The Golden Compass

[JohnnyLingo]

Originally Posted by creekster

I gathered. My point is that I did listen to the first and second books (books on CD, as I mentioned in the thread) so I feel like I have a pretty good idea about the books.

I don't find the books threatening nor do I find them unacceptable. In fact, and this is sincere and not meant as a sarcastic comment at all, I think anyone's kids are much better off reading this sort of book and discussing it with a parent, as my 9 year old did, than they are watching the Disney channel for a couple of hours. Seriously, I am more disturbed at how twisted some of the Disney channel stuff is in terms of how a family works, what is acceptable behavior for children, especially as they interact with adults and authority figures, and the value they place on important aspects of growing up, such as education and maturity. Now I can certainly appreciate that you might have a different view, and for YOUR 9 year old His Dark Materials might not be appropriate. For mine, however, I think they work out fine and are a good jumping off point for a lot of discussions about alot of topics such as faith, death, the spirit, symbolism, etc. To each his own.

You make some excellent points. I'd feel much better about my kid reading it if they discussed it afterwards. And Disney in general does seem to teach certain values that are not in line with what the church teaches.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by JohnnyLingo

And Disney in general does seem to teach certain values that are not in line with what the church teaches.

Bashing Disney? I may learn to like you after all.

[bluegoose]

Originally Posted by creekster

I gathered. My point is that I did listen to the first and second books (books on CD, as I mentioned in the thread) so I feel like I have a pretty good idea about the books.

I don't find the books threatening nor do I find them unacceptable. In fact, and this is sincere and not meant as a sarcastic comment at all, I think anyone's kids are much better off reading this sort of book and discussing it with a parent, as my 9 year old did, than they are watching the Disney channel for a couple of hours. Seriously, I am more disturbed at how twisted some of the Disney channel stuff is in terms of how a family works, what is acceptable behavior for children, especially as they interact with adults and authority figures, and the value they place on important aspects of growing up, such as education and maturity. Now I can certainly appreciate that you might have a different view, and for YOUR 9 year old His Dark Materials might not be appropriate. For mine, however, I think they work out fine and are a good jumping off point for a lot of discussions about alot of topics such as faith, death, the spirit, symbolism, etc. To each his own.

You bring up an interesting point here. A good friend of mine who was recently released as a bishop points out that getting the youth of the ward to read ANYTHING was half of the challenge of getting them to read their scriptures regularly. A lot of the kids that he counselled hated reading anything, let alone the scriptures. IMO, if your 9 year kid is reading anything, encourage it. Hopefully his developing love of reading will eventually transition into a love of reading gospel related stuff as well.

[SeattleUte]

creekster doesn't have to apologize for his kids appreciating what is recognized as young adult literature of a high caliber. We're talking about art here. Sophisticated art is supposed to be subversive as it entertains. creekster's kids are better off for learning to process and think about well crafted and thematically rich literature regardless of the conent.

[myboynoah]

So I'm painting one of my girls' bedrooms last night and my wife comes in to provide interesting and enjoyable conversation. My daughter follows.

After talking a few minutes my wife mentions that she just received an email from a ward member about these books written by an atheist which were being made into movies and that the email was a call to arms against such indoctrination of our youth (I'm hoping a real book and CD burning). I could tell she was buying into all this (she is very vigilant about protecting the children from questionable influences, something for which I am eternally grateful) and noted the name of the book as "The Golden Compass" by some guy named Pullman.

Before I could try to give some context to the whole thing based on my limited knowledge from CG, my daughter chimes in, "Oh, I read those books."

Wife: "What?!?!?"

What ensued was a comical, hysteria-deflating discussion and education by our daughters on Pullman's trilogy. Both read the series as required by their previous school and were a little floored that the books would engender such controversy. They viewed them more in the fantasy genre and I guess missed the anti-God stuff (or maybe it's there until one day someone shows them the queen of spades and they don Ute gear and go into action). They thought them "okay." Stinkin' Harry Potter rules in our home.

We also talked about Dumbledor being gay, and I argued that he really isn't gay since that which gives him life is the published word, and that word has never overtly described him as such. Hence, if anything, neuter.

The womenfolk in my family think I'm nuts.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by myboynoah

So I'm painting one of my girls' bedrooms last night and my wife comes in to provide interesting and enjoyable conversation. My daughter follows.

After talking a few minutes my wife mentions that she just received an email from a ward member about these books written by an atheist which were being made into movies and that the email was a call to arms against such indoctrination of our youth (I'm hoping a real book and CD burning). I could tell she was buying into all this (she is very vigilant about protecting the children from questionable influences, something for which I am eternally grateful) and noted the name of the book as "The Golden Compass" by some guy named Pullman.

Before I could try to give some context to the whole thing based on my limited knowledge from CG, my daughter chimes in, "Oh, I read those books."

Wife: "What?!?!?"

What ensued was a comical, hysteria-deflating discussion and education by our daughters on Pullman's trilogy. Both read the series as required by their previous school and were a little floored that the books would engender such controversy. They viewed them more in the fantasy genre and I guess missed the anti-God stuff (or maybe it's there until one day someone shows them the queen of spades and they don Ute gear and go into action). They thought them "okay." Stinkin' Harry Potter rules in our home.

We also talked about Dumbledor being gay, and I argued that he really isn't gay since that which gives him life is the published word, and that word has never overtly described him as such. Hence, if anything, neuter.

The womenfolk in my family think I'm nuts.

Good story.

That whole Dumbledore thing is bizarre. At first glance it seems like a cheap publicity stunt, but that is difficult to believe since it hardly seems that she needs more attention. Perhaps her success has gone to her head and she views her fictional characters as larger than life.

[creekster]

MBN's daughter's reaction to Pullman's books was pretty much like my son's except mine preferred Pullman to Potter by quite a margin.

[nikuman]

Originally Posted by creekster

I gathered. My point is that I did listen to the first and second books (books on CD, as I mentioned in the thread) so I feel like I have a pretty good idea about the books.

I don't find the books threatening nor do I find them unacceptable. In fact, and this is sincere and not meant as a sarcastic comment at all, I think anyone's kids are much better off reading this sort of book and discussing it with a parent, as my 9 year old did, than they are watching the Disney channel for a couple of hours. Seriously, I am more disturbed at how twisted some of the Disney channel stuff is in terms of how a family works, what is acceptable behavior for children, especially as they interact with adults and authority figures, and the value they place on important aspects of growing up, such as education and maturity. Now I can certainly appreciate that you might have a different view, and for YOUR 9 year old His Dark Materials might not be appropriate. For mine, however, I think they work out fine and are a good jumping off point for a lot of discussions about alot of topics such as faith, death, the spirit, symbolism, etc. To each his own.

This is a point I can get behind. My wife and I are both Disney fans - and we both HATE the shows that are on the Disney channel for this reason.

[SteelBlue]

The wife and I caught a movie last week with a few other LDS couples. As we were leaving the theater my wife commented on the poster for The Golden Compass which set off two of the women immediately. They initially launched into a point by point tirade that was straight from the email (without giving any credit to the email). I told them I'd seen the same email they obviously had (at this point they admitted that's where they got their info) and that such email campaigns virtually ensure that I will be purchasing a ticket to said movie. Upon further questioning, not one of these ladies has read any of the books in question but they have bought into the email 100%.

[Flystripper]

The grass roots campeign has already begun in our ward. Some people have already started sending emails telling all who will listen to boycott the movie and to not let your children read the book. My wife wants to do a reply all and rip into the emailers but she is more confrontational than I. The emails just make me want to read the books and have the family go to the movies for family home evening.