Will Baude and Maureen Craig both express regret that Hollywood will be casting God out of the movie version of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials movies. In a sense, I'll agree without much surprise: I mean, given the hash they're making of Constantine, what did anyone expect? Hollywood doesn't deal well with the whole "Heaven/Hell" thing.

If the news story is true, and they're rewriting it so that the Authority is some secular force, then I wonder if Hollywood hasn't misread Red State America again. Despite New Line's claim that, ""You have to recognise that [making money on such a movie] is a challenge in the climate of Bush's America," I get the sense that much of Red State America would flock to see a special-effects laden film that purports to tell a story of a God-who-could-be. If sensitivity were absolutely necessary, there are a dozen sensitive disclaimers one could run at the beginning of the film.

But I'm not about to go so far as to say that, in Will's words, this movie will be "a gladiator thrusting at lions of his own imagining." I appreciated Pullman's books because he has a gift for beautiful, descriptive language; because the worlds and the metaphysic he put forward held a depth and richness seldom seen in children's fiction; and because--I'll admit it--much of it took place in an alternate Oxford, so there was that ring of familiarity. All of that will likely remain in the movie if it's handled carefully. As for the "battle against God" that is supposed to be the heart of the book: I'm not sure that losing it will lose that much.

I don't remember the specifics of the books all that well (and I gave away my copies when I left England), so I can't say more than my remembered impressions, but I know that it struck me as the sort of argument against God made by atheists for atheists: a fairly interesting idea, but one that basically detailed a war against a Gnostic demiurge. Further, the characters who were supposed to be the most driven by either rebellion, religion, or corruption, especially Lord Asriel and Ms. Coulter, just didn't strike me as real. Certainly I remember being unsatisfied by the conclusion of their tale. Let's put it this way: I enjoyed the books themselves, but I've never felt the urge to use any of Pullman's theological ideas as an example in a 4 AM coffee/alcohol-inspired college chat session.

So perhaps--and this is a big maybe--taking the God out of the novel will be an improvement: by the end, the characters might be a little less pantomime, their fullness not lost against the backdrop of the War in Heaven. True, it's a slender reed on which to hold out hope, but perhaps?

While I'm at it, can anyone recommend (or otherwise) the following two books? I'll need a bit of holiday reading in a few days...