To Hell with Harry Potter

[klugspeck]

I had absolutely no idea they were making a movie based on Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials.  It's due out in December - why was I not notified?  I loved every one of those books, from their mature outlook on morality to their vicious indictments of organized religion.  I worry about how much of that tone is going to survive the transition to

Comments

[sunnydlita]

Yeah, Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig are playing Mrs. Coulter and Lord Asriel. Other friends on my flist have been talking about it for a while, so I guess I assumed everyone who was interested already knew about it.

Anyway, I liked the first two books but was very frustrated by the third. The "vicious indictment of organized religion" that you loved was the very thing I hated, because it was the one aspect of the book that was absolutely simplistic and not properly motivated. I have more complete thoughts here: Book One Book Two Book Three

[klugspeck]

This is the part that concerns me the most about the movie. I mean, the books are basically about asserting independence in the face of authority of any kind, including that of a supreme being. I can't see that message going over too well with many Americans. Atheists like me might be tickled pink but Christians are probably going to ignore this one as much as they embraced the Narnia movie. Unless, of course, they end up changing things around, which would be a tragedy even greater than dressing up the bears in pretty armor.

[sunnydlita]

Yeah, I don't think they should Disneyfy (Disneyfi? Disneyize?) the story at all, because what's the point?

I'm not sure I agree with you that liking the movie depends on the viewer's religious beliefs. I mean, maybe I don't have any credibility to say this because I am a Christian, but it was not the fact that HDM was antitheistic that bothers me, but it was how Pullman went about it. It was offensive to me how carelessly he caricatured every single character representing "the Authority's" side, even though he was clearly capable of deft character shading with everyone else (maybe not Mary Malone. The more I think about it, the more I think Mary Malone is a twit). Anyway, I think that ignorance of complexity bothers me in a literary way.

[aliwilliams]

I don't know how you missed this, I've been getting excited/worrying about it for months.

Entertainingly, two other people independently pointed me toward the find-your-daemon page today. Sometimes I think everyone I know shares a brain.

My roommate brought home a book of early images from the film, adding to my list of big worries about the tone and conviction of the movie a concern that the armored bears' armor is too pretty and not banged up enough.

[klugspeck]

Yeah, I always pictured them as being covered in rust and blood stains, not all glittery and shiny. After all, didn't the false bear king ended up getting his head handed to him because his armor was too pretty and not functional enough?

[aliwilliams]

Yes! I remember the first description of the armor in the books. How it was like and unlike a pile of scrap metal. I may hate the movie, but at least they're doing it all-out, not as a made-for-tv crapfest with puppet daemons or anything.

[anyway413]

At least they aren't doing it polar express animation style.