Regarding the Golden Compass controversy - Pullman (the author of the books that the movie was based on) is on record as stating that he is "trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief". That's where your outcry comes from - that, and a few other really choice quotes.

However, my understanding is that the studio really sanitized the script to make it palatable for the masses.



I'm wondering, did anyone see Untraceable? My wife wanted to see it, but I just couldn't stand the idea. It could just be advertising, but these two lines just made me want to retch every time they came on the TV:

"...this website is untraceable!" Gasp! We can't figure out where the website is! I guess they are using MAGIC to send us this collection of text and images across the internet. Since, you know, the site is untraceable, I guess my computer doesn't know what computer to ask for the information.

"He's on my wireless network!" Okay, lady. This means that the guy is either (a) in your house, or (b) parked somewhere within, say, a hundred feet or so of your wireless router. This would probably concern me MORE than the fact that he's apparently leeching off of your internet connection.

Oh, and by the way, how exactly do you KNOW that he's on your wireless network? Do you have some sort of cool firewall set up that alerts you anytime someone else logs on to your network... yet you don't have the sense to put a decent password on it?


Sorry about the rant. I simply despise the technology references in most movies. "Hmm... the audience is so stupid, we'll just make crap up and pass it off as computerspeak." Just call it magic and be done with it, already!

"The dinosaurs have escaped, and we're locked out of the system by Newman from Seinfeld! Aaargh! Good thing we can just reboot the computer - that makes password problems go away!" ...Jurassic Park
"Hold on, let me download the entire database of top secret stuff onto this floppy disk. It'll be done soon... see? It has a neato progress bar, complete with graphics and sound!" ...half the computer-referencing suspense movies ever made
"You need me to hack into the network? First, you'll have to drive me to the mainframe. Then, I'll need your Hello Kitty phone, some duct tape, and a iPod. Or something." ...Firewall

Kill me now!

even if the writer of the Golden Compass made comments, even if he wrote that some kids from the book kill a character who calls himself 'God', I still don't see why such a fuss would be made. Does it mean we stop thinking?

It's like your examples with the computer stuff, we don't stop thinking. That is why impossible computer-plots are idiotic, and that's why we can simply disagree with the writer's ideas if he says the religion in the story is bad. It would be a sad day when you cannot write your feelings down in proze, and it's a sad day if you are unable to bring books to the screen.

You know, it would feel different for me if it had been a 'warning', you know. Religious fanatics should be free to say: take care, the ideas in this movie may go against what you believe. The fact that they freaked out, and called for a boycot is just really really strange to me.

but perhaps this is not the forum to have such a discussion

That's actually a bit unfair on Pullman.

The novels that he wrote - the 'His Dark Materials' - trilogy, is really interesting in literary terms. To describe them as being anti-Christian is to over-simplify things. A far more accurate term would be anti-clerical, but even that isn't fully appropriate. The novels are actually pretty remarkable because they seek to take big ideas and bid debates and present them in a form that children can engage with. That does not make them into an anti-religious polemic.

I have seen the movie, and I'm sure they'll go on to adapt his other books into films. Unfortunately the cinema adaptation takes the bare bones of the books and throws aside the heart and soul of the novels.

But then I suppose it's not the first time that's happened.

...I agree with your points, except for one thing: why is a boycott bad?

It's not as if there was a governmental or other regulatory ban on the movie. Several religious groups got together and said "hey, we don't agree with this guy's clearly stated motives for this series. We think that if you are a Christian, you shouldn't go see it."

People were still free to make up their own minds.


Let's say somebody wrote an anti-D&D book, and for some reason, a movie got made of it. I'd probably say "hey, don't support the movie"; I could see a boycott of such a thing from our site. Does that mean we would be quashing freedom of ideas?

You might decide that you wanted to see the movie, and make a decision for yourself after the fact. I might decide that I didn't want someone profiting from anti D&D propoganda. Would either of us be wrong?


Now, my illustration is clearly hypothetical - such a thing will never happen (because they wouldn't sanitize that script like they did the Golden Compass). But I think the point remains. I don't see the harm in like-minded people banding together to financially disagree with something they disagree with on other levels.

Heh... maybe I just turned this into a forum it shouldn't have been.

...and I'll try to hush.

I'm not saying people should not see this movie or read these books. I think that if the author hadn't made some of the very pointed quotes he has made over the years, this would be a nonissue. After all, I run D&D games in a world without the Christian God; instead, we have a pantheon of deities. I don't see a problem with that - it is fantasy, as is Pullman's work.

All I'm saying is that I don't see anything inherently wrong with boycotting something, and that I do see why the boycott was made an issue.

... that's when I draw the line. A boycott because of content? That's fine as long as it is an informed call to action. When the group calling for the boycott hasn't bothered to see the film...then I have a problem. On the other hand, i have persistently boycotted all the torture-movies-that call-themselves-horror-flicks without seeing a single one, but I'm not pushing for others to observe my beliefs (or taste).

I'm christian, yet when our school board banned the book, I was really upset. We bought our daughter the book as I believe in debate and an open exploration of ideas.

Well simply because I'd rather people read/view and then argue against something they disagree with, rather than anticipate they're going to dislike something and ignore it.

I have no problem with people boycotting or doing whatever it is they want to do. But I don't see how people can make that choice about a novel, when all that boycott is based upon is received wisdom.

*hugs Vanadia* You beat me to the punch.

*hugs Ginafae back* I'm the fastest one hand typist around!

I think the whole Golden Compass thing got started because the movie is about not just "accepting" and doing things because it's what's popular or what the majority believe.

The movie is not anti-religious it's anti-dogma.

BTW... they are making a triliogy of movies.

I'm ashamed to even write this... but this evening we felt like renting a movie. We went to the movie-rental place, and picked up two movies. We were in the mood for a horror movie, so we saw this DVD called 'Diary of a cannibal'. It was based on a true story, (I remember the situation being on the news), and the details on the back sounded alright. AND, it said: from the director of The Boogeyman, a film that we enjoyed a bit.

PLEASE, please, please, if you ever see this movie, ask the owner of the rental place to burn it. It looks like a twelve year old got to play around with bad actors and his new homevideo camera, and just discovered the editing function of windows moviemaker, and had an obsessive compulsion to use the same footage twenty times.

I know we should've checked on imdb.com to reassure a good night of thrills, but man.... it turned out that that movie 'The Boogeyman', was a different one than we thought it was. The director did make a boogeyman movie, but it was in the 1980s, and a different one than we thought.

out of ten stars? A -20....

Oh, the best part of this movie was when they showed the headless body of the victim, with a black spot over his head that looked like it was drawn on it in Paint.

We went and saw The Spiderwick Chronicles this past weekend. Well worth the price of admission!

My daughter has read all of the books, and had no complaints, so apparently, it follows them pretty well. The effects were nice, the acting was good, and there was plenty of humor to keep it fun.

I could quibble that the older sister's fencing skills seemed to translate unrealistically well to slashing swordplay, but yeah, I'd be quibbling. Boy, the girl in the end looks awfully big for six... *smack*. Shut up and enjoy the movie, Olan!

Seriously, a lot of fun... the hobgoblin was great. I can tell you, in good conscience, to see this film.

the spiderwick chronicles! I just heard that these books were co-written by Tony DiTerlizzi, whose art we all loved when he illustrated the 2nd edition Planescape modules! That is awesome. I'm definately checking out that movie.

Thanks for the advice, Olan.

One more thing to add to my last comment: after watching such a bad movie, all other are Masterpieces. Really. Let me watch the remake of 'the Fog' now, and I'll enjoy it!

Sometimes we just get bad ones Almerin.
I think the worst movie I've ever seen was DEFCON 4 followed closely by Dragon Wars.

Paris Hilton's new movie?


WORST MOVIE EVER

Don't ask why I watched it.