In this month’s Atlantic, there’s a piece by Hanna Rosin called How Hollywood Saved God. In it she describes the making of the film of “The Golden Compass”, based on the first book of Philip Pullman’s famous trilogy. I loved the novels, and like many other fans I was worried about how New Line Cinema would treat the strong anti-religious themes of the books. Sadly, it appears that they have eviscerated the story, eliminating religious references and transforming the Magisterium into a cross between the Third Reich and George Lucas’s Evil Empire.
I can’t say that this was unexpected. Nevertheless, I had consoled myself with the thought that at least the films would be a ‘gateway drug’, taking advantage of the Potter-fuelled enthusiasm for children’s literature to get people of all ages reading Pullman’s novels. I hadn’t taken account of the pusillanimous nature of American publishers. Here’s Rosin; the emphasis is mine:

In The Amber Spyglass, a former nun turned physicist guides Lyra to her destiny using clues from the I Ching. The physicist divines that she should tell Lyra the story of when she was 12 years old at a birthday party and a boy “took a bit of marzipan and he just gently put it in my mouth,” and she fell in love.
This simple story sets off salvation. When she hears it, Lyra “felt something strange happen to her body. She felt a stirring at the roots of her hair: she found herself breathing faster.” (At least that’s what she felt in the British edition; the American version leaves these lines out.)

Aargh! What else have they left out or bowdlerized? Sometimes this totally screwed-up American attitude towards sexuality just makes me want to spit! I guess it’s time to place an order with Amazon.co.uk for a set of the original editions, just like I had to do with the early Harry Potter books.
I’m still looking forward to seeing the film: I hear that Nicole Kidman’s performance is almost perfect. I just know that when I’m sitting there in the cinema, I’ll be thinking about a slightly different story from most of the rest of the audience…