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The Golden Compass (film)
Jul. 17th, 2008 04:12 pmIt's one of those slug days when it's dark and rainy and humid and everyone else is cold, only I feel hot and sweaty. Figures. According to my doctor's appointment this morning, I'm still only 1 cm dilated and nothing is really happening. Rats. We get to walk to the school tonight for a concert, though, so hopefully that will help things along. After that the kid is welcome to come as far as I'm concerned.
Anyhow, so everyone is home and homework is at a minimum because of the concert and I accidentally told DH to pick up daughter 1 early from kindergarten (she was supposed to stay for gymnastics, only I forgot what day it was and didn't pack her a lunch). And instead of doing anything useful, I just watched The Golden Compass. I've read this book, but it's been ten years, and I didn't remember the details. Actually, that made it better to evaluate the movie. And this is what I have to say: mercifully, Hollywood made the anti-religious aspects way more palatable. I can handle standing up for free will and fighting against people who want to control your mind. The ability to exercise one's free will is a very important part of my own religious beliefs. I liked how they left out the insinuations that the Magisterium was religion. (I read the second book, where those elements were WAAAAAY overplayed, and couldn't stomach the thought of the third. I don't like messagy books, and I really don't like books that attempt to persecute others for their beliefs and say they're stupid. Which I felt was a big part of Pullman's agenda.) Anyhow. The movie was way better in this regard. It also had nice acting and scenes. And the idea of separating the kids from their daemons was sufficiently creepily portrayed.
Where the movie failed, of course, was where most book-to-movie adaptations fail: it didn't create a holistic story with appropriate transitions. I know you have to leave things out, but the difficulty is getting the remaining parts to connect. The whole bit with Lord Asrael sort of fell out of the story early on, and the bit about dust didn't really mesh at all with the suddenly let's-rescue-the-kidnapped-kids. I fear that when I write, I get into scenes, and then I'm not sure how to tie it all together to really mean something, so I think I'd like to see some examples of book to film adaptations that did work. I need to study successful jumps from one section to the other, and figure out how to make it all balanced and work towards a unifying point.
Okay, Smallest Child is now shrieking in the kitchen for help with something. This is the kid who has had no nap, who went to bed at nine last night and woke up at ten and spent some time wandering around, refusing to sleep. Then she was up again at 4 am, and back up at 7. I'm actually feeling just a tiny bit tired. Sleep, people!
Anyhow, so everyone is home and homework is at a minimum because of the concert and I accidentally told DH to pick up daughter 1 early from kindergarten (she was supposed to stay for gymnastics, only I forgot what day it was and didn't pack her a lunch). And instead of doing anything useful, I just watched The Golden Compass. I've read this book, but it's been ten years, and I didn't remember the details. Actually, that made it better to evaluate the movie. And this is what I have to say: mercifully, Hollywood made the anti-religious aspects way more palatable. I can handle standing up for free will and fighting against people who want to control your mind. The ability to exercise one's free will is a very important part of my own religious beliefs. I liked how they left out the insinuations that the Magisterium was religion. (I read the second book, where those elements were WAAAAAY overplayed, and couldn't stomach the thought of the third. I don't like messagy books, and I really don't like books that attempt to persecute others for their beliefs and say they're stupid. Which I felt was a big part of Pullman's agenda.) Anyhow. The movie was way better in this regard. It also had nice acting and scenes. And the idea of separating the kids from their daemons was sufficiently creepily portrayed.
Where the movie failed, of course, was where most book-to-movie adaptations fail: it didn't create a holistic story with appropriate transitions. I know you have to leave things out, but the difficulty is getting the remaining parts to connect. The whole bit with Lord Asrael sort of fell out of the story early on, and the bit about dust didn't really mesh at all with the suddenly let's-rescue-the-kidnapped-kids. I fear that when I write, I get into scenes, and then I'm not sure how to tie it all together to really mean something, so I think I'd like to see some examples of book to film adaptations that did work. I need to study successful jumps from one section to the other, and figure out how to make it all balanced and work towards a unifying point.
Okay, Smallest Child is now shrieking in the kitchen for help with something. This is the kid who has had no nap, who went to bed at nine last night and woke up at ten and spent some time wandering around, refusing to sleep. Then she was up again at 4 am, and back up at 7. I'm actually feeling just a tiny bit tired. Sleep, people!
