With the movie adaptation of The Da Vinci Code now only a week away, more and more Catholics and Christians are protesting. As with similar protests over the book, a few responses to all the hubbub come to mind.First, when are far right-wing Christians and Catholics going to learn that the more they bitch about something, the more it makes people want to see it? Did they learn nothing from the Harry Potter books? Or The Last Temptation of Christ? This is free marketing to the people who make this stuff, and they love every last one of you.
Two -- and I can't stress this enough -- it's fiction. It's fiction, people. Nobody is trying to pass it off otherwise, including the book's author himself.
Beyond the general outcry, a few specific protests warrant further commentary from me.
The Catholic group Opus Dei has asked that a disclaimer be put in front of the film. Because if not, everyone is sure to think they're all a bunch of self-flagellating albino zealots. I cannot say how stupid this is, other than refer back to point two, above. You didn't see NORAD asking for a disclaimer to be put in front of the movie WarGames because it portrayed their security as being so inept that Ferris Bueller could hack through it on a computer with less processing power than the one in the hatch on Lost. Point two, people.
Here's a good one about protest going on in India. A spokesman for these protesters says: "Activists will go on a fast unto death if the government fails to take action against anti-Christian movies." Really? Promise? Cause I say, snap to it! He also says, "You can't make fiction on a religious figure." Yeah, cause no one has ever done that before in the history of the world.
I've saved the best (worst?) for last. Cardinal Francis Arinze issued a statement in which he said: "Christians must not just sit back and say it is enough for us to forgive and to forget." Hmm... isn't that pretty much exactly what "good Christians" are supposed to do? Unless as a cardinal, he has some interesting interpretation of that whole Matthew chapter 5 business about "If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also" that someone like me couldn't fathom.
Months ago, while Serenity was in theaters, I mentioned that any time I was going to the movies, I was going to be buying a ticket to Serenity and sneaking into the other film instead -- all to make sure my money was going to the place I wanted to.
I think now I'll be doing it again for The Da Vinci Code.
4 comments:
Isn't all religion fiction?
No, religion is myth. However, myth often has basis in fact.
And Dr., not everyone believes this is just fiction. There are MANY people who read it as fact. A certain person who worked with us and had an office in the other hallway was convinced it was real when he read it. :)
Then there are many delusional people, but it's not Dan Brown's fault.
There are MANY people who read it as fact. A certain person who worked with us and had an office in the other hallway was convinced it was real when he read it.
Are you talking about The Da Vinci Code or the Bible? :)
Post a Comment