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Post by EGBFan on May 20, 2006 5:58:56 GMT -4
I haven't read it, and I haven't seen it. I've picked up what it's all about from Tony Robinson (I shall clarify in a moment). I don't really have anything to say about it, and I really hope I'm not starting a flame war here. But MissJanine has asked a question I want to answer for her: Hey, is there the big ruckus about DaVinci over in England that there seems to be everywhere else? There has been a lot of commercial hype about the book, and now the film. Tony Robinson made a documentary whereby he checked out some of Brown's research, and his personal opinion was that it wasn't very thorough. When the novel came out, some Church leaders got publicly a little bit upset (besides a lot of regular non-famous people getting privately upset), but I don't really remember much - there wasn't a big upheaval. I haven't heard any objections to the movie yet, but that doesn't mean there haven't been any.
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Post by Silent Seraphim on May 20, 2006 11:10:10 GMT -4
I haven’t seen the movie, and I don’t think I’m going to. Judging from the reviews it’s been getting, it’s going to be a waste of six quid. To be honest, I didn't think the book itself was really that great. The last chapter was the biggest letdown ever, after a rollercoaster ride in the chapters beforehand. The ‘twist’ was flagged up in early chapters, so it wasn’t a huge surprise when it came up in the end. All in all, it was quite disappointing. One of the clues in the book was pretty obvious, even to me, so I found it quite funny that the two intellectuals in the book were scratching their heads over that one for the rest of the chapter. However, I can see why the book has been so popular. It’s got a big central mystery with clues scattered throughout, the chapters are short, so it’s very easy to read, and it comes with a bit of controversy.
I can understand why the Church is so upset about it. Opus Dei in particular comes in for a bit of a bashing, as does Christian/Catholic religion in general. However, after reading it myself, I sincerely doubt that it will shatter anyone’s faith. It’s a fictional book, and it is written as such (despite the author’s insistence that it’s all factually based, it still reads like a detective novel). Most people are going to read it for a bit of escapism, not as a religious text,and a lot of the theories mentioned in the book have already been written about beforehand anyway, so the book isn't even that original. I wonder why the fuss wasn't made when 'The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail' came out many years before, as both books are based on much the same principle.
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BlackMaria
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Sharpening the Fence Posts
Posts: 126
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Post by BlackMaria on May 20, 2006 16:26:15 GMT -4
As for "big hubbubs" like this, I tend to avoid them being a noncomformist. I just tend to stay away from things, activities, etc every one is doing. I don't feel any pressure or curiousity to see/read it...it's not a religious affiliation thing either (haven't seen Passion of Christ either).
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Post by SuperStantzio on May 20, 2006 16:34:30 GMT -4
I also try to avoid things like this as well. I'm just not sure if I wanted see the movie and I haven't read the book either. But who knows?
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Post by Kingpin on May 20, 2006 18:42:51 GMT -4
After reading the book and seeing the movie, I can safely say that a lot of people in my mind have overeacted.
On Holy Blood and the Holy Grail: You do have to wonder if part of the court case wasn't because Dan Brown was having so much success with The Da Vinci Code. In addition, any credability Michael Beigent had was wiped out by that documentary by Tony Robinson which showed him as unable to accept even the idea that the Priory of Sion was probably made up.
On the book: A fantastic piece of fiction, but fiction non-the-less. I think that maybe the reactions are a little overblown, but hey, humans overact.
Yar! Here be spoilers!
Opus Dei - In the book, Opus Dei is personified by Archbishop Aringarosa and the abino monk, Silas. Now, in the first three quarters of the book Aringarosa is portrayed as a somewhat shady Bishop who takes a large amount of money from the Vatican for an undisclosed reason.
Silas, the albino monk acts as a assasin, dispatching the four people who know the secret.
However, it's revealed in the final chapter that Aringarosa was acting out of despiration... Opus Dei was going to be cut off from being an official prelature to the Vatican. The 'Teacher', secretly Sir Leigh Teabing falsly promised Aringarosa a way of securing Opus Dei's future. Through this, Aringarosa asked Silas to help dispatch the four holders of the secret to preserve the foundation... In the end, Aringarosa is simply a victim of desparation and Silas a victim of his blind faith.
The Church - The perceived impression is that in the book, the church is a murderous organisation. However it's revealed in the book that their murderous actions are only in relation to the old crusades and that they had no role in any of the events other than holding conference with Aringarosa.
END SPOILERS
The movie: The movie makes several notable changes from the book, some I agree with; others I don't. The ending suffered from a change which I felt actually detracted from the story. Several scenes that made you feel sympathetic toward specific characters were not included from the book and one happy note was also removed.
In the end, I think the book's a good work of fiction... and that a lot of the recent hubbub has served as good marketing material... but it's not gonna revolutionise the religious world and the hype is gonna die down until the next 'scandalous' book appears.
And a though (Not intended to insence anyone): But the church should be less worried about what people think, they're allowed to make up their own minds even if it's the wrong decision.
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Post by Dr. Vincent Belmont on May 24, 2006 19:16:43 GMT -4
Be that as it may, Dan Brown stated in his book that everything is accurate.....and it isn't.
I can point out every single one of his flaws, but I have neither the years required to type it here, nor the desire to indulge you, since everyone on this board ISN'T a moron that accepts every thing the media throws at them said to be fact, AS fact.
Brown COULD very well be charged with libel, but he isn't, and that would be the world's silliest court case, wouldn't it?
As Kingpin said, it's an interesting piece of FICTION, but nothing more than that.
What got on my nerves is that the author has lied to his readers, and his readers trusted him.
Back when I worked at Media Play, I had to keep explaining to customers why The DaVinci Code was in our fiction section.
..."because it belongs there"...
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Post by EGBFan on May 25, 2006 15:46:48 GMT -4
What a coincidence. The Christian Union at my university (with which I am not involved) is having some sort of thing about The Da Vinci Code:
I can't go - it's at the exact same time as another uni event I'm involved with. Don't know why I mentioned it, really. Ah well - there it is.
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