Golden Compass points to Success

Americans, get over yourselves. I mean really. The Golden Compass is just another movie based on another novel. The United States of America is not an explicitly Christian nation. There are no laws against producing fictional novels and fictional movies that are not overtly Christian in nature, and, dare I say it, even created with anti-religious or anti-dogmatic themes. Because, get this (and I know this will come as a huge shock): not everyone in America is a Christian.

The Golden Compass is a movie (set for theatrical release on December 7th 2007) based on the novel Northern Lights by British author Philip Pullman, member of the National Secular Soceity. The original series of novels are set with tones that aren't incredibly friendly to religion, dogma, and fundamentalism. The novel's "evil" organization, the Magisterium, shares a likeness to the Catholic Church (apparently).

So, of course, American Christians (namely, the Catholic League and many mainline Protestants) are up in arms in protest and open boycotts against the yet-to-be-released movie. Now, I realize they have that right, and I would never wish to take it away from them. But I also have the right to call these idiots out on their stupidity. Americans can watch (or read) whatever they want. And a group of protesters isn't going to stop anyone from watching a movie. I mean, seriously: a movie. And we know these protests worked so well against movies like Harry Potter and The Da Vinci Code. (That's cue for an eye roll and a tone of sarcasm.)

Look, idiots, a lot of protesting and "negative" publicity will only draw even more attention to whatever it is you're protesting against. Until all the dramatic hubbub surrounding it lately, I hadn't even heard of this movie, and I'd only heard passing mention of the novel Northern Lights. Now I've looked at trailers, wiki'd the novel, browsed the website, and I have to say, my interest has been piqued. It actually looks like an interesting and fun movie, one that I would absolutely love to take my four-year-old son to. So I have to give my thanks to the protestors and war criers who inadvertently raised my awareness about this movie, and, subsequently, my interest and patronage. So again, thanks.