Golden Compass- Movie vs Book

¶ … Golden Compass- Movie vs Book

One of the three books by Philip Pullman, The Golden Compass, was made into a movie in 2007 starring Nicole Kidman. The movie opened amidst much controversy as many struggled with the question if this movie would be suitable for all audiences especially children since the book already had proven rather heavy reading for young children. But when the movie finally came out, many parents must have heaved a sigh of relief as they noticed that a long had been changed from the book to make this movie more attractive to a broader audience. But to all Pullman fans, the changes were rather disappointing. Why turn a challenging book into an almost timid movie that fails to address some of many hard-hitting issues that book had become famous for? Readers who had loved the book couldn't find anything to love in the movie since they knew so much more than what they saw on the screen. And that is where the movie failed when compared to the book. It was a rather dismal attempt by New Line Cinema to mellow down an otherwise perfectly delightful book. But how did it fare otherwise? Was the movie good enough for those who had not read the book yet? As it turns out, the movie captured the audiences globally even though it was no match for the book.

The one main difference comes in the way the movie depicted the story. Instead of using the mysterious subtle storytelling method of Pullman's book, the movie was more straightforward and predictable. For example in the book, Pullman chose not to explain what a daemon was. The readers were expected to know the reality of daemons as the story unfolds. They guessed, and then guessed again until they finally realized that daemons were souls that guide us to our destinies. Pullman doesn't try to end the mystery of daemons by giving long explanations of what they were. The reverse was true for the movie which explained early in the opening sequence what daemons represented. That was like killing the mystery before it had a chance to emerge as anything substantial.

The changes were also pronounced near the ending due to religious protests that had emerged when the movie was announced. Pullman was called an atheist who was against organized religion and some said, he was out there to tarnish Christianity. As it turns out, the movie was nothing like the book in its intensity against religious dogma. This change was intentional. The film was not trying to make a statement and hence was not as radical. However the lack of intensity had a dulling effect on the movie. Pullman admits that he is an atheist: "Although I call myself an atheist I am a Church of England atheist, and a 1662 Book of Common Prayer atheist, because that's the tradition I was brought up in and I cannot escape those early influences" (quoted in Killing the Imposter God: Phillip Pullman's Spiritual Imagination in "His Dark Materials," 2007, JosseyBass)…but did the book try to attack the organized religion? This is one question that each individual needs to answer for himself. It is only when you have the answer that you can understand the changes in the movie. The movie is clearly devoid of controversial material but it still challenges old mind-sets and fixed ideas about faith. Instead of targeting relgion as an organized insitutue, it seels to address the very nature of faith without specifically targeting Christianity.

In some ways then, the movie version is more suitable for children. It helps them ask some questions whil enjoys the magnificent beauty of the fantasy world. On the other hand, it lacks strength of the book. The book is however not suitable for children, especially pre-teens. For one, it is too heavy for them to fully comprehend or even digest and hence leaves a lot of room for explanation. But it doesn't raise some questions and many give some teens a chance to ask some difficult questions and then seek answers.

For me, it was very much like the book, The Gulliver's Travels, which was a massive work of imagination but still contained a deep political meaning which I never could possibly understand till I reached college. To this day, I am quite certain that many children read Gulliver's Travels as a fantasy where giants and little people collide. However anyone who has read it as an adult knows very well what the book's core message was.