Lord Valumart Pictures presents...

According to this article, the director for the upcoming His Dark Materials movie is trying to remove the anti-religious material in the trilogy.



Are you KIDDING me?



According to the director's agent, "You have to recognise that it is a challenge in the climate of Bush's America." Yes, and that's precisely why Pullman's books have been a huge worldwide hit; a lot of people are very skeptical of what's been happening in the name of religion, and Pullman's books are a expertly written great story that doesn't pander to conventional Christianity. If they want another "Holes"--if all New Line thought it was buying was another YA book-to-movie franchise--well, then, that's exactly what they'll get. On the other hand, the fundamentalists attacked Harry Potter, and that series has done pretty well. Perhaps you've heard of it.



Bush's America doesn't only mean that there are a lot of evangelicals around. It means that everybody else is being welded together by what THEY believe, too. And they will support things that they like, just as fiercely as the evangelicals do. If Harry Potter doesn't ring a bell, perhaps New Line has heard of a little movie called "Fahrenheit 9/11"?



Anyway, it's not like they have a choice, not really. If anybody at New Line thinks for ONE SECOND that they can win over hard-line American evangelicals they are mistaken. Do you think somebody who thinks Lutherans are going to Hell is going to watch the Pullman movies? People that threatened by swipes at organized religion (not God, but God's self-appointed representatives on Earth) are morons, and no worthwhile artistic expression ever begins with, "Okay, first, let's make sure the morons like it."



I'm not simply plucking "moron" out of the air, I've considered it. My dictionary defines it as a "person with an intelligence quotient between 50 and 70." (Average is 100.) In other words, adults with severely impaired critical and intellectual faculties--which is what you'd have to have to not recognize that organized religion has been a very mixed bag. It has done many good things, but also been one of the most destructive forces in human history. This is an historical fact. I wish it weren't so, it gives me no pleasure to say so, but the fact that George Bush is President of the US doesn't change that reality. Organized religion allows us to re-make God in our own flawed image, and so we all--ESPECIALLY those of us involved in organized religions which, full-disclosure, I am not--must be very skeptical of groups of people claiming the authority of the Creator.



Getting back to Pullman: what we "have to recognise" is "that it is a challenge" to do worthwhile art of any sort "in the climate of Bush's America", as it is becoming increasingly anti-intellectual, anti-experimentation, anti-questioning, anti-creative thought. While this sucks for individual artists, it's an opportunity for the Pullman movies to be not just filmic translations of great fantasy, but a powerful statement that desperately needs to be heard. I give Pullman an immense amount of credit for writing the books he has, and specifically for the tough-minded, rationalist, pro-individual, pro-human aspects of that world. I cannot believe that he would then allow those aspects to be tampered with without a fight. If it was important enough to say to readers, it's even more important to show to viewers, being as there are more of the latter. I suspect that there's a fight going on behind-the-scenes, with a lot of anguish and yelling and examining of contracts. I hope to gosh there is, otherwise this is starting to smell like a Lord Valumart production, and Pullman's books--and fans--deserve better.