"I've got a Golden Compass in my hand!"

(Disclaimer: I have not seen “The Golden Compass,” and I probably will not. I didn’t see “The Da Vinci Code” either. However, I have seen “Lord of the Rings,” “Chronicles of Narnia,” and all of the “Harry Potter” films.)

“The Golden Compass,” the first movie based on Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” trilogy, opened this weekend amid controversy. Many potential viewers have heard of the overt atheistic worldview of the author, and have stayed away from the film. Box office reports show that “The Golden Compass” earned about 26 million on its opening weekend, which was still good enough for first place for the weekend, but extremely weak in comparison to the opening of “Narnia” two years ago with 65 million.

UPDATE: weekend number 2's box office is even more dismal. 9 million, far behind "I am Legend" and "Alvin and the Chipmunks." Chipmunks made 45 million, more than "Compass" has made in 2 weeks of release.

Spokespersons for the film indicated that they didn’t know whether the controversy surrounding “Compass” hurt their receipts or whether it’s just a bad year for the movie industry. However, one of the stars of the film, Sam Elliott, unwittingly showed why so many have sounded the alarm. He said, “If there's one thing that I want people to take away from it, it's about exercising one's free will without fear of reprisal," Elliott said. "To me that's what it's all about."

There you have the atheistic worldview in a nutshell. Atheists hate the idea of “God” because they do not want to be held accountable.

Elliott also said, “I think more people will see the movie or read the books than would have otherwise if he hadn't stirred this up.” He may have a point. The review in the Daily Telegram only gave it 1 ½ stars (out of 4). I recall when my sons were in the Tecumseh Civic’s production of ‘Children of Eden” that the producer said that he welcomed controversy because it would sell more tickets. So perhaps “Compass” would have sold even fewer tickets had there not been all the publicity about its subversive atheism.

I’m sure that some of you have seen it. What did you think? Is all of the hubbub just unnecessary? Much of what I have read says that although “The Golden Compass” itself may be relatively innocuous as far as a fantasy film goes, the greater danger is that parents will unwittingly buy the toys, the video games, the books, and be drawn into the author’s atheism gradually. It’s kind of like the old saying that if you put a live frog into a pot of boiling water, he’ll jump out, but if you put him in a kettle and gradually heat it to boiling, he’ll stay in the water until he’s cooked. “The Golden Compass” is like that frog who gets used to the water temperature and doesn’t notice the danger until he’s dead.

On the other hand, perhaps, knowing the author’s worldview, we could watch “Compass” and discuss it profitably. Haven’t we done that with other literary or dramatic works? Wouldn’t there be some value in identifying the subtle attacks of the foe together, so that when we face them in our university classes on our own, we’ll be better prepared?

By the way, I have noticed that our school website no longer has a golden compass with the word “Reorient” as its focal point!

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