His Dark Materials



When it comes to fantasy, rewatching it years later can reveal more layers than it did when we first watched it as kids. As an adult I have watched the first season of ‘His Dark Materials’ and loved the socio religious tension ever present between the researchers and the Magisterium. It reminded me of the ‘blasphemy’ of several scientists and astronomers studying the mysteries of the universe centuries ago, who stood by their theories and scientific discoveries that the earth was round and that it revolved around the sun. In this fantasy series based on Philip Pullman's trilogies, the research around ‘Dust’ or ‘Dark Matter’ is much frowned upon by the Authority. This magnanimous religious body hides the truth about the presence of several parallel universes, and the story is about Lyra’s journey.


Coming to think of it, every fantasy tale is about a journey that the central character takes, stepping away from his own comfort zone. Or escapes the daily circumstances and gets to explore the outside world. There’s a sense of wonderment involved, an adventure, and such newness that life is not monotonous anymore. Harry went to Hogwarts, Lucy and siblings went through the wardrobe to Narnia, Aladdin discovered the wish fulfilling genie - all with a purpose to achieve - confront Voldemort, confront the White Witch, and defeat Jaffar respectively. It’s always a play of good and bad, and the conclusion at the end. As adults we can understand the racism between Muggles(non-magical people), half-breeds and the pure bloods- and also this racial genocide aimed by the-one-who-cannot-be-named.






People have suggested ‘His Dark Materials’ is the most befitting trilogy for Harry Potter fans. It is a unique fantasy tale on its own - where every human has a daemon - that is an animal or bird or insect or even reptile that accompanies them everywhere, from whom they cannot be parted, it’s a part of their soul, and an eternal companion. It has Lyra - the 12 year old girl travelling with gypsies to the North, the Northern Lights, witches, a warrior King polar bear, children being abducted, secret experiments being conducted on them in isolated wintry deserts and the city in the sky. I loved watching this on Hotstar. I remember watching the movie ‘The Golden Compass’ years before in school, but it didn’t leave me with that good impression. This webseries on the other hand is a phenomenal watch. Perfect binge on a weekend.


This post is a part of Blogchatter Half Marathon.

Comments

  1. Beautiful and insightful review. This has me intrigued will definitely be checking this out though i am not a big fan of fantasy

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  2. This is interesting . I will add this to my viewing list.

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  3. I have been seeing these books all over bookstagram these days. Thank you for the suggestion. I am adding it to my TBR :)

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  4. I'm not a fan of fantasy. But I have watched some Harry Potter movies (when he was just a kid). And I read a fantasy novel recently and really liked it.

    This one sounds interesting.

    ReplyDelete

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Queeristan by Parmesh Sahani

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  Queeristan (Amazon Link) Thanks to Audible Free Trial I listened to this amazing non-fiction on LGBTQ inclusion in Indian workplaces. Author Parmesh Sahani identifies as gay Indian, working closely with Godrej higher management and employees for years to create an inclusive workplace, both legally and in spirit. This book is a result of those years of experience, research, collaboration with individuals from difference spectrum of the society and organizations who has successfully transitioned into a queer friendly one.   Indian history is inclusive. From the Khajuraho temple architectures, to Konark to the Rig Veda, there is existing proofs even 2000 years ago of Indian inclusiveness of queer. It’s the draconian British law that criminalised it, which was scraped in 2009, came into effect once again following a sad judgement in 2013 and eventually was scraped off for good in 2018. I am in awe of the lawyers who fought this legal battle- colleagues and partners – Arundhati Katju

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