Given Pullman's manifest eloquence and the universe-hopping breadth of the His Dark Materials trilogy—of which The Golden Compass is the first volume—the one surprising thing about the accolades he's won is that they've gone to a devout atheist who makes no bones about his anti-authoritarian stance. While his defenders include the archbishop of Canterbury, Pullman has come under fire from any number of religious organizations—including the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, who called for a Golden Compass boycott despite director Chris Weitz's failure to include any of the novel's religious meat in his movie. They needn't have bothered; the spectacularly mediocre effort will be lucky to break even before DVD and digital sales. Still, with a little luck, the film will drive kids to the trilogy. With only 12 million or so sold to date, Pullman has a ways to go before he catches up with J.K. Rowling.
Rod Smith is a Minneapolis writer and DJ and an instructor in media and criticism.