At the risk of pissing off a lot of readers, I just have to make a comment on the recent protests surrounding the movie release of the Da Vinci Code.
BBC is reporting loud protests in India, South Korea, and of course, the Vatican. They claim that people who see the film are twice as likely to believe the fictional premise that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had a child.
Isn't any kind of engagement with religious doctrine good for discussion? Even if Hollywood completely distorts factual events (like this is the first time), isn't it a good thing that people are exposed to the subject matter and hopefully come to their own conclusions? Any publicity is good publicity, so the saying goes.
What makes me really angry is the censorship that the Christian right would like to impose on people. Banning art and/ or a different perspective of events cannot simply be banned because it is blasphemous. This is 2006, blaspehmy is totally not a valid reason today. Open discourse is a tool to find the truth. Who doesn't want to hear the truth?
Even if Jesus did marry and had a child, would that make a big difference? Would it really change the structure of the Christian belief system that much? I always thought that there was a huge disconnect between the teachings of Jesus, the man, and the churches doctrine. This just proves me right.
So let's say the South Koreans manage to ban the movie. What's next, a good old fashion book burning? If the Christian right manage to snuff out an artistic work because if posed a threat to their religious construct, what will be next? I can think of a dozen books that fall into this category.
We must have faith. Faith that people will look into things for themselves. We must have faith that our religions will not topple when someone expresses a contrary view. We must have faith that people will allow others to speak their minds, because it could be your speech that snuffed out next.
You have some great points. I enjoyed this very much.
It’s good to see you’re back. =)
What I find interesting about the whole Da Vinci Code thing (and much to my chagrin, I am a participant), was the fact that the book wasn’t even that *good*. Sure, there were some interesting premises, but the writing was sub-par in many places, the pacing was so fast nothing meant anything anymore, and the characters – despite their academic pedigrees – were one-dimensional beyond their puzzle-solving abilities.
And let’s not forget the cheesy ending in which the heroine finds out that indeed she *does* have a family and *is* a princess, in a manner of speaking. It tries to cram in so many disparate elements (murder mystery, conspiracy theory, academic thriller, travelogue and hints of romance) that at some points it reaches the level of finely-honed parody.
I just find it very amusing that so much dust is being raised over a book that under other circumstances would have found a comfortable abode within an editors slush pile. This is definitely a case in which the author is laughing all the way to the bank.
Hi Kristina,
Too busy these past few weeks. My blogging has suffered…
I totally agree that the quality of writing is questionable, but that is hardly a requirment to be on the best seller list any more. Reviewers often use words like: “Action packed”, “Thrilling”, “couldn’t put it down” to sell books to the masses. God forbid something be “thought provoking”, “meditative”, or “a one page at a time” kind of book.
It still amazes me the confrontational views that people are taking up around this movie. It seems so disjointed to me that book has been around for ages and it has only become an issue since the movie was released. It seems so silly to me that serious activists could ignore the printed words and take up such rancorous stands on the motion picture.
Thankfully Salmond Rushdie’s books don’t make for good movies:)