Emmy and I went to see the Golden Compass this afternoon. So much has been written about it's atheist author, and about its subtle undermining of the Church and faith, that I thought I'd better see it first hand, so I could make an intelligent assessment. Let me say that while it DOES have a number of theological negatives (more on that in a moment), I can't categorically say, "Don't see it." It's a better than average movie of its type. The special effects are impressive. The story line is interesting. The action is intense--too intense for small children in my opinion.
The movie is filled with virtue, unfortunately the virtuous characters in the movie are on what we would traditionally call the "bad" side. The authorities, known as the "Magisterium," who represent the Church, and thus ought to be "good," are actually, the villains, since they're in the practice of capturing and torturing children and inhibiting the pursuit of "truth." Meanwhile, the "Gyptians" (Gypsies), a banished bear, a renegade "Aeronaut", hundreds of witches, and Lyra, the heroine, who is an orphan girl who lies frequently--sometimes with the intention of helping others, sometimes, because it works to her advantage--are the "good guys"! Also, every person has a "daemon," which is an animal that exists outside of him or her and is essentially the person's "soul". This is an idea that is quite contrary to our own understanding of the soul, although as Emmy pointed out is quite creative.
Children won't catch all that. If they liked Narnia, they'll probably like the Golden Compass. It's been written that the second and third installments of this trilogy, should they be produced, will show the Church in the darkest of images, and will emphasize a godless understanding of life. I can't say anything about that. All I can say is that Emmy and I had a good conversation after the movie. We concluded that while we don't endorse witches as heroines, or lying as a means of gaining what one wants--even if it is a good cause, and we wouldn't pay to see it again, we don't see it as the ominous threat to our faith that some have proclaimed. Then again, we have a strong faith, and tended to see the positives in the movie, being that it is of a genre both of us like. Emmy made a helpful comment, "Overall, it has a better theme than any of the Harry Potter books/movies. You have to really be looking to see the negative things people are saying about the movie. If you hadn't told me about them I wouldn't have caught any of them."
After all the pre-release hype, I was pleasantly surprised by the movie. While I can't endorse its overall content, and I wouldn't recommend it at all for younger children, because of the violence as well as the emphasis on kidnapping children and the whole "daemon" metaphysics, I would give it a cautious affirmation. That means as a parent, I wouldn't let my older children see it either, unless I saw it and discussed it with them. (But then, that's always been our approach, seeing that as parents we believe we hold the primary responsibility for the spiritual and physical welfare for our daughters!)
