Podcast: Interview with Phillip Pullman (His Dark Materials)

[Aggie]

Good interview, from an author with some very interesting ideas.  

http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/listenerschoice_20080523_5913.mp3

[Roland Deschain]

That was a very good interview, and one i'd not heard before. I totally agree with him on C S Lewis. His moral ending to the Narnia series was completely unsatisfying, and showed his personal god to be petty and vindictive. I loved that series of books, but finished them feeling wholly unsatisfied. What I don't totally agree on is his assessment of The Lord of the Rings. While I agree that Tolkein made his good and bad mostly clear cut, and removed pretty much any sex, there was plenty of the romantic in them, with the stories of Arwen and Aragorn, and their elf-human partnership predecessors.

I love His Dark Materials. I bought Northern Lights on the recommendation of a young lady I dated once, and couldn't put it down. A couple of years later, after i'd started my previous job, I found out that there were two other books in the series. These were much better, and contained much more in the way of adult content and themes. The story was brilliantly woven, and the characters believable. The concept itself was like nothing i'd ever read before, and makes me hunger for more young adult literature at this level of sophistication. All I will say in detriment to the books, although I know it had to be there, is about the ending. I could see it coming early on, and no matter how much I didn't want it to end this way, I knew it was inevitable. When it came, it tore me a little inside, so invested had I become in the story and its characters. These are truly beautiful books that must be read.

The film is a slightly different matter. I kinda enjoyed the film, even though events were a little differently placed, and felt it did an ok job, but there are a few major criticisms I have of it: no overtly religious theme; no proper ending; no FSMdamn sequels. The cowardly AHs at the film studio didn't have the courage to make the film as it was meant to be, and kow-towing to the ignorant masses, decided to remove all overtly religious references from it. It hints at it, with the Magisterium, and mention of The Authority, but without knowing the story already, it isn't easy to spot, especially for a child. Then they decided to cut it short, completely missing the proper ending, because they didn't want to appear to promise a sequel to it, just in case it flopped. This annoyed me somewhat. Then there's the fact that we have seen not only no sequels, but not even a hint of a sequel to it. By now, Dakota Blue Richards is far too old to play Lyra, as she'd be somewhere in her mid-teens, and a little too developed, physically. To me that means that no sequel will ever be forthcoming, and with the studio having the exclusive rights to the franchise, I can't see anything forthcoming for quite a while. Bastards!

[pieces o nine]

I savor Philip Pullman for delicious personal irony.  I am a godparent to a niece, and had to break the news to her parents that I was changing from RC to Episcopagan about five years into the gig. Of course, I assured them that I would continue to support the RC element, and I was embarking upon seriousness at the time, so all was well, (but I digress). Then, a few years further in I found that I could no longer wrap my mind around compress my mind inside the Bible  and embarked upon a very exciting Paganpagan stage, which did not exactly endear me, especially when I started snotting off about churchianity and True Christians™ in their hearing. I meant the sort of fundies who are taking over the US now, but, naturally, they heard an insult to themselves. Although I'm the oldest, I had to be Taken Aside And Spoken To.  [laughs to self]  I sensed that I'd also been voted off the godparent island, and was Strictly Warned not to mention any non-christian stuff around her, which was kind of silly as she's been regularly exposed her entire life to the four *other* weirdo religions followed by various relatives, with no discernible effect. I wasn't looking to convert anyone, and someone else's minor child would not have been at the top of my list if I had been...

The next time I was invited over to visit -- with the unspoken expectation that I behave myself, for gods sake -- the niece in question was curled up on the couch, eagerly reading hardbound editions of the His Dark Materials trilogy, which she had proudly purchased with Roman Catholic allowance. On the way home I laughed and laughed and laughed...

Ah... good times, good times. 
I liked the books and was a bit disappointed in both the movie and lack of follow-through as well.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

I've not read those myself, and have not seen the movie (deliberately-- I do intend to read these).

After the comments, here, I must see about getting a copy... electronic, of course.

[Roland Deschain]

Oh, the irony, PoN. Oh, the irony. I hope she was able to digest its themes thoroughly enough to understand them.

Bob, I cannot recommend them enough. The first one is good, but the real meat of the themes starts from the second onwards. Saying that, the first is pretty dark anyway, really dark in places, but you'll see what I mean if you ever take the plunge. If you remember the furore at the time the film was being made, coming naturally from the Catholic Church and some choice religious/political leaders in the US, not to mention it being denounced in several other highly religious countries, you'll get the idea of what sort of content it has.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

I did pay attention to the false furor over that film. 

I suspect the negative attention drove higher film sales than would have happened otherwise....

... when will these idiots learn?