I read both Paradise Lost and the Golden Compass in college (different classes) and whether the connection was intentional on the part of the author or something someone else realized, I can see what you're getting at. I haven't read the other books in the series but I am interested to see how they play out in terms of this issue.

And I totally agree that picketing something you've neither read nor seen is just ridiculous. They're only propogating the statement the author made about organized religion... Moo?

or Baaa.
It's a movie. You have the choice to see it or not. Pick one.

That's the only thing I want to see. Bears make the world go 'round.

People protest things all the time without actually testing out the product first. They would rather protest for good measure than pay their money, etc. If you don't agree with the protest, don't protest.

I do see protests as free advertisement. I won't be going to see the Golden Compass until the dollar theater, either way. The bears can wait.

Actually, all the controversy makes me MORE curious about it, so I'll definitely go see it now.

See, you're willing to spend money directly. I can wait until it comes on TV. :p

I got a notice through our Catholic Committtee on Scouting Chairman back in September about this movie. (I had heard of neither the book nor the author until that notice.) It was more of a heads-up rather than a boycott issue. Last week, my son's principal sent a letter home saying that the series was being pulled from the library. (It's a private school.) He said that it was a precautionary measure until this could be sorted out. He also said that none of the books had been checked out since 2000.

:) I'm not involved in this boycott. I just don't pay full price for 99% of the movies I see in theaters.

I watched an interview with Pullman who stated that Paradise Lost was his favourite piece of literature and that he got goosebumps reading it, thus there's a lot of Milton influence within the books.
I just think this is dumb overall-reading Harry Potter won't make you a witch, reading the Golden Compass (Northern Lights in England, some trivia for you) won't make you an atheist.
Come on, armoured bears, different universes, standing up to a wrongful and oppressive institution? Read that into it instead of assuming anyone who reads Pullman stops believing in God.
It's his epic, he's said so himself.

Honestly, my issue with the series is that the books just weren't that good. And I like "teen" fantasy/science fiction.

And, despite the controversy, it appears that the movie's bombing. I doubt that the "boycotts" are the reason for this... The reviews were very underwhelming.

I don't think the issue for many people is really that watching this stuff will "make" you into anything.

The issue is with propaganda and the hypocrisy of ridiculing the existence of some propaganda and agendas while pushing one's own (however overt or subtle it may be). That's like saying that everyone's trying to subtly brainwash the world into thinking something...except you.

It's not as bad as folks like Michael Moore because it's an entertaining and fantastical (is that a word?) spin on it all, but it drives the point home to at least someone.

Its not as bad as eragon is it? That was a painful read. I was going to pick up the pullman books. The movie was fun to watch.

No I think it's better than Eragon. I've read both series... (yeah I can be a bit masochistic and/or obsessive I haven't figured out why)

Eragon is, IMO, an undeveloped, poorly written, story by a bad author. There's potential, but it is so obvious the kid is 15 and if it weren't for Harry Potter and the fact that his parents self-published him, Eragon wouldn't exist.

His Dark Materials is a cool idea. I love Lyra's world, I love the concept of daemons and the subtle knife and all of the environment, and Golden Compass/ Northern Lights is not bad at all. However I think the series is a downward slope where it becomes less about the story and more about Pullman's point. Narnia was so good because you didn't need to read the allegory to love the books. There's no way to avoid the "message" behind HDM because it's so.... OMG in your face.

And I say this as a person who's very fond of alternate reality novels, dystopias, post-apocalyptic, other-worldly fascist societies etc... so the fact that "The Church" is the "bad guy" doesn't inherently bother me. But it was less "Look a story" and more "don't you see my POINT, it's BIG, and DRAMATIC, Religion is BAD"

That said, YMMV, because I've heard some people who love it, some who hated it and they ran the gamut from Conservative Christian to atheist on both sides. I'm just kind of "meh" about it.

eragon was painful...

That's at least 2 hrs of my life I regret...a movie that looked like it was directed by a 15 years from a story a 12 year old wrote....nothing even remotely original...

They should have called Eragon

Lord of the Star Wars: The Fellowship of the Blue Dragon

Oh I refused to watch the movie.

If anyone dislikes Eragon, or enjoys snarky commentary there's a site out there that "sporked" Eragon and even rewrote certain chapters to show how they could be made not to suck.

It also points out thing like how Eragon is somehow drawing a bow and holding several extra arrows, so he probably has three hands, and how they push the horses so far and hard without feeding them or anything that they're probably zombie horses.

And I found the link http://eragon-sporkings.wikispaces.com/