Apparently The Golden Compass movie performed much more poorly in the opening weekend box office than was expected. I’d heard that there was a campaign to keep people away because it was anti-Catholic, but I didn’t pay much attention to it. After all, 1) I’m not Catholic, 2) we’ve heard the same kind of rhetoric about any kind of fantasy movie, including Lord of the Rings and even–get this–The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and 3) those kind of campaigns never seem to have made a significant box office dent before. However, something about this campaign must be different. Based on the previews it looks like a neat movie. I haven’t seen it yet, nor have I read the books, but I’d sure like to check it out. So why are people staying away? Did the campaign really have an impact? Apparently it was better organized than I thought. Not only did someone issue a few angry press releases, but it sounds as if there might have actually been an effective e-mail campaign. It probably doesn’t help that Philip Pullman, the author of the series, actually is an atheist and supposedly his point of view comes through in later books.
All of that being said, author and creative writing teacher Brandon Sanderson writes a very well reasoned essay on why the movie and/or series isn’t "evil". (Regards to Savage Planet for reproducing it.) This essay not only touches on this particular series, but why it’s a good thing to read outside our personal beliefs and perspective anyway.
In every religion there is a contingent of people who react strongly when they encounter something that challenges their beliefs. Maybe they have their hearts in the right place and maybe they’re just enthusiastic, but I wonder if some of them are reacting out of fear. Untested faith is brittle. If you’re afraid to read a book that contradicts your belief then how strong is your faith, really?
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