As is often the case, I think that the Christian community is taking the wrong tack on the issues raised by the film The Golden Compass. Groups are springing up all over Facebook and my Christian college encouraging Christians (as usual) to boycott the film, to keep their children from the film, to warn others to do the same.
The book, they allege, is an atheist plot to teach kids that they should "kill God and do whatever they want."
I would like to argue three things. First, that this is a gross mischaracterization of the books. Second, that the movie is almost certainly several steps further from these allegations than the books. And most importantly, third, that regardless of the veracity of these claims, the worst response Christians can make is to isolate themselves from this ("to protect ourselves" from it), and that the most appropriate response is engagement and dialogue with the film, the issues it brings up and those who see it.
As to the first, the books do not purport to desribe what we would call the "real world." That is how science fiction and fantasy function, by commenting on our situations by describing situations in hypothetical worlds. C. S. Lewis described his own Chronicles of Narnia this way, saying that it is not an allegory, with Aslan "representing" Christ. Rather, he asked himself what it would be like if there was another world that was in need of redemption? What might that look like?
In His Dark Materials there is a corrupt church. There is a heirarchy of imposter "divine" beings worshiped by this church, going all the way up to "The Authority," who comes much closer to the Christian idea of Satan than to any conception of God. The Authority was the "first of the angels," who usurped some amount of power from the Creator-God. (The Bible refers to Satan as the 'Prince of this Age.' Hm.) For that matter, The Authority dies of natural causes. So not only does nobody "kill God," but nobody is "killed."
Is the church in The Golden Compass any one we'd recognize? Not really. Some elements of it clearly have analogues in churches that really exist, but it's overly simplistic to say that the church in His Dark Materials is Christianity, or the Catholic church, or anything else. In fact, in many ways the trilogy speaks very highly of the Protestant Reformation, as when Pullman was imagining this alternate-universe church, he asked himself what would it be like the the church was so corrupted that the Reformation never could have happened? What would that look like?
As for the movie, many devout fans of the book have been highly upset at the amount of changes that went into the movie. Pullman took a very hands-off approach to it, and took a lot of criticism from fans of the book who wanted to see a movie that looked something like its book counterpart. In any event, a major release in theatres simply won't endure the amount of thinking that goes on in the books. Only a film-festival audience would sit through a fair adaptation of the books.
But the most important aspect to look at in this debacle is the role of the church in the film's release. As I've said before, I believe that the church's engagement with culture stems in many ways from their understanding of the Kingdom of God. If you believe that someday Jesus is going to come back and bring the Kingdom with him, and that it's our job to stay as clean and safe as we can until then, then certainly we will avoid seeing any film with a hint of non-Christian teaching in it. (In fact, many such groups have avoided films altogether.) On the other hand, if you believe that the Kingdom of God is something that has to be enforced on the world through legislation and arms, then you will do everything you can to make sure that no non-Christian (let alone anti-Christian) film is available for anyone to watch.
But from where I stand the Kingdom of God appears to be in that scriptural tension between 'already' and 'not-yet.' The job of the church is to represent its citizenship in that Kingdom in clever, subversive and redemptive ways that will be attractive to the world (at least, to those in the world looking for such things). With that in mind, I believe that protesting or boycotting artistic projects like this is beneath us.
What Christians will do is engage with the points brought up by the film. What Christians will do is enter into dialogue with those who sympathize with the film. The film brings up points we have to admit. Churches have become corrupt, and that is a danger to the world. As Christians, we believe that there is an unseen realm, and while we have a different angelology than is presented in the film, the contrast gives us room to make clear what we do believe.
By entering into dialogue with critics of Christian presentation we will find ourselves sharpened, our message refined and our opportunities to advance the gospel of the true God multiplied.
Ideas? Comments? Critiques? Thank you.
-ND
4 comments:
You do always have your way of playing devil's advocate. I agree with a lot of what you're saying, and while I read this, I recalled thinking some of this myself when I read the books (How the Authority was more like Satan, for instance) but I still have a very strong aversion to this. It just goes back to Pullman's own agenda that he's stated quite clearly in his interviews. While the story is not bad in all aspects, or in even many aspects and you can derive much good from it, it's the force behind it that drives me away.
And I regret that Pullman is apparently flippant about it too, when moving from book to movie. It doesn't say much to me about his ability to stand up for what he thinks. The Narnia movie wasn't watered down for the atheists...why allow Golden Compass to take the dive? What is he playing at? I don't know.
Ah well. This comment probably didn't tell you anything. But it's nice reading you again. And I still intend to give you the books back.
I appreciate your ability to observe artistic works for what they are. Being a musician I have to keep myself in line and not get too caught up with author's and artists persons when looking at the work aesthetically. Although this is important to do in deep studies and in the world of academia, I think it can detour us from the good we get from artists. Do we never let our children listen to the Nutcracker because strong evidence suggests that Tchaikovsky was homosexual? Do we forget the history changing 9th symphony Beethoven composed because of his alcoholism? Although agendas are hard to look past, in the grand scheme of things fairy tales are fictional and fantasies are exactly that. Taking them for what they are, making dialog and "sharpening" our faith and tactics for spreading it's message should be our intents when things do (or appear) to come against them in this life. Great work Nick Don.
Sorry for the grammatical errors. I was in a hurry.
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