By:Allie Martin
The Golden Compass opened this past weekend at theaters nationwide and was preceded by a massive publicity campaign. Dr. Ted Baehr says previews for the New Line Cinema release, which show a little girl riding a polar bear, may seem innocent. But he cautions that parents should not let their children see the much-hyped movie.
Baehr, the founder and publisher of MovieGuide, points out that the film is based on the first in a trilogy of children’s books by avowed atheist Philip Pullman, who has said he wants to undermine Christianity and the church. The film, says Baehr, depicts the church as an organization bent on power and control.
While admitting the movie is not as overtly anti-Christian as the books, the Christian media critic says the film has no redeeming qualities.
“Actually the director decided to tone down the atheism until the second and third [movie], so what he wants to do is just set up the second and third,” Baehr explains. “In fact, the Wall Street Journal said this really is not a movie, it’s just a preview for the next movie. That said, the movie has a lot of bad stuff in it.”
He cites an example. “One of them is the mother [who], although she’s supposed to be the bad person, shows tenderness, and the daughter tries to kill her mother,” he says. And another involves Lyra, one of the main characters in the movie.
“Lyra is commended in the movie for lying. She uses lying to get out of problems,” Baehr notes. “She instigates battles; she hurts people. She really doesn’t exhibit much love. In fact, the only thing that you can say that’s good about her is that she’s told that she is a messianic figure because she is going to destroy and abolish all authority.” That aspect of the plot — abolishing authority — is Marxist in nature, says Baehr.
While the box office take for Compass fell considerably short of its expected $30-$40 million for its opening weekend — pulling in a modest $25.8 million from 3,528 locations — it was clearly the biggest draw for the three-day period. Still, it is being termed a disappointing debut. A spokesmen for New Line Cinema tells USA Today that the criticism from religious groups may have had an effect, but that “historically” such comment “tends to be ineffective.”
That remains to be seen. Baehr believes that if The Golden Compass does not do well at the box office, sequels based on the second and third books may never make it to the big screen.
(Source: OneNewsNow.com)
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