I guess I shouldn’t be surprised to see the political world take The [tag]Da Vinci Code[/tag] a little too seriously, but with the movie opening tomorrow, it seems some people just can’t help themselves. The Wall Street Journal’s [tag]Peggy Noonan[/tag], for example, went on quite a tirade today.
Speaking of the detachment of the elites, the second big news of the week — in some ways it may be bigger — is the apparent critical failure of “The DaVinci Code.” After its first screening in Cannes, critics and observers called it tedious, painfully long, bloated, grim, so-so, a jumble, lifeless and talky.
There is a God. Or, as a sophisticated Christian pointed out yesterday, there is an Evil One, and this may be proof he was an uncredited co-producer. The [tag]devil[/tag] loves the common, the stale. He can’t use beauty; it undermines him. “Banality is his calling card.”
I do not understand the thinking of a studio that would make, for the amusement of a nation 85% to 90% of whose people identify themselves as [tag]Christian[/tag], a major movie aimed at attacking the central tenets of that faith, and insulting as poor fools its gulled adherents. Why would [tag]Tom Hanks[/tag] lend his prestige to such a film? Why would [tag]Ron Howard[/tag]? They’re both already rich and relevant. A desire to seem fresh and in the middle of a big national conversation? But they don’t seem young, they seem immature and destructive. And ungracious. They’ve been given so much by their country and era, such rich rewards and adulation throughout their long careers. This was no way to say thanks.
Yes, as far as Peggy Noonan is concerned, this work of fiction is a slap in the face to the nation at the hands of Tom Hanks and Ron Howard. Why? Well, I’m afraid Noonan lost me around the time she started explaining her theological beliefs about the “evil one’s” agenda in the Wall Street Journal.
For that matter, the controversy surrounding the movie has also crept into the halls of Congress.
Father [tag]Daniel Coughlin[/tag], the House chaplain, will host a discussion on the movie, based on [tag]Dan Brown[/tag]’s best-selling book, on May 22, according to a “Dear Colleague” letter obtained by The Hill.
“We’ve done a series on prayer and just finished a Lent series,” said the chaplain’s spokeswoman, Karen Bronson. “One of the things we want to do is respond to staff interest.”
She said the seminar was scheduled in response to increased staff interest in the upcoming movie, starring Tom Hanks, the book and the controversy surrounding the story line.
Monsignor Frank Maniscalco, director of communications of the U.S. Conference of [tag]Catholic[/tag] Bishops, who is overseeing the Bishops’ response to “The Da Vinci Code,” will lead the discussion.
Or, put another way, a taxpayer-financed priest will host a discussion group on Capitol Hill with a religious critic of the movie — at public expense.
What’s more, [tag]James Dobson[/tag]’s [tag]Focus on the Family[/tag] issued an alert to its membership yesterday, warning them that the public is confused about fact and fiction.
The Opinion Research Business (ORB) found that when people read Dan Brown’s fictional bestseller The Da Vinci Code, their beliefs about the Roman Catholic Church and about the life of Jesus Christ are likely to be altered, Reuters reported.
ORB interviewed more than 1,000 people in Britain and found that, of those who had read the book, 60 percent believed that Jesus had fathered children with Mary Magdalene — a claim with no historical basis.
The book also portrays the Catholic group [tag]Opus Dei[/tag] as a murderous organization responsible for killing people to cover up church secrets. And, according to the ORB poll, people who read the book were four times more likely to think that to be true than those who had not.
Have I mentioned how terribly odd all of this is?