The current edition of Big Issue Scotland features an article about the religious aspects and impacts of the upcoming Golden Compass movie. However, the article is something of a rarity, covering not the controversy, nor the opponents of the film (e.g. The Catholic League) – rather it discusses the themes of atheism within the books and film and whether they are appropriate for a Christmas movie.
The scientist, God denier and friend of Philip Pullman, Richard Dawkins, is quoted as saying
“Censoring a story like this is completely deplorable. I think it’s pathetic to change a story just to suit religious sensitivities.”
The article also features input from the president of the national secular society, Terry Sanderson, who argues that despite the lack of religion found in the movie, it will promote Pullman’s values as people are driven to read the novels.
Perhaps most interestingly, are a number of quotations from Richard F. Holloway, the retired Bishop of Edinburgh and current head of the Scottish Arts Council (and was paired with Pullman for a book a festival debate a couple of years ago). The highlight of the article is his response to ‘all the fuss’ surrounding the movie:
“I don’t think God’s that bothered to tell you the truth.”
To read the article in full, click on the thumbnails below.
BBC Radio 4’s arts review program Front Row just reviewed TGC.
Reviewing was A. N. Wilson and Mark Lawson.
Wilson loved it.
Here are the headline quotes:
“A wonderful compression of the book”
“Captures the extraordinariness of Pullman’s Oxford”
“Tremendously well done”
“Stunningly beautiful”
Listen to the program (it is the first item) here.
It’s the first item in the show.
Cheers
Thanks for the tip off Matt!
I quite loved the remarkings of this writer.
“Whether we´ll ever see [The Subtle Knife] filmed may well be in the hands of America´s religious right. What an apocalyptic thought that is”
I quite agree. Loved the tone.
Wow, I had no idea that Pullman and Dawkins are mates! That makes it even better, cause I love them both… Pullman is my favorite author of fiction, and RD is my favorite on the non-fiction side. Awesome!
Awesome article!
Kidman’s line about not being able to appear in a film that’s anti-Catholic is probably going to be the most misquoted of this whole thing. Here they spin it to mean that she’s only there because they watered down the message. I had been giving her the benefit of the doubt and assuming that she instead had meant that she didn’t feel that the message of the books was actually attacking her faith. I wonder if we could get her to clarify, but I have a feeling that’s quite a long shot considering the constraints that have been put on the actors’ discussion of the subject.
What a rocking put up man – thanks! And excellent weblog web site theme BTW. It seems to be lots like a wordpress web page but I know it is blogenegine and it is totally unique. Where did you uncover it?