Catholic League Claims Credit for Golden Compass Being a Sucky Movie
(Image from Comic Book Resources)
The Golden Compass got mostly negative reviews. I haven’t seen it myself, but the consensus, even among freethinkers, is that the movie is at least somewhat disappointing. That’s too bad. The commercials looked good. I wanted to see that Coca-Cola polar bear kick some ass.
It’s hard to really know why a movie does or does not do well. There certainly have been some excellent movies that did poorly at the box office, only to be held in high regard later (Citizen Kane being only the most extreme example).
How much of an effect does a boycott have? The Life of Brian and The Last Temptation of Christ both did fairly well at the box office, but I don’t remember either doing outstanding business (the Internet Movie Database doesn’t seem to give out that information for free anymore). The question is how much business would those films have done without the controversy? I’ve heard numerous people say that they went to see Last Temptation because they wanted to see what the controversy was about.
In the case of The Golden Compass, I think the boycott cut both ways. Who had ever heard of the book? Obviously some people, but the public at large was not aware of it. The boycott raised the public’s awareness, so I’m sure some people saw it who would not have otherwise.
However, there has also been a lot of extremely negative things said about this movie by people who had neither seen it nor read the book. All they needed to know was that it was written by an atheist who wants to kill God. I’m sure all of those people stayed home. If they had remained ignorant of the book’s reputation, at least some of them would have gone to see it.
I’m guessing that the main reason the movie did poorly was all of the bad reviews. (The movie was #1 at the box office this weekend; it just brought in a lot less than anticipated.)
Someone who doesn’t need to guess why the movie tanked is Bill Donohue of the Catholic League. In a press release titled “Boycott Worked: Compass Flops”, Donohue credits himself. He also can’t resist comparing it to Narnia:
‘The Golden Compass’, the atheist-inspired film which sought to replicate Narnia’s success at the box office at Christmas two years ago has flopped by comparison. Based on the anti-Christian novel by Philip Pullman, Compass took in $26.1 million in its first weekend, whereas ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ garnered $65.5 million on its weekend debut.
…
The Catholic League, which organized a boycott of the controversial film, as it would lead children to reading the anti-Christian books, saw the poor box office showing as evidence of a successful boycott.
Or more likely, it’s evidence of a bad movie. But then Donohue starts to get really cocky:
Donohue concluded: “Let this be a lesson to militant atheists like Pullman: keep your hollow beliefs to yourself.…
Donohue has warned you. Don’t mess with the Emperor Pope!
Finally, Donohue ends with this brilliant statement:
…And ease up on demonizing Catholicism—no other religion has done more to promote human rights, science and goodwill.”
I don’t even know where to begin to respond to that statement!
December 11th, 2007 at 9:57 am
FYI - The Golden Compass (and the whole series) has won many awards, and over the last few years has been recommended fairly frequently as an alternative to Harry Potter, esp. for girls.
December 11th, 2007 at 10:13 am
FYI - I was talking about the movie, not the books.
December 11th, 2007 at 10:21 am
Okay, I’m completely off-topic here (or maybe not?) but I wanted to recommend Mike Judge’s movie “Idiocracy” which was squelched by Fox when they realized Judge was totally taking the piss out of them. Both hilarious and painful to watch… The premise is that dumb people outbreed smart people at an alarming rate. I guess since we’re talking about Catholics, I’m on-topic after all
December 11th, 2007 at 11:19 am
Ericsan:
That sounds a lot like one of the best science fiction stories ever written: The Marching Morons, by Cyril M. Kornbluth.
December 11th, 2007 at 11:29 am
Ron, the Wikipedia article references the film. You’re so erudite
December 11th, 2007 at 5:50 pm
You can start with the Crusades. Party on over to the Spanish Inquisition, and stop by the Pope’s stances on contraception.
December 12th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
Maybe that last sentence was in comparison to Baptists…. I do find Catholics a lot more tolerable than Baptists. At least “fundie” Catholics will invoke real philosophical thought exercises (Pascal’s wager, et all) instead of just saying “YOU’RE GOING TO HELL! BURN! BURN!”
Despite the bad reviews, I’m still going to go see it. Can’t be TOO bad of a way to kill a couple hours, right?
The boycott of Last Temptation was silly. That movie was not in any way offensive to religion. It simply told a “what-if” scenario for Jesus. In the end, Jesus still won. He died for our sins, Satan was defeated. Etc…
Just because it showed him with dirt on his hands instead of eternally glowing, they got upset. Oh heaven forbid they portray Jesus as a man… Because for some reason I thought that was the whole point — God living as a man so he can see what our dealio is and then die for our sins?
December 12th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
I just saw the Golden Compass this weekend, and I was frankly very surprised at how bad the reviews have been. I did, in fact go to see it instead of another movie in part as a personal screw-you to the Catholic Church, but I was going to see it eventually because those are some of my favorite books. The “Coca-cola” bear does indeed kick serious ass, probably involved in some of the best fantasy fight scenes I’ve seen in a while. Several aspects of the film really impressed me. For example, in the books it is mentioned that when a person dies, their daemon dies, but I don’t remember if it mentions them shredding into a cloud of Dust. In the fight scenes, though, each death is accompanied by a rising golden cloud of Dust, which really helped me notice that people are, in fact, dying. So often now we see people shot or stabbed and just fall that there is no impact, but seeing that cloud lets you feel the thought of, wow-that person’s life was just destroyed. Anyway, that’s just one aspect that I liked. I certainly recommend this movie very highly; it is very well made and a good deal of the religious themes have survived the Hollywood scrubbing. My only caveat is that they end the movie about one chapter before the book, as the book is somewhat of a cliffhanger. However, I think it actually works better for the movie format to end it as they did. So, go see it for the enjoyment of a good movie if not simply to say, “F you, Battle Pope!”
December 13th, 2007 at 11:23 pm
I did go and see the movie last weekend, whenever the catholic church says no, that’s usually reason enough. In addition Roger Ebert (who is still not back on his tv show but does write reviews again) gave the movie 4 stars, though I did see some bad reviews for it as well. I didn’t think it was that good. The prepubescent protagonist was a bit lacking in on screen charisma. Also the compass effects could have been better. The story isn’t as tight as Tolkien and even C.S. Lewis.
December 21st, 2007 at 5:01 am
Hi, Guys, I am Catholic, and try to do as much good as possible. i am well aware of the atrocities of former Catholic Clergy (Popes, Bishops, Priests etc). I don’t condone any of it. But remember, We all are human and make mistakes, some of us make little mistakes & some make huge mistakes and I honestly feel that nobody should judge anybody else. My wife and I have been married for 19yrs and we have 2 wonderful kids. we had 3 but, one died of cancer at 5yrs old. We have never used “contraception”. JR - have you read all the side-effects of Contraception, that alone should make one terrified of usung it. This is just a siggestion, as i also dont believe in forcing people to do things, look into the “Natural Family Planning” way, it is very simple, and allows one to understand how a women’s cycle works. it is brilliant and there is absolutely no risks involved.
wishing you all a wonderful Christmas
Carl
December 21st, 2007 at 9:09 am
Carl
Natural Family Planning has a huge risk and that is pregnancy. For many women, pregnancy can be riskier for the their health than the use of “contraception”. You have been very fortunate that your method has worked for you. For many, it does not. As you say, humans make mistakes. And it only takes a little one with this method.
Do you use any medications? I ask because most, including aspirin and vitamins, carry very scary side affects. The question that must be asked is - do the benefits outweigh the risks? For many, the benefits of “contraception” far outweigh the risk of pregnancy.
My condolences on the loss of your child.
December 21st, 2007 at 9:51 am
Carl:
Your IP address resolves to Mauritius, an island off the coast of Africa. The Pope refuses to allow Catholics to use condoms. Presumably, this position is also preached to everyone within earshot of a missionary.
Africa is being devastated with the AIDS pandemic. Your Pope is doing everything in his power to spread the disease and destroy more lives. Until this position is changed, the Catholic church will remain one of the most evil and destructive forces in the world today.
There are NO side effects to using a condom. The side effect of not using one, potentially, is death.
December 21st, 2007 at 12:33 pm
Well, if you are allergic to latex, there can be a risk to condoms, but you’d discover your allergy looooong before condom use as any doctor or dentist visit includes exposure to latex gloves.
I do want to chime in that Birth Control Pills are, indeed, risky. They are less risk than a lot of medications, but a great deal more risky than aspirin. That’s why they are prescribed medications and a couple should definitely seek knowledgable advice from a doctor before use.
Sorry to play devil’s advocate there, Ron!
Still, even if you take medication out of the question, and even latex, there are still DOZENS of birth control methods out there. If you know you don’t want kids (or are done having them) you can go for the biggest cure for that, a vasectomy. Which I’ve done and it’s really not that bad, especially knowing the ol’ gun ain’t loaded and you never have to worry about a condom breaking or missing taking a pill.
So to quote Monty Python, the only logical conclusion is not that life even begins at conception but that “every sperm is sacred” which is just primitive and ridiculous, considering that even in a successful fertilization, billions don’t make it and die.
As for Africa, AMEN. The benefits WAY outweigh the risks there!