His Dark Materials musings in this week’s Philadelphia City Paper
I recently wrote a little post for the City Paper on His Dark Materials and they’ve printed it this week. Enjoy!
His Dark Materials
I think my book club dumped me for going on about a kid’s book. But fans of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy know better than to dismiss it because of its marketing. Thankfully it’s getting less unknown by the minute with the first movie on the way next year, so it’s time to pass it around before Hollywood de-fangs it. Yeah, that’s right. The movie’s going to dumb down a “kid’s” book. I won’t go so far as to call HDM subversive, because frankly Pullman’s retelling of Paradise Lost in a contemporary society that never experienced the Enlightenment is more, well, enlightened that anything else. It’s a fantastic and emotionally honest story that explores the soul, parallel worlds, dark matter, and eventually a war on God.
Mason Wendell
Designer, Canary Promotion + Design/Musician