During his stop in Toronto for Trinity College’s conference on children’s literature, Daphne Gordon had the opportunity to speak with Philip Pullman for the Toronto Star. The article describes His Dark Materials’ critics amid New Line’s large scale promotion of the upcoming film adapation, but the author also had the opportunity to discuss the books themselves. On the famous kiss in the Amber Spyglass, he says, ‘”I don’t describe anything more than a kiss. And I don’t think they did anything more than kiss,” he says. “People who have accused me of sexualizing them are people with fundamentally dirty minds; people who have forgotten the importance, the profundity of a kiss.”‘ Read more.
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Images from The Golden Compass movie are © New Line Cinema.
Images from The Golden Compass movie are © New Line Cinema.
Word! I totally agree with the whole being the kiss is important part. Not the whole sex thing. We’ve grown up in a society where we are constantly bombarbed by sex images, and I’m glad Mr. Pullman could say that a kiss could be everything.
“And I don’t think they did anything more than kiss,” said Pullman.
I’m putting that in big neon letters and sending it to every nuffnuff who stupidly argue that Lyra and Will had sex at the end of TAS. Let’s repeat it for those who can’t get it through their thick skulls — WILL AND LYRA DID NOT HAVE SEX. End of the argument once and for ever.
And at last, Lyra and Will’s ages are also made clear once and for all — 11 and 12 respectively. I’m stunned by those who claim Lyra is 13 or 14, or even 15. She’s ELEVEN.
I bet those who are wrong about the sex and age thing will admit it in the forums though. I can only imagine how angry it makes Pullman to constantly be misread not only by zealot critics, but by fans themselves.
*democracy of reading
*democracy of interpretation
Jessia, it’s about respecting the author’s intention. What you call ‘freedom of interpretation’ is just selfishness and disrespect. Will and Lyra did not have sex, so build a bridge and get over it.
“democracy of reading” is something pullman actually has been speaking about in a lot of his interviews in the last few months. i think he’s only been trying to better define some debatable plot points because of the film’s upcoming release. in the “heat and dust” interviews from a few years ago, when asked whether or not they had sex, he said he honestly did not know. it’s not something that happens explicitly in the text anyways. i don’t personally believe that they had sex either, nor that the text indicates that they did (it really doesn’t occur to me in any of my re-readings of the book).
i just mean to say that some people actually *read* that from pullman’s story when they read it. they didn’t necessarily wrangle out an interpretation that definitively tries to prove that these kids had sexual intercourse, they just felt that they did when they read the text. also, pullman once again hasn’t refuted the possibility of sex. he just re-emphasises the importance of the kiss, which i think all sraffies would agree upon, whether or not they believe two fictional characters had sex. i believe he might be intentionally resisting a “yes” or “no” statement in order to leave this room for interpretation, despite his own beliefs that his characters are not sexually active and that they shouldn’t be sexualised so much, because he believes in that “democracy of interpretation” and understands that half of the story-experience is to read and interpret and absorb.
Will and Lyra aren’t even teenagers yet! Phllip Pullman may be trying to express all amounts of anti-christ aspects in his stories without coming right out and saying it, but he certainly would not have his two protagonists have sexual intercourse at the age of twelve! What Mr. Pullman is doing is rekindling the memories of old stories where people did not have to have sex to express to the reader that they were in love, it was just that first, true love kiss. Peace out.