{"id":641,"date":"2007-12-13T02:20:59","date_gmt":"2007-12-13T07:20:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/s265039441.onlinehome.us\/philpaine\/?p=641"},"modified":"2018-08-15T18:20:19","modified_gmt":"2018-08-15T22:20:19","slug":"weitz-2007-the-golden-compass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=641","title":{"rendered":"(Weitz 2007) The Golden Compass"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

My friend Isaac White mag\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly came up with tick\u00adets to a pre\u00adview show\u00ading of The Gold\u00aden Com\u00adpass<\/em>, and we were both pleas\u00adant\u00adly sur\u00adprised. We both knew Pullman\u2019s superb nov\u00adel for kids, and did not have high hopes that it would trans\u00adlate well into a movie. But we end\u00aded up quite sat\u00adis\u00adfied with the results. Of course, changes were inevitable, because what works in prose often doesn\u2019t work in film. In order to pre\u00adserve the rather com\u00adplex plot, the pace had to be quick\u00adened. The book has leisure\u00adly paced seg\u00adments punc\u00adtu\u00adat\u00aded by occa\u00adsion\u00adal bursts of action. By neces\u00adsi\u00adty, the film com\u00adpress\u00ades every\u00adthing so that the action sequences dom\u00adi\u00adnate. But the impor\u00adtant thing is that it pre\u00adserves the integri\u00adty of the book.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And integri\u00adty is the right word. I\u2019m talk\u00ading about this on my blog page, because the film is already under vicious attack from all the forces of bar\u00adbarism. The book is a pro\u00adfound\u00adly moral one, with a sense of out\u00adrage at injus\u00adtice, that urges its young read\u00aders to ques\u00adtion author\u00adi\u00adty, think for them\u00adselves, and rebel against tyran\u00adny. It has come along just when it is need\u00aded. The film pre\u00adserves much of this moral strength. So it\u2019s no sur\u00adprise that the march\u00ading morons are out in force. I have read of numer\u00adous cas\u00ades where schools are post\u00ading signs warn\u00ading their stu\u00addents against see\u00ading the movie, and there are boy\u00adcotts being orga\u00adnized by var\u00adi\u00adous author\u00adi\u00adties who, appar\u00adent\u00adly, have no trou\u00adble iden\u00adti\u00adfy\u00ading them\u00adselves as the intol\u00ader\u00adant Mag\u00adis\u00adteri\u00adum of the film\u2019s fan\u00adta\u00adsy story.<\/span><\/p>\n

Con\u00adfor\u00admi\u00adty, cow\u00adardice, igno\u00adrance, and grov\u00adel\u00ading before author\u00adi\u00adty are the pre\u00adscribed cul\u00adtur\u00adal norms of the last thir\u00adty years, in both the Unit\u00aded States and Cana\u00adda. A whole gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion has been raised in a kind of cesspool of Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive immoral\u00adi\u00adty. That is the only word for it. Orga\u00adnized reli\u00adgion and gov\u00adern\u00adment have com\u00adbined forces to destroy the very idea of moral\u00adi\u00adty, which depends on the func\u00adtion\u00ading of the inde\u00adpen\u00addent, autonomous, rea\u00adson\u00ading indi\u00advid\u00adual mind, and sub\u00adsti\u00adtute its own false gods: Super\u00adsti\u00adtion, and Blind Obe\u00addi\u00adence. The Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive ide\u00adal is always a world with\u00adout moral\u00adi\u00adty, and with\u00adout reason. <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

This film will, per\u00adhaps, offer a ton\u00adic, a bit of inspi\u00adra\u00adtion for chil\u00addren raised in the bleak amoral\u00adi\u00adty of a Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive cul\u00adture. Its sym\u00adbol\u00adism is easy for any bright child to absorb. The \u201cgold\u00aden com\u00adpass\u201d of the sto\u00adry is a gad\u00adget, but it is clear\u00adly meant to sym\u00adbol\u00adize the moral com\u00adpass<\/em> \u2014 the indi\u00advid\u00adual com\u00admit\u00adment to rea\u00adson and jus\u00adtice that allows a human being to dis\u00adtin\u00adguish right from wrong, free\u00addom from slav\u00adery, truth from lies, and hon\u00adour from dis\u00adhon\u00adour. Peo\u00adple with\u00adout a moral com\u00adpass do what they\u2019re told. They tor\u00adture pris\u00adon\u00aders in Guan\u00adtanamo when told to, they let med\u00addling big\u00adots man\u00adage their sex lives, they accept rigged elec\u00adtions, they don\u2019t talk back to Those In Charge. They become amoral zom\u00adbies, and that is what pow\u00ader\u00adful reli\u00adgious orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtions and gov\u00adern\u00adments have gen\u00ader\u00adal\u00adly pre\u00adferred human beings to be.<\/span><\/p>\n

His\u00adtor\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly, young peo\u00adple have usu\u00adal\u00adly found their moral com\u00adpass through art. My under\u00adstand\u00ading (and hatred of) slav\u00adery was first learned by read\u00ading Huck\u00adle\u00adber\u00adry Finn<\/em>, as a child. It is invari\u00adably the books that touch on sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcant moral ques\u00adtions, that encour\u00adage the young to ques\u00adtion author\u00adi\u00adty and think for them\u00adselves that attract the atten\u00adtion of the cen\u00adso\u00adri\u00adous. Usu\u00adal\u00adly the rea\u00adsons prof\u00adfered to jus\u00adti\u00adfy the attacks are spu\u00adri\u00adous, what\u00adev\u00ader sounds most plau\u00adsi\u00adble at the moment, because the under\u00adly\u00ading rea\u00adson is too igno\u00adble to make plain.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n


\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My friend Isaac White mag\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly came up with tick\u00adets to a pre\u00adview show\u00ading of The Gold\u00aden Com\u00adpass, and we were both pleas\u00adant\u00adly sur\u00adprised. We both knew Pullman\u2019s superb nov\u00adel for kids, and did not have high hopes that it would translate \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[948,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-d-viewing","category-dt-viewing-2007"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=641"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8767,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641\/revisions\/8767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}