The Golden Compass

I don't remember "His Dark Materials" very well, but I can give you a few reasons to feel excited about the upcoming HBO special:

*One way in which Philip Pullman outdid J.K. Rowling--if you ask me: Pullman invented a better villain. Mrs. Coulter is simply more compelling than Voldemort. It's a tradition to make the villain in your fairy tale a real hottie--and charismatic, and witty--and this is a tradition Pullman wisely follows. (Rowling does not follow this tradition.)

Nicole Kidman was delicious in the wide-screen version of "The Golden Compass." She was maybe the only reason to see the movie. Who would want to take on Nicole Kidman's legacy? I can think of one answer, and it's Ruth Wilson. Wilson--so delightful as a sociopath in "Luther"--has the brains and sexiness to one-up Kidman. Possibly. We will wait and see.

*"His Dark Materials"--with a title borrowed from "Paradise Lost"--is really a screed against organized religion. The villains--so alluring in elaborate frocks, and wielding large scepters--are pretty clearly Church authorities. Ballsy, and interesting!

*"The Golden Compass"--the first of the three "Dark Materials" books--has intelligent polar bears and tricky witches. It has enchanted dust and aquatic storms; it also, famously, has talking animals. (Your spirit-animal, your daemon, follows you around. One way you can detect evil behind an apparently alluring surface: when the beautiful villainess has a notably unappealing spirit-animal. Unkindness toward one's spirit-animal is also a sturdy sign of evil, and maybe depression, rage turned inward, in Pullman's work.)

HBO is offering us Lin-Manuel Miranda; it's offering us James McAvoy. But I'd suggest that we will all really be watching for Ruth Wilson. Keep an eye on her. Stay tuned!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qz8L4KaTss

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