Golden Compass and PTO
December 7th, 2007 by tsullivanIn our opinion, this is just a step too far for this Missouri PTO. What’d they do? Sent a note home to parents advising parents not to let their kids see the Golden Compass movie. Several parent complaints followed and superintendent reports his office never approved the note home. The big issue: what’s the role of the parent group here? Of course, this would be a bad choice for a Family Movie Night, and that would be a perfectly appropriate decision for the PTO leadership to make. But advising parents what movies kids should watch outside of school? There’s an area that just seems well out-of-bounds for the local parent group.
December 10th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
Why would this movie be a bad choice for Family Movie Night? Because it disagrees with YOUR values? Or because the web talk is against it?
Have you read the books? Obviously not. The books don’t talk about killing God, the allude to the subject of the Catholic Church and it’s blatant minipulation throughout history of history and moral thought?
Are movies merely to entertain in your family? Do you not use they as a catalyst for discussion and shaping values?
Are you not encouraging your children to think for themselves?
As for the PTO….what kind of values are they preposing to supercede inte;;igent thought?
December 10th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
Hi pramsey -
Thanks for the thoughts. I haven’t read the books, but I’m certainly not ruling them out for my family or my kids. I’d definitely research a bit more before making that call.
But I have read the media reports that show clearly that many parents — rightly or wrongly — have real issues with this movie. That’s why I think it would be a poor choice for a Family Movie Night. An FMN at school is about building community and connecting parents and kids and the school together. Showing a movie that would create a firestorm of controversy among some decent-sized faction of your parents wouldn’t help you reach those goals at all. The opposite, in fact.
I generally agree with you — watching and discussing things, even controversial things, is often the best way to learn. Love Fahrenheit 451. But Family Movie Night isn’t about that.
Tim
December 17th, 2007 at 11:58 pm
The series’ author, Philip Pullman (who has described himself as both an agnostic and an atheist), has averred that “I don’t profess any religion; I don’t think it’s possible that there is a God; I have the greatest difficulty in understanding what is meant by the words ’spiritual’ or ’spirituality.’” Critics of Pullman’s books (conservative British columnist Peter Hitchens in 2002 labeled Pullman “The Most Dangerous Author in Britain” and described him as the writer “the atheists would have been praying for, if atheists prayed”) point to the strong anti-religion and anti-God themes they incorporate, and although literary works are subject to a variety of interpretations, Pullman has left little doubt about his books’ intended thrust in discussions of his works, such as noting in a 2003 interview that “My books are about killing God” and in a 2001 interview that he was “trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief.”
People read books and come up with their own decisions on what the book is saying. The statement ‘My books are about killing God” comes from the author himself.
Family Movie night is about the family having a good time at a movie and the school making money to benefit itself. Not to cause and uproar and if a particular movie will do just that then move on and pick a different one.