MovieChat Forums > Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) Discussion > They pulled a Golden Compass on us

They pulled a Golden Compass on us

posted 10 months ago by [deleted]
16 replies | jump to latest

Like the Philip Pullman "His Dark Materials" adaptation made by Hollywood, they used a fake book title to describe one of the Dust objects in the movie's title, yet used a more elaborate name for the device itself, as in:

Golden Compass = Alethiometer, and
Dial of Destiny = Antikythera something or other.

I suppose they have to dumb down movies like this for dumb audiences. The Harry Potter thing was another one: Philosopher's Stone makes sense, Sorcerer's Stone does not.

[–] Luffy (834) 10 months ago

The Harry Potter thing was another one: Philosopher's Stone makes sense, Sorcerer's Stone does not.

Neither title made sense. Nicolas Flamel was neither a philosopher nor a sorcerer. Guess Rowling didn't want to use the word 'alchemist' because the term Philosopher's Stone was already a thing to draw inspiration from.

[–] [deleted] 10 months ago

Very interesting, I didn't know that. Yeah, alchemist is the correct term for what Hermione describes Flamel as doing, but, well, I dunno, then maybe they ARE both wrong names for Flamel.

[–] Luffy (834) 10 months ago

And the 'Potterverse' has many more illogical facts that have been discussed to death over the years. Whether movies or books.

[–] Karl Aksel (1453) 10 months ago

The philosopher's stone (actually supposed to be philosophers' stone)is the historical name. "Philosopher" is precisely what alchemists were way back when. "Philosophy" encompassed all of science - it had precious little in common with the modern meaning of the word.

Moreover, "Alchemist's stone" would not have made any sense whatsoever, because there has never been such a thing as "the alchemists' stone". The philosophers' stone, however... It's kind of a famous thing. It was never known as the alchemists' stone, so why should it be called such in the Harry Potter universe? I thought this was common knowledge, but I see now that maybe the American publishers were right in their reasoning when they insisted on a name change for an American audience.

[–] Luffy (834) 10 months ago

You are mostly right. It's just that Rowling made Flamel seem like the inventor of the Stone. The Philosopher's Stone is a real Holy Grail and mythical object in OUR world. But it makes less sense in the wizarding world. Partly because we lack info about its context in that book.

[–] fc31 (4613) 10 months ago

The property of philosophers' stone is well established, and it is the same in the book:"The philosopher's stone, or more properly philosophers' stone, is a mythic alchemical substance capable of turning base metals such as mercury into gold or silver. It is also called the elixir of life, useful for rejuvenation and for achieving immortality;"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosopher%27s_stone

[–] Luffy (834) 10 months ago

Okay cool.

[–] TandyMan (10395) 10 months ago

It was like calling the third Star Wars movie Return of the Jedi when Rey doesn't even show up till the next movie. Don't make no damn sense.

[–] [deleted] 10 months ago

Don't troll, please. You know damn well that Luke was the "Jedi that is returning".

[–] mikethemartian (6101) 10 months ago

I think the title refers to Anakin returning to the good side.

[–] RipRoss (353) 10 months ago

Or maybe they just figured the title they went with had a better ring to it than Indiana Jones and the Antikythera Mechanism.

[–] [deleted] 10 months ago

As I said, dumbing down.

[–] RipRoss (353) 10 months ago

So would you say A. E. Housman's poem 'The Lent Lily' was titled as such instead of 'The Narcissus Pseudonarcissus' because he wanted to dumb it down for the readers?

[–] [deleted] 10 months ago

The longer name sounds cooler, for a start.

[–] mackerm (15) 10 months ago

I didn't read The Golden Compass book, but I read a commentary saying that the compass in the title referred to the kind you use to draw circles on paper maps. Not the atheliometer, which is really weird.

[–] [deleted] 10 months ago

When I think of compass, I think of the device that lets you find magnetic north wherever you are in the world, as well. It's just a useful word.