Dark Materials movie softens book’s attacks on Catholic church

Vanessa Thorpe, arts and media correspondent

Sunday October 14, 2007

The Observer

One of the key religious themes of Philip Pullman’s award-winning series of children’s novels, His Dark Materials, has been watered down to appeal to a wider audience in the new Hollywood film version of the first book. The original story’s rejection of organised religion, and in particular of the historic abuse of power in the Catholic Church, has been altered to avoid offending followers of the faith in the UK and in America.

The film, which stars Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, is called The Golden Compass after the American title of Pullman’s novel Northern Lights and has followed his magical narrative very closely in most respects. The characterisation of the sinister organisation known as the Magisterium has, however, been changed, so that the film will now appear to be a more general attack on dogmatic authorities of every kind.

Northern Lights, the book which first introduced readers to Pullman’s 12-year-old heroine, Lyra, is as dear to its many fans as JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and JK Rowling’s Harry Potter saga, so tampering with the philosophical content is not likely to be welcomed when the film is released before Christmas.

While Pullman himself has said he believes ‘the outline of the story is faithful to what I wrote, given my knowledge of what they have done’, the National Secular Society – of which the author is an honorary associate – has now spoken out against the changes.

‘It was clear right from the start that the makers of this film intended to take out the anti-religious elements of Pullman’s book,’ said Terry Sanderson, president of the society. ‘In doing that they are taking the heart out of it, losing the point of it, castrating it. It seems that religion has now completely conquered America’s cultural life and it is much the poorer for it. What a shame that we have to endure such censorship here too.’

Kidman has said the critical stance of the film ‘has been watered down a little … I was raised Catholic, the Catholic Church is part of my essence,’ she told film journalists in Australia in the summer. ‘I wouldn’t be able to do this film if I thought it were at all anti-Catholic.’

The book tells of Lyra’s quest to rescue a kidnapped friend and then charts her efforts to save the fantastical world she inhabits. She has to fight the forces of the dominant religious authority, the Magisterium, which condones the abduction of children for experimentation.

At a preview of footage staged at the Cannes Film Festival in the spring, director Chris Weitz, best known for directing About A Boy, said the film would be a fair retelling of Pullman’s tale.

‘In the books the Magisterium is a version of the Catholic church gone wildly astray from its roots. If that’s what you want in the film, you’ll be disappointed,’ he admitted, but added: ‘We have expanded the range of meanings of what the Magisterium represents. Philip Pullman is against any kind of organised dogma whether it is church hierarchy or, say, a Soviet hierarchy.’

Kidman, who plays the role of Marisa Coulter, had always been Pullman’s ideal choice for the role. He sent her signed copies of the trilogy before he signed a film deal. Craig is playing Lord Asriel and a 12-year-old newcomer, Dakota Blue Richards, from Sussex, takes the role of Lyra.

Reality versus fiction

The Roman Catholic Church’s Magisterium

The body consists of the bishops and the Pope. ‘The task of interpreting the Word of God authentically has been entrusted solely to the Magisterium of the Church.’ (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. 1997, pt. 1, sect. 1, ch. 2, art. 2, III.)

Pullman’s Magisterium

In the parallel universe set up by Pullman in his series His Dark Materials, Magisterium becomes the name of a dark and malevolent religious organisation that perpetrates abuse, torture and murder.

Hollywood’s Magisterium

The Golden Compass, the new film version of Pullman’s Northern Lights, will represent the Magisterium as a catch-all didactic authority. It will now stand for the evils perpetrated by any non-democratic, powerful government.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,,2190947,00.html