The Golden Compass (review and discussion)
POSTED BY: Finn mac Cumhal
UPDATED: Thursday, October 30, 2008 19:58
VIEWED: 7084
PAGE 2 of 4
Quote:
Originally posted by out2theblack:
Calling them 'demons' was not a good idea...
I thought the exact same thing. I understand though that this is what they are called in the book, and that the film was being true to the source material.
If I had been the author, I'd have called them familiars.
Do not fear me. Our's is a peaceful race and we must live in harmony.
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Quote:The reason why they were called that has to do with a lot of the philosophical argument in the books, which was left out in the movie. Although it is somewhat implied in the movie and if you think about it is what Mrs. Coulter was speaking about when she lectured Lyra [SEE SPOILER]. Essentially, the dogmatic teaching of theocracy of Lyra’s World views these animal “familiars” as a fundamental flaw in human nature and that’s why they call them “demons” (or some spelling there of).
Originally posted by bluesuncompanyman:Quote:
Originally posted by out2theblack:
Calling them 'demons' was not a good idea...
I thought the exact same thing. I understand though that this is what they are called in the book, and that the film was true to the book in that regard.
If I had been the author, I'd have called them familiars.
Select to view spoiler:
After Mrs. Coulter (in another happenstance meeting) saves Lyra from being separated from her demon, she lectures Lyra about why she believes demons should be cut away from children alluding to a mistake made by their ancestors - something equivalent to an Original Sin sort of thing.
Nihil est incertius vulgo, nihil obscurius voluntate hominum, nihil fallacius ratione tota comitiorum.
Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, nothing more obscure than public opinion, nothing more deceptive than the whole political system.
-- Cicero
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Quote:
Originally posted by bluesuncompanyman:
I thought the exact same thing. I understand though that this is what they are called in the book, and that the film was being true to the source material.
If I had been the author, I'd have called them familiars.
Probably only slightly less intolerable...Not
sure if that's an actual 'improvement' , given
the history of the term , 'familiar'.
Seems to me , regardless of the choice of term ,
both show the Western-reductionist tendency to
separate 'body' and 'soul' from one another .
In my world-view , the two are actually not
separable , as if one is 'discrete' from the
other , one being 'essential' and the
other 'material'...Like 'consciousness' , one
does not exist 'apart' from the other , save in
the domain of God's memory...
'Soul'
is not something one HAS , like a possession , but rather it's something one IS...
A body *in union* with a life-force , where each
without the other *dies* , or ceases to exist...
I realize this may be heresy to some , and wear
appropriately flame-proof garments , as a
reasonable precaution...
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" Will work for Bar Credit at The Brown Coat Pub and Theatre "
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Quote:
Originally posted by out2theblack:
Calling them 'demons' was not a good idea...
Daemons, please... (the distinction works better on paper) - not quite the same thing.
If fireflyfans.net is running on Unix/Linux then you're talking to one now, by the way, No, not me - the HyperText Transfer Protocol Daemon on the webserver - the term is widely used in computing.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daemon_%28mythology%29
for a lot more than you really want to know
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Quote:
Originally posted by Finn mac Cumhal:
What was the logic the guards at the artic facility applied to the arrival of a strange girl out of nowhere?
Well, in the book (Not a big spoiler but technically a plot detail):
Select to view spoiler:
She's captured by local bandits who habitually catch children and sell them to the arctic facility
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Quote:
Originally posted by ImNotHere:Quote:
Originally posted by out2theblack:
Calling them 'demons' was not a good idea...
Daemons, please... (the distinction works better on paper) - not quite the same thing.
And technically, it should've been pronounced "day-mons."
-----
We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.
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This never happened.
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Quote:Demon and Daemon and Daimon are all just alternate spellings of the same word. Daimon is the Latin spelling of the original Greek (δαίμων). An older English spelling employing the use of the Old English letter “Ash” (æ), which has now become archaic, is Dæmon. Since the ash is no longer an actual English letter, the spelling is expanded to Daemon. The more modern spelling, droping the a, is Demon. The different spellings do not represent different words but simply the evolution of the word and also its meaning. The modern definition carries a far more negative and sinister denotation, because the word has been filtered through years of Christian culture, which did not accept the European pagan view of nature.
Originally posted by Cybersnark:Quote:
Originally posted by ImNotHere:Quote:
Originally posted by out2theblack:
Calling them 'demons' was not a good idea...
Daemons, please... (the distinction works better on paper) - not quite the same thing.
And technically, it should've been pronounced "day-mons."
-----
We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.
And I’m not pointing this out to be contrary - failing to recognize this, you might be missing an important aspect of the story, which is that the dogmatic teaching of the theocracy in the Golden Compass had “demonized” the souls of people. It’s an important point.
(Also the pronunciation of the ash was closest to the modern English pronunciation of the short a. So Dæmon would have been pronounced like 'dam·ən.)
Nihil est incertius vulgo, nihil obscurius voluntate hominum, nihil fallacius ratione tota comitiorum.
Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, nothing more obscure than public opinion, nothing more deceptive than the whole political system.
-- Cicero
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Quote:
Originally posted by ImNotHere:
Well, in the book (Not a big spoiler but technically a plot detail):
Ahh. I see. And that indeed makes some sense. This would be where the writer of the screenplay could have stayed truer to the source material to yield a logical plot.
I was thinking more on the subject of this film just this morning and realized that the movie ran 1 hour 54 mins. That's about average to slightly short of average for movies I've seen these last few years. With a little more time, some better explainations for world events and characters could have been made. Even a 5 minute intro (think fellowship of the ring...or serenity) would have kept the movie under 2 hours and could have been used to explain gyptians, witches, and the magisterium in grander detail. I seem to recall that there was an intro...but it was very short. Maybe 45 seconds to a minute? And all it provided was a statement that many realitys exist and that people's souls in this reality are split into 2 halfs.
One intresting thing to come from this film has been the frequent conversations I've been hearing where people try to imagine what their animal companion might be. It seems to me that the Daemon is a reflection of a person's personality. I noticed that all the magesterium guards were adjacent to attack dogs.
Do not fear me. Our's is a peaceful race and we must live in harmony.
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Quote:They looked like Black wolves.
Originally posted by bluesuncompanyman:
One intresting thing to come from this film has been the frequent conversations I've been hearing where people try to imagine what their animal companion might be. It seems to me that the Daemon is a reflection of a person's personality. I noticed that all the magesterium guards were adjacent to attack dogs.
The whole souls on the outside thing is fascinating to me too.
There’s a test on the website that will tell you what your dæmon is.
http://www.goldencompassmovie.com/
Evidently, our dæmons are a chimp named Cimeo and a raccoon named Serena and mine is a lioness named Mandara. Wicked! Mine is a lion.
Nihil est incertius vulgo, nihil obscurius voluntate hominum, nihil fallacius ratione tota comitiorum.
Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, nothing more obscure than public opinion, nothing more deceptive than the whole political system.
-- Cicero
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