His Dark Materials

[Rev. Rye]

I read the series the winter the movie came out, and I recently re-read the first two books (because I found them for cheap in hardcover at my local HPB, but not volume for some reason). I honestly have to admit CD's analysis is pretty astute. the plot doesn't totally shut down, but it's certainly less gripping and focuses more on the philosophy. That said, I see it less as anti-Catholic and more as anti-religious authoritarianism. Granted, comparison between the Magisterium and the Catholic Church is unavoidable for many reasons, but let's face it, the reasons the Magisterium are the villains of the book are by no means limited to Catholicism (indeed, when I discovered it in 2007, I saw it as the totalitarian worldview of many fundamentalist groups with the structure of the Catholic Church), particularly given that Catholicism seems to have outgrown its old need to deny scientific facts and declare heretics left and right. In fact, I suspect that someone who grew up in the more authoritarian strands of Islam or even Judaism, and grew up and out of it, could just as easily see their old belief systems in there, even if it is in mere glimpses.