Mother Church versus the Da Vinci Code: methinks the Lady doth protest too much...May 18 '06 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line Any grownups present, please raise your hand. That's what I thought. I take my religion pretty seriously, but all this protest over The Da Vinci Code is laughable. Whoever's in charge of PR for the Vatican should be canned. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you must have your head in the sand, like I usually do. Tom Hanks. Audrey Tautou. The bestseller-turned-summer blockbuster: The Da Vinci Code on the big screen. The Vatican is so upset over this film, they’re threatening to collectively wet their pants. Let's review. I don't think I'd be giving anything away that isn't already nearly universally known by now, if I said that a large part of the story revolves around the idea that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were Married...With Children (well, one child anyway). The Da Vinci Code portrays this theory as absolute fact, one that has been protected by the ultra-secret society of the Priory of Sion for two millennia (despite the wilting persecution of the Church to not only suppress this information, but exterminate any who profess it). With the impending global release of Ron Howard’s film of Da Vinci Code, calls from various Religious groups for boycotts and protests of the film have given it much unpaid publicity. But the call by the Vatican not only for the film’s boycott, but perhaps even legal action seems laughable under the circumstances. Why, the thinking person must ask oneself, is this so threatening to the Church? I don’t consider myself particularly ignorant when it comes to the Catholic Church, yet I am mystified. Would the thought of a married Christ so jeopardize scripture as to pose a larger threat than theologians (and cynics) who challenge the divinely inspired nature of those same scriptures every day? Would it interfere so greatly with the principle underlying the discipline of celibacy as to cause more questioning of this tradition than there is already? How is the film version somehow more frightening than the already-bestselling book, which has spawned more spin-off books and documentaries than can be counted? Despite the Catholic Church’s well-established history of ferocious suppression of ideas considered heretical, is this movie really so threatening to the 21st century that it merits this level of concern? Beyond that, consider the unflattering picture of the Church painted by Da Vinci Code: supposedly, this information was deemed so threatening for so long that the Vatican has engaged in all sorts of secret, underhanded plots over the centuries to squelch it forever, including the sinister murder that is at the center of the vortex in this story. Which brings us back to the beginning of my rant. Surely any halfway decent PR person knows that if you want to convince people that something isn't true, vocal and vigorous protests (like the boycott of this film--called for by the Pope himself--and the planned protests by faithful church groups) are definitely not the way to do it. Jesus himself set a great example: he turned the other cheek. Ignored it. All this hubbub only introduces doubt into the minds of those who were initially inclined to trust the Vatican. One begins to think: perhaps they really are desperate to suppress this, just like the book says??? But more than that, it begs the question of consistency when it comes to Hollywood and the Church. Ever since at least the early-to-mid-60s, Hollywood has been pumping out movies utterly antithetical to the moral teachings of Christianity. From Midnight Cowboy to Eyes Wide Open , hypersexualism, homosexualism and every other sexualism has been unceremoniously splashed across the screen along with every other imaginable vice. Were there organized protests or boycotts of any of these films? Yet suddenly when movies like The Last Temptation of Christ come out, the “Conservative Christians” froth at the mouth like Muslims protesting Danish political cartoons. One of the most vulgar, demoralizing and disgusting films I’ve ever seen was Seven, but I don’t remember anyone protesting it. And I’m certain there have been others that are much worse; I’ve just been lucky enough to have missed them. What I’m questioning here is not whether movies like Da Vinci Code or The Last Temptation of Jesus Christ are religiously offensive or worthy of protest. But let’s be completely honest: if the ‘heretical’ thought of Christ having a child is so seditious to the faith of Christians as to elicit such a reaction, how can one say in the same breath that your garden-variety R-rated film nowadays poses no such threat? (Anyone with a daughter knows what I mean.) Does the ease of access to Internet porn not merit equal action? What about the myriad magazines, books and TV tabloids obsessed with the messed-up lives and loves of the Stars? Music with lyrics so explicit they require warning labels? Clothing that belongs on Hollywood Boulevard being marketed not only to teens but to the 4--6x set? If any of these threats to our children’s sanity were as vigorously protested [note: I did not say censored] as this one “controversial” film, perhaps parents wouldn't have to be terrified every time their children walk out the door (or pick up the phone, or sit in front of the computer). But no one does that. The Vatican doesn't demand protest. It just blandly issues a blanket condemnation, as though that means anything to the cynical post-sexual-revolution masses. To even suggest such protests would bring nothing but derision--even possibly the risk of making oneself so pathetically unhip as to lose all credibility. Ironically, this call from the Vatican to boycott the Da Vinci Code does just that by making the controversial assertions of one silly movie more important than the threat posed by an ever-more-voracious modern-day pop culture in general. They’ve lost credibility--not because they’re unhip, but because they have demonstrated that when push comes to shove, loss of control over the minutiae of the faith means more to them than the constant peril faced by innocent children and their parents, in a society that is forcibly becoming more atheistic everyday. Between the threats from without and the threats from within (will the Priest abuse scandals ever end???), it’s little wonder the Catholic Church has experienced a mass exodus from not only the churches, but the seminaries too. It’s time they showed the world that they actually stand for something [and this move against Da Vinci Code is a move in the opposite direction] or retreat, lick their wounds, and scratch their heads while a once grand institution dies a slow and painful death. Watch for a Vatican Art Bankruptcy Sale. A very brief opinion of the book itself can be found at http://www.epinions.com/content_130138279556 Thanks for reading.  |
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