Golden Compass brings meaning to compass deviation

In the world of real compasses, mariners and others deal with something called "deviation." (They also worry about "variation," but that for another time.) Deviation is caused by nearby objects that affect the compass as it seeks out magnetic bearings. To correct deviation, a mariner has to "swing ship." He adjusts the compass, or notes the errors throughout the whole 360 degree swing. It is different for different courses.

In the movie Golden Compass, there is a lot of compass error. Last night some of us were discussing the movie. As Cindy said, it is "episodic." It consists of scenes of special effects or "exciting content" which don't seem linked together in any particular order. In fact, some episodes were moved in their order from the book, without any real damage. Where was the plot?

And, where was character development? The relationships, a serious part of the book, were totally gone in the movie. No Lyra and Roger, no Lyra and Farder Coram. Mrs. Coulter, perhaps the best developed character in the movie, was not nearly as impressive in her power and nastiness as she is in the book. In the book, lofur Raknison,the Bear King, is a developed character we can dislike. There is internal cheering going on when he dies in a gory death. The death isn't even gory in the movie, and he seems like a character who has to die to make way for a new king. We miss all of his "human like" sinful ways that the book delivers.

The book is packed with biblical allusion. It is mostly gone from the movie. Either the screenwriters and director missed it, or they supposed (rightly) that we wouldn't miss it. Pullman knows his Bible, but you wouldn't know it from watching the movie. The great Simeon-in-the-temple scene is shortened and the words put on the lips of another character. The Moses analogy with lorek Byrnison exiled for unlawful killing in anger is not only gone, but his reason for exile is changed!

The Compass itself, an "alethiometer," from the Greek word, aletheia, is just an instrument, with perphaps a bit of supernatural thrown in. In the book, there is much more of a metaphysical sense in which Lyra becomes more than just a compass reader.

So, as a Christian reader, I found much to interact with in the book. The children's movie was just a children's movie, and not a very good one.