forewarned is forearmed

I'm dismayed to see that Philip Pullman's book The Golden Compass is currently in post-production by New Line Cinema (the ones who brought us the exceptional Lord of the Rings movies).

I read this book several years ago, since it was being marketed specifically to children who were impatiently waiting for the next Potter to come out.

I recall the amazing characters, the compelling plot. And the unease that grew within me with every passing page. "He (Pullman) can't be saying what I think he's saying," I recall thinking to myself. I finished the first book, gravely unsure. I bought the second and third books in the trilogy. And finished them. And was floored.

Pullman's books offer a great read, no doubt. But who is the hero, and who is the villain? The villain, as you read on, is no less than God Himself. And the hero is Lord Asriel--whom we later learn is chief of the fallen angels. Mrs. Coulter (Lord Asriel's estranged wife) represents the Church. A vicious, conniving, frightening woman she is, too. We later learn that the main character, Lyra, is the child of Asriel and Mrs. Coulter. Did I mention that all the characters in Lyra's universe (a parallel one to ours) have daemons? A physical manifestation of a human's soul in animal form, of the opposite gender (nods to Carl Jung). By the final book, the epic battle between Asriel and the other fallen angels leads to the overthrow of God Himself and the creation of the Republic of Heaven.

And this is marketed to children.

I don't know how deeply New Line will delve into the anti-God, anti-religious themes of the trilogy. Maybe it will just play out as a girl on a quest to find a family. But some kids, after having seen the movie, will just have to read the books. And parents need to know. They just need to know about this, to determine if this is something to avoid, or to read with great amounts of supervision and discussion.

Just KNOW, parents. KNOW what your children are being exposed to.