PVP is a fun online comic I read regularly. Be sure to read Scott’s comments. Only one nit to pick. Scott says,
The Davinci Code is not revisionist history any more than Star Wars is. It’s a fictional thriller. It’s a novel. Fiction. The very word FICTION defines it as NOT BEING TRUE.
I of course agree! The trouble is that Dan Brown does not. He has repeatedly said that he believes that the hat entire premise on which the novel is based (Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene, had a child by her, she fled to France, etc.) is true. That is why not just a small group (but vocal group) of Christians are speaking out, but why many scholars are annoyed with this book.
But apparently the movie is better than the book…
3 thoughts on “Da Vinci Doodie”
Can you point me in the direction of some of those Dan Brown “what I wrote is true”-type articles… I’d be interested to read them. From what I thought I heard, I was under the assumption that he was aware of the “fictional” nature of his work, although he was clearly using facts that he was bending to suit his story.
So much for the movie being better than the book, however. Looks like it’s getting panned pretty harshly, at least by the critics. I still expect it to make 70 million by the end of the weekend.
When will groups that protest movies realize that their protests don’t, in fact, keep people away from the movie, but actually bring more people to see what the big deal is all about.
As an aside, there’s another movie opening this weekend – See No Evil – about some deranged lunatic killing people who come into this old abandoned hotel. While I’m not 100% on the exact nuances of the plot, essentially, the killer is killing people as he believes it to be “God’s Work” that he’s performing. No one is calling for a boycott of this one (though in my opinion it’s FAR more offensive toward Christians), but I guarantee that, sans any notice, it will disappear by the end of the week, if not sooner.
Love the cartoon… and the blog!! 🙂
Thanks Fleshpresser! The moment I remember the clearest is Brown’s televised interview on ABC, if I recall correctly. He said (paraphrasing), “while the events in the novel are of course fiction, the theories that they describe are historical fact.” And I am certain of the final statement.
On the Today show Matt Lauer asked him, “How much of this is based on reality in terms of things that actually occurred?” Dan Brown responded: “Absolutely all of it. Obviously, there are – Robert Langdon is fictional, but all of the art, architecture, secret rituals, secret societies, all of that is historical fact.” The video is here.
His FAQ page is a bit more nuanced, but it essentially implies the same conviction.
As I said, the primary sense that I and most of my colleagues is annoyance that he has popularized, in a way that so many now believe, theories that are frankly crack pot. Ultimately, I could care less what Brown believes and I suppose I should be grateful to him since I have been invited to do many lectures as a result, but it is a nuisance to have so many people believe such utter nonsense as “Yahweh is a corruption of Jehovah.” (I had a blog on that, but cannot find the link now. He has it completely backward.
I am glad you like the blog and I enjoy yours as well!
Oh! And you said, “So much for the movie being better than the book, however.” I guess my sarcasm didn’t come through. 🙂 I read one review, that I cannot find now, that said the only thing going for the movie is that it is better than the book. No great feat.