More on "The Golden Compass" movie, 'cause I can't resist

[revdorothyl]

I just added this section as a revision to yesterday's review of "The Golden Compass", with what I hope were strong enough spoiler warnings, but since it's essentially a new discussion, I figured it probably ought to have its own post.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and highly recommend it to all my friends, there were still a few minor points that touched on some of my 'issues' about the role of parents in fantasy, so . . . here they are:

Much as I enjoyed the film, part of me can't help but wonder about the Freudian implications of the apparent bad-mother/good-father dichotomy set up at the end, especially in a fantasy universe written by a man but centered around a pre-adolescent female protagonist.

I love C.S. Lewis dearly, in many respects, but even as a young and naive college student (the age at which I read his children's novels, finally) I couldn't help but notice that in "The Chronicles of Narnia" grown-up females tended to be either absent or dying mothers OR evil witches -- I can recall very few examples of post-adolescent females being good, strong, and present and active in the story.

Now, in the first film adaptation based on "The Golden Compass" series, I really had to wonder about the fact that Lyra's major adult female influences were, on the one hand, an apparently severely disturbed mother (who beats up on her own soul/daemon when it gets in her way) eagerly working in the service of evil authorities, and on the other hand a free-spirited good witch who might lend bit of aid when absolutely needed but isn't overly eager to display any maternal instincts towards the kid.

Billy's Gyptian mum, though a strong and caring and admirable woman, seemed to be fairly peripheral, as far as Lyra personally was concerned (as, indeed, any friend's mother naturally tends to be, when you're that age -- she's not a person, after all, but rather your friend's mom and why should you think any more about her than that, most of the time?.

Meanwhile, we've got Lyra's biological father calling himself her 'uncle' and apparently not really willing (or maybe even able) to form a closer emotional bond, but relying on a bunch of college professors to stand in loco parentis for Lyra. As far as real emotional bonding between Lyra and adult males, the closest we get is the friendship she enjoys with Iorick the ice bear (who is NOT a tame teddy bear, but does seem to make an awfully good pillow at times, and is sworn to her service, so the balance of power there diverges markedly from the fatherly or even big brotherly model).

I really don't know what to make of it all, or even if it should mean anything, but considering all my own family issues and questions about parental role models, I can't help but notice and wonder . . . a little.

Comments

[texanfan.livejournal.com]

I know nothing about Pullman so can't speculate on his influences but I know a great deal about Lewis. Given that he lost his mother when he was still fairly young and lived as a bachelor (to a profound degree I understand, no woman would dare enter the home shared by he and his brother, it was apparently quite awful) most of his adult life, I think the lack in Narnia is simple lack of exposure and being uncertain how to write such a character. After he met Joy, the love of his life, he wrote my favorite novel, Till We Have Faces, which has an adult woman (actually, she grows from a young girl to an old woman over the course of the book) as it's central character. He finally had a model. :)

[appomattoxco.livejournal.com]

A lot of authors start with the premise "What's the worst thing that can happen?" I think so many children's stories start out with dead/evil mother's because even today, for a lot of people mother = primary care giver. A child may adore dad, they might even like their father more than their mother, but it's mom that inspires panic when they are separated. It's hardwired into all mammals that losing mom or not having a mother's love is the worst thing ever.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Have you read the novels? Because the characters are more fleshed out in them and there is a great deal missing from the film - the book was 300 pages while the film is two hours. Also it was a very dense book - much more so than the CS Lewis Narnia series.

Mrs. Coulter changes a bit in the next two books and is redeemed. Lord Asrial becomes darker and in some respects nastier. (The film didn't show the dark twist at the end of the novel - where Asrial betrays his daughter's trust.)

From what I've read of Pullman's interviews - I got the feeling that he felt the adult world had a tendency to "romanticize" childhood. To idealize children. And had a desire to preserve childhood - unwillingly to allow people to grow up. His biggest issue with Lewis (His Dark Materials is in some respects Pullman's response to the Narnia books and Lewis's writings) - was that Lewis wanted to keep children children forever. That the child was innocent and it was better to be a child than an adult. To be submissive and humble. Pullman felt that childhood is just a stage - and the point is to become an adult. To learn. To know good and evil. To have free will - to not stay forever in the preadolescent garden of eden. (This was my reading of Pullman's take on it. It's subtler in The Golden Compass - but really obvious in the last volume of the triology - The Amber Spyglass.)