Christmas Movie

Having read the His Dark Materials trilogy and generally liked and admired the books, I'm excited about the first movie coming out this week (why didn't I know that Gandalf is the polar bear's voice?). I'm glad it's being released for Christmas instead of summer. Is it the studio hoping for extra protests, or just that much of it is snowy and thus feels more winter-holiday appropriate? The drama-fuss I expected to happen seems less than I figured it would be; when your fantasy world is based on the idea that god's a fascist dictator and his/its churchie minions are goons...well, duh there will be protests. 

Personally, I'm in favor of kid's books that suggest independent thought is a good thing, and that questioning authority in all forms is a reasonable activity, and if that authority is determined to be corrupt and/or unappealing, you don't have to buy into it. Those suggestions do not actually have to add up to "teaching atheism". In fact, teaching this would be "teaching non-belief in a god or gods", when, if anything, the books teach that unappealing gods and thought systems do exist, and can be rejected. Not voting for a Republican doesn't make me a non-believer in democracy, and fighting an idea of a distasteful god and accompanying corruption in the system seems to me to be what led to Christianity and Islam. I would love to make the logic jump and say that anyone who finds the theme of these books unreasonable should thus reject Christianity, but I only sort of buy into that. If I knew more than a very few self-identified Christians who know anything at all about their church's history--and if I was more confident in what I've read over the years--I'd make the jump. I also know it's the sort of blog-jump that comes back to bite one in one's blog-butt.

Anyway, the more important issue here is how the movie makers did with the CGI talking animals that figure as crucial characters in almost every scene. The small-screen Gandalf-bear looked OK, but I thought the leopard looked weird; cat mouths are sort of creepy when they're adjusted to speak English. Perhaps CGI cats should stick with a different language?

And yes, I live in a world where CGI talking animals are more important that theology. Or I wish I did. But then, Philip Pullman turned me all atheist. (Please, let that show up when protesters start searching the web for evidence that Mr. Pullman is accomplishing such things. File it under "Truthiness".)

Comments

[elf in the basement]

Hi Harry! I did think the last one was both the preachiest and the worst, but by then I was already sold on Pullman's world and in a forgiving mood. Did you see the movie? Other than a couple of scenes where they used high church outfits to make a Hollywood point, it's very watered down. More armored bear fighting; less theology.

[jesus h. forkheimer]

oh yes: cats can talk: http://flickr.com/photos/heracliteanfire/2083607062/

[Harry]

I have to say, speaking as an atheist, I found that the books were best when they were least anti-God; the initial descriptions of a strange parallel world were striking, but I thought that as they aimed higher, dramatically and theologically, they lost their way and became a bit dull.