Comments on: How Hollywood Saved God

By: Aaron

Aaron — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 19:50:27 +0000

“sighâ€¦ i really wanted to wait for the films release to make any judgments about the film, but reading all this is really depressing.

what a shame.”

Then do. This article tells us nothing we didn’t already know, and what it does tell us, it says with a spin. Remain optimistic, see the movie, and don’t condemn it until you actually know what it’s like. Presumptions based on slanted journalism are completely out of place.

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 13:56:41 +0000

I don’t understand how they will even do the second and especially the third movie without religious elements. I mean, what are they going to totally remove the angels? The third book is all about religion, its the “bigger picture” to the whole adventure. Are they going to replace “God” with some magesterium kingpin and have to fight him…not in the clouded mountain, no…just on earth in some big palace? And how will they draw so much emotion in Will and Lyra’s parting if the reason they are separating is obscured?

By: cc

cc — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 09:04:29 +0000

Just a quick message for green ink here. This may seem very after the fact as there is a swathe of comments inbetween your last posting but although i’m not a massive Alan Moore fan I do admire his integrity. DC comics own the rights to a lot of his work (which he thought would revert back to him after a certain time, DC found a way round this though) and it is precisely because he has had such a raw deal with adaptations that he now only publishes his work through companies that allow him to keep the rights to his work. He isn’t a hypocrite, just a man who has wised up to the way that corporate America works. Similarly Pullman sold the rights to Northern Lights before the acclaim really came his way, so he relinquished control over a film version of the story before it became important to so many people. Of course Pullman wants a good version of his story but he doesn’t have to endorse this product, which is what it has become. I’m personally not looking forward to walking down the streets of my local town and sees the umpteenth armoured bear happy meal packaging discarded as litter but that is neither here nor there.

By: australis

australis — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 06:31:32 +0000

(dreams…)The film doesn’t bomb, but doesn’t make a mint, either. New Line decide they never did like HDM all that much anyway, and sell the rights for the next two films to an English production company, or French, or German, or, heck, ANYBODY that will not be afraid to give the story a little depth and meaning. This mythical production company then reshoots excised scenes from TGC and re-releases it, with the promise of making the sequels true to the spirit of the source material. (sigh) Dream on…

Back in the real world…

As I see it now, the NL sequels could go two ways. 1. The kiddies liked it, lets dumb down the next two to the same degree and we can’t miss! 2. TGC made us buckets of money, let’s say to hell with the whinging fundamentalist religeous minority, and make two films that show Hollywood can confound the critics and have some artistic integrity after all.

OK people, based on past experience, what’s the more likely?

I really wonder if any NL execs actually read HDM to the end, and thought, yes, we’re happy with showing the death of a god-figure, a war on heaven, the possibility of intimacy between children (depending how you read it), and (to many people) one hell of a downer of an ending.

They’re presumably smart enough to know what they would be getting themselves into, but you really do wonder.

An emasculated TGC may be a success, but given the poor box office of fantasy films of late (and TGC will be classed as that by many people who do not know the books) TGC may do no better. Retaining the religeous/philosophical aspects of the story may have garnered more controversy (read publicity) but we would surely have ended up with a richer, more memorable cinema experience.

As PP has said, they haven’t done anything to his books, they’re still there sitting on the shelf. Trouble is, after a film is made of a book, with good, bad or indifferent results, one’s perception of the book cannot help but be influenced by the movie. Usually not for the better.

By: OH MY GOD! They Killed God! Those Bastards! « ProcrastinatioNation

OH MY GOD! They Killed God! Those Bastards! « ProcrastinatioNation — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 23:15:45 +0000

[...] knows that if he whines too much the big mean studio will pull the plug on the next two movies. Bridgetothestars.net[5] summarizes his stand (culled from an article in Atlantic Monthly, subscription access). [...]

By: Jonnie

Jonnie — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 20:36:05 +0000

HA! Elvine, it’s so true! The entire message of mature curiosity and reflective interpretation and free thought is exactly what is being sucked out of this adaptation in a liposuction tube. The Church and the Executive Producers are acting just as Pullman has them acting in his radically perceptive novels. This could very well be the most ironic film of all time!

By: Lux

Lux — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 11:52:30 +0000

Well Debbie, you could also see it the other way around. Maybe they cut the ending -because- they haven’t yet decided what to do. In that sense maybe they’re doing us a favour by waiting TSK to release those scenes with their full religious message.

But if there’s one thing I’m sure of, is that we won’t see God in the movies. The Authority won’t be a God that is also a evil ruler, but rather an evil ruler that also claims to be God. In that perspective the Magisterium being openly showed as a religious institution or not in TGC isn’t that important.

I’m worried abut the movie, I admit it. But I still have a bit of trust. I want to have it.

By: Elvine

Elvine — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 11:16:50 +0000

*Raises hand*
I volunteer to be Philip Pullman’s media coach! Mr Pullman, whenever you are asked if the film represents the message in your novel, just answer “more than I could ever imagine”.

By: Debbie

Debbie — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 10:38:42 +0000

â€œThen just tell me how they could make TSK and TAS without -any- reference to religion.â€

Quite honestly I really donâ€™t know, personally I donâ€™t think you could and that is why Iâ€™m now wondering if they are having second thoughts about making them at all.

The article confirms that New Line have sanitised the storyline to the point where they are terrified to mention the word â€˜sinâ€™ in reference to dust, if they are really that scared about it what else will have to be changed or re-worded to fit? Is a Daemon now just an animal companion and not a soul? I know that the final scene is now attached to TSK and the climate may change by the time they make and release it, but the films wonâ€™t flow right at all if there is no mention of the church or religion in TGC and then bang itâ€™s prevalent throughout the other two. I also think if all references are cut from TCG then New Line are going to be in a quandary, they are not going to know how or even if they should introduce those themes later on. Isnâ€™t it going to seem more of a risk to introduce religion to the TSK and AS if TGC has been a success without it?

I honestly donâ€™t think their main issue is whether people will go to see a fantasy movie, if you remove the deeper themes then pretty much all HDM is is a fantasy and that is all they seem to be marketing it as. I personally think itâ€™s the fact that they have bottled it when it comes to the darker themes of the books, thatâ€™s pretty much confirmed by what the New Line execs and other things in that article. They bought the rights to HDM a while back and now are having second thoughts about whether they want to make them, or at least make them loyally.

As I said above, I really, really hope Iâ€™m wrong despite everything I still want to be able to love this movie, I just think itâ€™s becoming increasing less likely that I will love it as an adaptation to the book.

By: Lux

Lux — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 09:58:23 +0000

Then just tell me how they could make TSK and TAS without -any- reference to religion.

IMO, it’s clear that this is a test-movie. It’s made to gather as many people as possible and check if the movie audience still likes fantasy movies: if it’s a succes they’ll probably include the religious themes later, if it’s a failure… well, I guess we could just wait 20 years like the LOTR fans did…