Da Vinci Code prediction
I got a copy in the mail today, of an IVP booklet today by James Emery White entitled The Da Vinci Question. It was the first time that I’d seen anything about the Da Vinci Code since the movie came out, making me ask myself, “What happened to all of the Da Vinci Code craze that many, including myself, thought would happend?” It appears that I was wrong - a first in its own right - in predicting that the movie would re-ignite healthy discussion about the historical truth and relevance of the book to Christian faith.
In hindsight, I think the movie - both by design & by default - closed the debate by mixing up & watering down the controversy of the book. While I don’t think that the reasons why the book was so widely read have been adequately debunked in pop culture, however, the movie certainly didn’t do anything substantial to carry forward the books impact.
August 1st, 2006 at 9:16 pm
Yeah, that really was interesting, wasn’t it? After the movie did all crappy, nobody cared anymore.
It’s almost as if making money in hollywood is the benchmark of your ideas being worth listening to. A good contrast might be Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth”. It was a good film, it’s doing well, so now everyone’s talking about global warming. Maybe that heat wave helped things out too.
August 2nd, 2006 at 1:29 pm
Ultimately, I think it is the quality of the work that determines the legacy. And in the case of The Da Vinci Code, there was much left to be desired, both in film and book form. The movie by relative standards actually did quite well, with its current domestic box office receipts weighing in at over $215 million, and with a very healthy international run it has no doubt made well over $300 million. Despite this sucess, and despite the fact that the book opened up relevant areas for discussion for the Church, especially when it comes to Christianity’s historic legitimacy, The Da Vinci Code failed to create lasting discussion because of the lack of depth and quality of writing. Controversy and ridiculous claims aside, it is at its best a throw away novel, and, much like the book, for better or worse, the discussion about it has been shelved.
August 2nd, 2006 at 1:49 pm
I think that is what surprised me. I expected the controversy to carry the movie just like it carried the book (since strong writing or substantial research certainly didn’t carry the book). Honesly, I expected a “Passion of the Christ”-like impact of the book in popular culture (though not necessarily in terms of spiritual impact).
It strikes me that as generally illiterate - or at least unread - as our society is, people still have an expectation of veracity for things in print that doesn’t carry over in the same way for movies or visual media.
The correlation between the box-office success of the movie and the lack of ongoing discussion of the controversy of the book confirms for me that controversy - to have a significant impact - still has to be based in historical reality. For example, the Israel/Hezbollah conflict is controversial primarily because it is so historically relevant. The Passion of the Christ was impactful because the controversy - ie. Jesus’ life & death - is so historically relevant.
Apparently, the mythology & story (not to be confused with history) of the Da Vinci Code was unable to carry a significant impact. Though it touched many relevant points of dialogue, the movie - more clearly than the book - revealed the fictional nature of the questions being raised.
August 2nd, 2006 at 4:49 pm
I completely agree on that point. A book or film based on Truth/History, something closely tied to reality, has a much better chance to remain relevant. It resonates with people in way that is in some ways timeless. Controversy by itself is often a fading thing when the controversy comes from something that so clearly had no firm basis to begin with. Even fiction/story must have its ring of truth in order to stand the test of time.
August 2nd, 2006 at 5:16 pm
See Entertainment Weekly 25 Most Controversial Movies of All Time: The Da Vinci Code - #12, The Passion of The Christ - #1.