Philip Pullman Addresses the Golden Compass Controversy
Posted on December 16, 2007
The Golden Compass was a box office disappointment and many are wondering if part of the reason is the furor over the books' perceived anti-religion and anti-Catholic stance. Author Philip Pullman is an atheist. The star of the film, Nicole Kidman is a devout Catholic who says the film is not anti-Catholic. Pullman discussed the controversy in recent interview.
Is he expecting controversy? He pauses: "I am beset, not beset, that's too strong, I am attended by crazy people." The day before our interview he had given a reading at the Sheldonian Theatre as part of the Oxford Chamber Music Festival. There were 750 children from primary schools in the Oxford area listening to music and readings. A small boy from one of the schools was taken out "rather ostentatiously" before each of Pullman's readings and brought back in again when the reading was over. "Apparently his parents objected to his hearing anything of mine on the grounds that he might go to hell if he did."We haven't seen The Golden Compass yet, but we plan to over the holidays. In the meantime, we do recommend the box set of the His Dark Materials trilogy as a great holiday gift.Pullman says that people who are tempted to take offence should first see the film or read the books. "They'll find a story that attacks such things as cruelty, oppression, intolerance, unkindness, narrow-mindedness, and celebrates love, kindness, open-mindedness, tolerance, curiosity, human intelligence. It's very hard to disagree with those. But people will."
How will he respond to those attacks? "A soft answer turneth away wrath, as it says in my favourite book." (Proverbs 15:1.) So he won't argue back? "It's a foolish thing for the teller of a story to answer critics. If you're putting forward an argument, you can argue back and demonstrate why your argument is better than theirs. But if someone doesn't like a story you've written, what are you going to say? 'Well, you should'?"