The Golden Marketing Compass

When the film The Golden Compass was first hitting my consumer radar I dismissed it as yet another film riding the fantasy special effects gravy train in the wake of the success of The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. It looked decent, but my interest was minimal. Then I discovered that a former victim of my postcard terrorism did animation work on the film. That kicked it up a notch on the go-and-check-it-out list. But now the Catholic League has called for a boycott of the film.

And the people who brought you the Inquisition don't usually take dissent lying down. The Catholic publisher Ignatius Press is currently offering a book on Pullman titled "Pied Piper of Atheism." The Catholic group Family Life Center has posted "An Urgent Warning for Parents" cautioning that after seeing the film, children "will rush out to buy and digest Pullman's God-hating and Catholic-bashing books. Philip Pullman's work is about to bring millions of children into contact with the demonic."

But the biggest outcry has come from the Catholic League. In the last few weeks, the League's call for a boycott has been reported in a slew of newspapers and television news outlets, including CBS News, Entertainment Weekly and Newsweek. Not a bad return for an organization that, as Kathy Griffin has noted, appears to be "one dude with a computer." On its Web site, the League's president and sole spokesman Bill Donohue rails that "No parent who wants to bring their children up in the faith will want any part of these books." After seeing the "watered down" film, however, unwary parents may be inspired to purchase them for their children for Christmas. That infiltration of books that peddle atheism to kids, he declares, is the film's "pernicious agenda."

And that is all I needed to put The Golden Compass on my list of films that absolutely must be seen. I'll wait for it to hit the Laurelhurst where I can enjoy it in an adults only theater with a pitcher of good beer. As many artists can attest; boycotts, bannings and censorship are a great way to drum up interest.

These religious organizations are a bit confused, though. Is it promoting atheism or demonology? As an atheist who has dabbled in the conjuration of demons I have come to an understanding that my demons and angels exist as egregores, ideas, facets of reality. I've met demons that existed solely for my benefit (or torture). I've also met demons that exist as a result of mass psychology dynamics, a group's energy feeding the demon into an existence. I wouldn't mind hearing other people's experiences with atheism and demonology, but it seems to me that rectifying the two necessarily relegates gods, even the one of the Jehovah cults, into egregores. An egregore is called into existence by the will of the people and thusly can be controlled and dismissed by the will of the people. Insisting that people should place their faith in a single egregore that will provide for them, protect them, and offer them eternal life in an over lit choir hall is no different than insisting that everyone should drink Coca-Cola simply because it has market dominance. I could be wrong and get cast into a pit of fire by a God who supposedly loves me, there to suffer for all eternity because I practiced witchcraft. I'll take my chances. But God fearing Catholics would do well to keep their atheism and demonism separated. Does it have to do with Godlessness or the Devil? Choose!

But invoking the wrath of God is a great way to drum up business for a film I may not have watched otherwise. Kudos to the Catholic League for the recommendation.