Golden Compass: Another Christian Tempest in a Tea Pot

Golden Compass: Another Christian Tempest in a Tea Pot
By
Theresa Chaze


New Line Cinemas’ release of The Golden Compass has created another religious controversy as Christian leaders call for a boycott of the film. Philip Pullman's His Dark Material Trilogy includes The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and the Amber Spy Glass. Christian leaders have called the trilogy anti-Christian and the atheists attempt to corrupt children, yet their claims once again only reveal their own paranoia and religious agendas.

The premise of the movie, The Golden Compass, is that there are many different worlds with many different ways of life. In this world, humans are separate from their souls. Instead of being within, they walk beside in the form of an animal, which is a called, a daemon. The human and daemon are physical, emotionally and spiritually connected. They feel each other’s pain and joy. If the human dies, so does the daemon. However, if the daemon ceases to exist, the human becomes an empty shell, which is easily manipulated and controlled. The daemon is the seat and soul of individual's free will; to lose it is the equivalent of spiritual death. Until the child has matured into self awareness, the daemon can change shape at will; however, once the child’s personality has formed, the daemon chooses the most appropriate shape, which it keeps for the rest of its life.

Order is kept by the Magisterium, which is also called the General Obligation Board. It was their strict rules of moral conduct and usurping of free will, which caused the Authority, the Divine Being, to create “the dust” as a way to preserve adults’ individuality, autonomy and passion for life. Dust flows directly into the adults from the Authority, totally bypassing the Magisterium, thereby limiting their ability to manipulate and control. Seeing themselves as the sole and ultimate connection to the Authority, the Magisterium has made the knowledge of the dust’s existence illegal. To preserve their supremacy, they are willing to do whatever is necessary, including murder and experimenting on children that they have kidnapped. The Magisterium learned that children are immune to the dust until they have matured into individuals and their daemon has chosen a permanent shape. Through their experiments, they created the intercession. This procedure severs the connection between the child and her or his daemon, which kills the daemon and renders the child acquiescent to the Magisterium‘s will. Their goal is to create a population that doesn’t question authority and is easily controllable. To these ends, they have confiscated one of the Authority’s greatest gifts, the alethiometers. Also called a Golden Compass, the alethiometer shows the truth, which is why the Magisterium sought to control them. However, one remained outside their reach. Hidden within the walls of the Oxford Jordan College, the Head Master waited until he found the one who would be able to see the truth within it.


Lyra Belacqua is a young girl who was separated from her parents due to the Magisterium’s strict moral code. Considered an orphan, she lives as a ward at the Oxford Jordan College. Lord Asriel, who she was led to believe is her uncle, frequently visits. He is a rebel adventurer and scholar, whose life mission is to prove the existence of the dust. With the aid of the college, Lord Asriel is able to gain the means to prove the dust exists. Marisa Coulter arrives and charms Lyra in to accompanying her to her home in the north. Although Lyra finds the older woman charming, she has her own agenda. She seeks to find her friend Billy, who has been kidnapped by the Gobblers. Before Lyra leaves the college, the Head Master gives her the Golden Compass. Within the course of the story, Marisa Coulter reveals that Lord Asriel is not her uncle, but her father and that she is her mother. They were prevented from claiming her at birth by the Magisterium. With the help of new friends and the Golden Compass, Lyra escapes from her mother and sets out to find the kidnapped children and her father.

With an amazing combination of animation and real life action, The Golden Compass is more than a one girl’s search for the truth of herself and the family she has dreamt of, it is the questioning of the status quo and the reinforcement of free will. By promoting individuality and independence, it threatens organized religion‘s. dominance and control, which is why many of the Christian organizations have called for a boycott.

In his article Golden Compass--Navigates to Nowhere, Reverend Michael Bresciani writes, “The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights is urging families to boycott the movie and its source books, a trilogy of novels called "His Dark Materials" by British author Philip Pullman, who is a self-professed atheist.”

In Zenit, The World Seen from Rome, Catholic author Pete Vere was interviewed by Sandra Miesel. In the article, Vere was quoted as saying, “I don't recommend any parent allow their children to view the film. While the movie has reportedly been sanitized of its more anti-Christian and anti-religious elements, it will do nothing but pique children's curiosity about the books. I'm a parent myself. My children would think it hypocritical if I told them it was OK to see the movie, but not to read the books. And they would be right. The Golden Compass isn't simply about using fairy-tale magic to tell a good story, it corrupts the imagery of Lewis and Tolkien to undermine children's faith in God and the Church.“

Once again, the Christian leaders are looking for an enemy that does not exist in order to bolster their own beliefs and rally their believers much in the same way of they did with the Mel Gibson movie, The Passion. Perhaps, the premise of stealing the souls and free will of children at a young age so that they will be more controllable as adults hits too close to their own agenda for their comfort.