to Dust thou shalt return?

[brightblade_]

Inquirer reader warns against The Golden CompassI agree, the books should probably be PG, especially for really young yet inquiring minds. Granted, I read The Golden Compass when I was 18. It was an enthralling read, if not for the adventure but the whole concept of Dust, metaphoric for innocence and comparable perhaps to Jedis' midichlorians,

Comments

[librarianjessie]

I don't know why some people are so scared about having children read books like this. If parents provide the proper guidance and do not abdicate their role as mentors, then the Golden Compass can be a good springboard for a discussion about faith and religion. However, this applies more to the book than the movie, the latter having avoided much of the theological overtones in favor of the action-adventure part of the story.

The second and third installments though, much like the Matrix series, only served to disappoint.

I liked the Subtle Knife as much as Golden Compass but I do admit that Amber Spyglass suffered from too much philosophical/theological musings and not enough storytelling. My theory is that the latter won the Whitbread Award not purely on its own merit but on the strength of the entire trilogy; much like ROTK won for Best Film, when, IMO, FOTR was actually the best of the three.

[brightblade_]

If parents provide the proper guidance and do not abdicate their role as mentors, then the Golden Compass can be a good springboard for a discussion about faith and religion.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Come to think of it, Subtle Knife was also good, focusing on Will Parry's search for his father, and discovery of the actual Knife. Hmmmm. Maybe I was just really let down by Spyglass. :(

[martea_scryer]

I'm glad librarianjessie made me read it.

I know one mother who wrote/ was thinking of writing a letter of boycott about the 'atheistic' nature of this movie and I'm like, WTF? It doesn't get any plainer that ursula lear's words, "How will children be able to distinguish good from evil if not from fantasy?"

(Its not when kids get older, ponder and then be shattered by thoughts like, "OMG. Bert and Ernie ARE gay???" or like, "Big Bird IS a girl???" ...ok, losing my point...but when we do get older, its something we come back to and I think we become smarter just remembering how it goes knowing principles...) ---Wow. Even I confused myself there. Sorry.