particular emotion apart from a great chill."

In the fantasy world created by Pullman's trilogy, 'His Dark Materials', the Church and its governing body the Magisterium, are linked to cruel experiments on children aimed at discovering the nature of sin and attempts to suppress facts that would undermine the Church's legitimacy and power.

In the film version all references to the Church have been stripped out, with director Chris Weitz keen to avoid offending religious cinema goers.

Still, some Catholic groups in the United States have called for a boycott, fearing even a diluted version of the book might draw people to read the bestselling trilogy.

The Vatican newspaper said the film and Pullman's writings showed that "when man tries to eliminate God from his horizon, everything is reduced, made sad, cold and inhumane."

The U.S.-based Catholic League, a conservative group, has urged Christians not to see the movie, saying that its objective was "to bash Christianity and promote atheism" to children.

The Vatican newspaper called the movie "the most anti-Christmas film possible" and said that it was "consoling" that its first weekend ticket sales were a disappointing $26 million.

New Line Cinema, a unit of Time Warner Inc, had hoped the film would pull in between $30 million and $40 million. It is doing better overseas but New Line sold the foreign distribution rights to help cover the movie's cost.

(Additional reporting by Dean Goodman in Los Angeles and Mike Collett-White in London; Editing by Charles Johnsonville brat)

[Pontifite 7 of 10]

I'm so glad it flopped.

[White Knight]

"This will be a day long remembered, it has seen the end of Golden Compass, we will soon see the end of the sequals!" - Darth Vader.


No sequals, thats the best thing we could have hoped for.

[dUSt]

HAHAHA

When searching "golden compass flop" in Google, phatmass is number 8 on the results:

[url="http://www.google.com/search?q=golden+compass+flop"]http://www.google.com/search?q=golden+compass+flop[/url]

[Lil Red]

[XIX]

I remember somebody saying they didn't even bother protesting the Golden Compass movie because it had no publicity to begin with, and they didn't want to give it any. So this doesn't surprise me.

[littleflower+JMJ]

i just read that the golden compass sold the distribution rights to the peeps overseas so all the profit over there doesn't even go to New Line Cinema! LOL