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Philip Pullman Documentary

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Paul Whybrow

Paul Whybrow

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Last night, the BBC showed a tremendous documentary in their Imagine series, on Philip Pullman.

Philip Pullman: Angels and Daemons is available on BBC iPlayer

imagine... - Winter 2017/18: 4. Philip Pullman: Angels and Daemons

Review: Imagine … Philip Pullman review: A master craftsman on the tools of his trade

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BBC productions are only open to people in UK, that means even in Ireland we can't watch it. The licence initially funded TV programs all those years ago (when I watched Watch With Mother and the Flowerpot Men). It paid for the programs, so no advertising was necessary. Now you still have to pay it even if you don't watch BBC. It's just another form of taxation... payable if you simply have a TV anywhere on your property.
 
ChrisLewando said:
BBC productions are only open to people in UK, that means even in Ireland we can't watch it. The licence initially funded TV programs all those years ago (when I watched Watch With Mother and the Flowerpot Men). It paid for the programs, so no advertising was necessary. Now you still have to pay it even if you don't watch BBC. It's just another form of taxation... payable if you simply have a TV anywhere on your property.
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Thanks -- it's interesting to me.
 
Pullman took Greek classics and recast them in his dark materials series. Lewis did the same with till we have faces and dug up merlin in that hideous strength. They both used kids as heros and talking animals (i.e. lewis narnia). Both brilliant British trained writers. Closer than Pullman would like to admit.
They have a very different world view and that maybe why Pullman wanted to dig up and rebury lewis. Its safe to say lewis would like Pullmans books but not his world view. I could site his many friendships with leading poets and thinkers of his day. Some he disagreed with.
I like both men's work and freely recommend them. Maybe Pullman will one day reconsider his learned opinion of lewis and his works.
 
WillHue said:
Pullman took Greek classics and recast them in his dark materials series. Lewis did the same with till we have faces and dug up merlin in that hideous strength. They both used kids as heros and talking animals (i.e. lewis narnia). Both brilliant British trained writers. Closer than Pullman would like to admit.
They have a very different world view and that maybe why Pullman wanted to dig up and rebury lewis. Its safe to say lewis would like Pullmans books but not his world view. I could site his many friendships with leading poets and thinkers of his day. Some he disagreed with.
I like both men's work and freely recommend them. Maybe Pullman will one day reconsider his learned opinion of lewis and his works.
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CS Lewis' Narnia books are Christian allegory.

I read several but I don't think all of Pullman's Dark Materials books but not because I didn't enjoy him. I always felt like there was something I was missing about the controversy. I suspect someone would have to speak real slow and whip out some illustrations to explain it to me.

Does it have something to do with the Daemons? I thought that was brilliant how the characters had Daemons which to me, represented parts of themselves, their personality and/or aspects of their consciousness. I liked that they had to take care of their Daemons. I also remember something about the ending ... about the different worlds... and maybe heaven and hell and purgatory were shown to be not quite as they are represented in Christian religions. And so ... still don't get why this fictional idea would be offensive.

Or, maybe it's because it's a children's book and we don't expect children to be smart enough to know the difference between fiction and non-fiction. But I suspect children are smart enough to know the difference. After all, they're the ones who ask all the important questions in church. It's adults who stop asking questions and accept what quite possibly isn't fact, as fact.
 
Amber said:
CS Lewis' Narnia books are Christian allegory.

I read several but I don't think all of Pullman's Dark Materials books but not because I didn't enjoy him. I always felt like there was something I was missing about the controversy. I suspect someone would have to speak real slow and whip out some illustrations to explain it to me.

Does it have something to do with the Daemons? I thought that was brilliant how the characters had Daemons which to me, represented parts of themselves, their personality and/or aspects of their consciousness. I liked that they had to take care of their Daemons. I also remember something about the ending ... about the different worlds... and maybe heaven and hell and purgatory were shown to be not quite as they are represented in Christian religions. And so ... still don't get why this fictional idea would be offensive.

Or, maybe it's because it's a children's book and we don't expect children to be smart enough to know the difference between fiction and non-fiction. But I suspect children are smart enough to know the difference. After all, they're the ones who ask all the important questions in church. It's adults who stop asking questions and accept what quite possibly isn't fact, as fact.
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As an avid reader of the Narnia books as a kid, and someone who journeyed from bored to appalled by the Catholic church in which I was brought up, I remember the sinking feeling of disappointment that accompanied the realisation that "oh, Aslan is Jesus. Terrific".
 
MrDisco88 said:
As an avid reader of the Narnia books as a kid, and someone who journeyed from bored to appalled by the Catholic church in which I was brought up, I remember the sinking feeling of disappointment that accompanied the realisation that "oh, Aslan is Jesus. Terrific".
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That’s interesting and I don’t mean that facetiously. I remember finding it beautiful but it had less to do with a belief in Christ as an infatuation with the concepts of grace, love, and redemption which are only sometimes aspects of organized religions but which are always a human quality. The symmetry of allegory is satisfying. Having said that, I was a pre-teen when I was in love with Narnia and I don’t know if I could still get into the savior myth. It’s hard not to be horrified by organized religion.
 
Amber said:
That’s interesting and I don’t mean that facetiously. I remember finding it beautiful but it had less to do with a belief in Christ as an infatuation with the concepts of grace, love, and redemption which are only sometimes aspects of organized religions but which are always a human quality. The symmetry of allegory is satisfying. Having said that, I was a pre-teen when I was in love with Narnia and I don’t know if I could still get into the savior myth. It’s hard not to be horrified by organized religion.
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I think I felt cheated that something that worked beautifully was now serving an agenda I disagreed with. When I read it to my kids in the near future I'll simply not bring attention to the allegory and treat Narnia as a self-contained world!
 
MrDisco88 said:
I think I felt cheated that something that worked beautifully was now serving an agenda I disagreed with. When I read it to my kids in the near future I'll simply not bring attention to the allegory and treat Narnia as a self-contained world!
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Oh that makes sense! Good idea.
 
MrDisco88 said:
I think I felt cheated that something that worked beautifully was now serving an agenda I disagreed with. When I read it to my kids in the near future I'll simply not bring attention to the allegory and treat Narnia as a self-contained world!
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I empathize with you. I have heard that same sentiment before. I was raised in an atheistic/communist household. I knew about Marx and Hegel long before I heard about Lewis. I was forty and it was "Suprised By Joy" that I read first. It was his intellectual philosophical journey through atheism as a young Oxford scholar that got my attention.

I approached him from a different tac than you and many others. So what I'm about to say won't help you to feel less cheated but I hope soften the blow a bit. Here goes. I don't think he meant harm any more than finding out Harper's Boo Radley was a mockingbird not a monster.

I mean this as an olive branch not an offense.
 
I've just started reading Philip Pullman's Daemon Voices: Essays on Storytelling. It was published six months ago, and after reading the first two essays, I'd say it's worth the cover price. Pullman is warm, generous, modest and honest, describing the creative process without pretension.

Daemon Voices by Philip Pullman | Waterstones

I'm sure that it will join Stephen King's On Writing as many readers' and authors' favourite memoir about what it means to be a writer.

images
 
WillHue said:
I empathize with you. I have heard that same sentiment before. I was raised in an atheistic/communist household. I knew about Marx and Hegel long before I heard about Lewis. I was forty and it was "Suprised By Joy" that I read first. It was his intellectual philosophical journey through atheism as a young Oxford scholar that got my attention.

I approached him from a different tac than you and many others. So what I'm about to say won't help you to feel less cheated but I hope soften the blow a bit. Here goes. I don't think he meant harm any more than finding out Harper's Boo Radley was a mockingbird not a monster.

I mean this as an olive branch not an offense.
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Don't worry, accepted as an olive branch! Man, that was a powerful moment, I really need to re-read TKAM
 
Paul Whybrow said:
I've just started reading Philip Pullman's Daemon Voices: Essays on Storytelling. It was published six months ago, and after reading the first two essays, I'd say it's worth the cover price. Pullman is warm, generous, modest and honest, describing the creative process without pretension.

Daemon Voices by Philip Pullman | Waterstones

I'm sure that it will join Stephen King's On Writing as many readers' and authors' favourite memoir about what it means to be a writer.

images
Click to expand...
I'm always up for an Oz pull back the curtain document. You also mentioned King's "On Writing". I am reminded of a commentary sound track he did. It was a companion to his made for TV movie "Storm of The Century". I think it was a screenplay not a book. He talks about writing for TV, the 3 act play structure, etc. My memory is vague because I'm 15 years removed.

His last line on the commentary was "come back next time and I might not suck so bad".
 
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