| | I'm finding myself in a crazy Pullman man-love phase. I read the "His Dark Materials" trilogy over the holidays, and found my faith incredibly encouraged, as well as certain concerns I had about things like the Narnia movie validated.
Here's some articles on The Golden Compass I found interesting:
How Hollywood Saved God
The Dark Side of Narnia
Ebert's Review
Generally, I feel that Pullman's books articulate more dynamics of religious life and spirituality than any other books I've read. Sure, they're articulated with words that don't ring Christian in any way, but his observations validate all the deep feelings I've ever had about God, the existence of the soul, including all the dynamics of equality regarding race, gender, and class. Some quotes I liked from the above articles:
"The books have been attacked by American Christians over questions of
religion; their popularity in the U.K. may represent more confident
believers whose response to other beliefs is to respond, rather than
suppress." -Ebert
"One of the most vile moments in the whole of children's literature, to my mind, occurs at the end of The Last Battle, when Aslan reveals to the children that "The term is over: the holidays have begun" because "There was a real railway accident. Your father and mother and all of you are - as you used to call it in the Shadowlands - dead." To solve a narrative problem by killing one of your characters is something many authors have done at one time or another. To slaughter the lot of them, and then claim they're better off, is not honest storytelling: it's propaganda in the service of a life-hating ideology. But that's par for the course. Death is better than life; boys are better than girls; light-coloured people are better than dark-coloured people; and so on." -Pullman
There was a bit of drama over the whole movie re: the religious aspect of it. Hollywood pulled out most of Pullman's religious references, and basically did what the Church in Pullman's books did--suppress truth in order to affect what others might think. I find it ironic that in making a movie about one of the more anti-Christian-institution stories ever (God is a white angel, frail and old, that is killed when a child opens a curtain and lets too much cold air into the room), Hollywood ends up doing exactly that which Pullman was trying to destroy.
For now, Pullman's my new white ally in clearing my head of white-male-privileged articulations of God, leaving space for the Spirit to speak truth and be heard.
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| | Posted 1/17/2008 11:47 AM - 70 Views - 4 eProps - 2 comments
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