Issue date: 12/6/07 Section: Editorial/Opinion

"The Golden Compass," a New Line Cinema film starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, is set to be released in theaters nationwide tomorrow. And, not surprisingly, it is receiving a large amount of criticism and stirring a lot of debates.

The problem comes from the boycott the New York-based Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights called for in October, according to the CNN.com article.

In another article from CNN "Catholic Group to Boycott 'The Golden Compass,'" the Catholic League expressed how the film "is not the harmless fantasy it appears to be. It is an entrée to the anti-religious writings of its avowedly atheist creator."

I cannot defend author Philip Pullman, whose first installment of the "His Dark Materials" trilogy inspired "The Golden Compass." I haven't read the book, so I have no right to defend or attack the series, which is said to be anti-faith, anti-Catholic and pro-atheism based. However, what I do feel qualified to attack is the Catholic League calling for a boycott of the film.

The boycott, according to the second CNN article, is aimed toward preventing parents from being baited into buying the books for their children. The fear is that the parent will buy the books based upon the film, which has taken out a large portion of the anti-religious elements, and end up letting their children read a book series that promotes atheism or agnosticism.

By calling for a boycott, the League has done something that no trailer placed on television or before another movie could do, and that's get people interested for no apparent reason. I'll be the first to admit that when I originally saw the first trailer for the film, I had to hold back my giggling in order to not irritate the other film-goers surrounding me because it looked that bad.

However, because of the controversy surrounding the film, I did something I had not done in two years; purchase an evening ticket to a movie, in this case, the advanced screening of "The Golden Compass" on Saturday, at Greng's London Theatre.

The revelation that I would go see a movie based on controversy is nothing new, as I tend to go see any movie that has controversy surrounding it just to give it a chance and see if the criticism is warranted. The problem is, I am not the only one who does this, and if I was able to be sucked in by the controversy of the boycott, more than likely, others will too.

And those who do, especially parents, will find a movie that will obviously appeal to kids. The film, as previously stated, has had religious elements taken out. A parent will look at the film and likely think that the books are fine for kids to read. I understand this is why the League is calling for the boycott, but the opposite of what they want to happen will in fact happen because of it.

Continued...

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