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mmoa_writes at 01:01am on 03/12/2007
mmoa_writes at 01:01am on 03/12/2007Ah yes, now I remember. About 'The Golden Compass'.
...
What annoys me is the fact that the film really didn't have to be made at all. There was no compulsion from some (inter)national society to get the producers to back the director in question. We, as the viewing public, could have gone on in life quite well without there being a cinematic adaption of yet another children's fantasy novel.
A lot of nonsense could have then been avoided. Mr Pullman himself - polite and mild mannered as ever - is clearly more than a little disappointed about the stripping of what little anti-religioisty there was in 'Northern Lights' (which wasn't actually that much - overlooming Religious authorities are nothing new in literature, some of an even nastier shade than Pullman's Magisterium and as I've reiterated, the only moment the series really gets controversial is when God is killed in the third book. To be honest, as I read the books pretty much straight through, even that didn't seem particularly controversial - partly because it was a deliberate anticlimax and also because there had never been any hints of any sort of God actually existing in the previous books of Pullman's new world - there being a religion does not equal there being gods after all, even in literature. How the Magesterium connects with the deceitful first angel - the false God - was just one of those things that wasn't actually as inevitable as people seemed to accept. The presence of any real thing that called itself God was quite a surprise for me as a reader and thus took away some of the potential controversiality. For me, anyway, but then I'm slow). We could have avoided the predictable protests and rows. Maybe have got an entirely original film instead, who knows? There's nothing wrong with doing a movie 'inspired' by the book, because then you can take all the damn liberties you want.
In a book where not only is the religious aspect is important, even if it is comparatively small in light of a fantastic plot, but also considering the strong feelings said book has aroused in it's readers, to toss this small but integral aspect away should have spelt the end of the project (at this present time at least) for the director. The hubris to go through with the project, blanket it with the pacifying pleas from actors and director alike is actually quite staggering. Mostly from the director actually, because the actors are all thoroughly amazing. Hell, even I'd jump onto it, even if they completely changed the endings, because it's such a great opportunity for huge scale drama.
I will admit to being a bit of a snob as well. I'd always differentiated Harry Potter and His Dark Materials by the fact that whilst Harry Potter got to be a Warner Bros film, His Dark Materials was turned into a play of all things. Now it's being reduced to yet another overstimulating visual orgasm and it's turned... common, almost.
Ah well. For what it is, it promises to be fantasmagoric. It's a shame that what it is, is an almighty cop-out.
...
I'm exaggerating, of course. It's not that almighty at all and at least this whole non-issue given the National Secular Society further reason for existing.
...
Ah, that's cruel: they're not all that bad really, I just can't stand societies of most kinds, particularly religious, full stop.
...
What annoys me is the fact that the film really didn't have to be made at all. There was no compulsion from some (inter)national society to get the producers to back the director in question. We, as the viewing public, could have gone on in life quite well without there being a cinematic adaption of yet another children's fantasy novel.
A lot of nonsense could have then been avoided. Mr Pullman himself - polite and mild mannered as ever - is clearly more than a little disappointed about the stripping of what little anti-religioisty there was in 'Northern Lights' (which wasn't actually that much - overlooming Religious authorities are nothing new in literature, some of an even nastier shade than Pullman's Magisterium and as I've reiterated, the only moment the series really gets controversial is when God is killed in the third book. To be honest, as I read the books pretty much straight through, even that didn't seem particularly controversial - partly because it was a deliberate anticlimax and also because there had never been any hints of any sort of God actually existing in the previous books of Pullman's new world - there being a religion does not equal there being gods after all, even in literature. How the Magesterium connects with the deceitful first angel - the false God - was just one of those things that wasn't actually as inevitable as people seemed to accept. The presence of any real thing that called itself God was quite a surprise for me as a reader and thus took away some of the potential controversiality. For me, anyway, but then I'm slow). We could have avoided the predictable protests and rows. Maybe have got an entirely original film instead, who knows? There's nothing wrong with doing a movie 'inspired' by the book, because then you can take all the damn liberties you want.
In a book where not only is the religious aspect is important, even if it is comparatively small in light of a fantastic plot, but also considering the strong feelings said book has aroused in it's readers, to toss this small but integral aspect away should have spelt the end of the project (at this present time at least) for the director. The hubris to go through with the project, blanket it with the pacifying pleas from actors and director alike is actually quite staggering. Mostly from the director actually, because the actors are all thoroughly amazing. Hell, even I'd jump onto it, even if they completely changed the endings, because it's such a great opportunity for huge scale drama.
I will admit to being a bit of a snob as well. I'd always differentiated Harry Potter and His Dark Materials by the fact that whilst Harry Potter got to be a Warner Bros film, His Dark Materials was turned into a play of all things. Now it's being reduced to yet another overstimulating visual orgasm and it's turned... common, almost.
Ah well. For what it is, it promises to be fantasmagoric. It's a shame that what it is, is an almighty cop-out.
...
I'm exaggerating, of course. It's not that almighty at all and at least this whole non-issue given the National Secular Society further reason for existing.
...
Ah, that's cruel: they're not all that bad really, I just can't stand societies of most kinds, particularly religious, full stop.