What's the big deal with the Da Vinci Code movie?
What’s the big deal with watching Da Vinci Code? Why are countries racing to ban it? Why are we so damn backwards? But I’m going to cut Arabs some slack, they’re not the only people banning it. Talking to many friends of mine, who regularly attend church, I found out that their churches are “recommending” people to not to watch the movie. Shouldn’t your faith be so strong that it can’t be shaken by a movie? How insecure are you people? But at least we got to see the movie here.
I wanted to write this to give everybody else an idea of how the movie was dealt with here. As I mentioned the movie was shown like any other movie, with some churches recommending that people shouldn’t see it. At the same time a huge media campaign was launched on numerous channels with documentaries highlighting the fact and fiction in the Da Vinci Code. History channel had a Da Vinci Code week! They talked about everything from the Holy Grail to Opus Dei. So people got informed, and at the same time they were able to watch the movie. At least people got to see both views, and then they can make up their own mind.
Personally, I don’t believe everything the novel says, but some of the theories in there seem quite plausible. The way I look at is that you can’t prove anything the Bible anymore than you can prove anything in Holy Blood Holy Grail. The main difference between the two books is that the former forms the basis of the belief of millions of people on the world, while the latter doesn’t. But this is a whole discussion in it’s own.. so I’ll leave you with this, and this. They’re both documentaries on the Da Vinci Code presenting both side of the argument. I have seen second one, and I like it a lot...
posted by x @ 2:40 PM
8 comments
8 Comments:
At 6/06/2006 6:59 PM,
omar said…
it might be fiction,
but it's still an insult to the core of christianity.
the movie sux anyway,
I hated it!
the novel was way better...
omar
At 6/06/2006 11:50 PM,
x said…
al hajeji, what you're saying is nonsense.. I'm sure Islam was altered an corrupted as well. There's no better example of the corruption of Islam like al Qaeda and similar fundamentalist organizations. It's time for people to wake up and open their minds! On the other hand, Christians and Muslims have coexisted in the middle east for ages, and let's not forget that Christians inhabited many of today's Arab countries before Mohammad was even born.
Omernos, how is it an insult? If the Da Vinci code is an insult then what's Darwin's Origin of Species?
The movie is never as good as the book, and I especially hated how changed some key parts of the novel, like the ending!
At 6/07/2006 2:01 AM,
Anonymous said…
I beleive that not any christian beleive this stuff.
a good beleiver who beleive in the bible and in his/her God. and nothing will affect their own beleives.
At 6/08/2006 10:30 PM,
Bubidu said…
Omar,
when u say "you can't prove anything in the bible anymore than you can prove anything in Holy Blood Holy Grail" I agree with this statement but the same argument applies to Quran.
I watched the movie and it doesn't do the book any justice.. it's just BAD.
At 6/08/2006 11:30 PM,
x said…
that's exactly what I'm trying to say Wedad..
Ahmad, agreed on both statements.
At 6/09/2006 5:01 PM,
omar said…
No, why go back to Mr. Darwin,
take Rushdi as a better example. His book wasn't true, but it was still humiliating. That's what I'm trying to say.
I simply don't believe about this whole uproar of the holy grail thing. If you'd like to know, the Priory of Sion wasn't discovered until 1956, and by a scandal that it doesn't exist.
What I'm trying to say is that speculation of any religion's believes is considered to be 'an insult' as I said. I mean, I was happy to see that the movie was banned in Jordan, because Christians as a minority were respected in this matter.
At 6/10/2006 8:19 PM,
Anonymous said…
To al hajeji, I think I don't need to remind you that a lot of the big arab figures are christian, from Boutros Boutros Ghali to Gebran Khalil Gebran, to Michel Aflak and Michel Kilo, just to name a few, patriot syrians and arabs. I would probably have to remind you though that there is a papal ban on the copts in Egypt to go to Israel and that late Georges Hawi fought along with the Palestinians against the Israelis and Syrians. And to stress on what Omar said, Christians were in Syria way before Islam gets to it.
Now on the movie, it's not a matter of validity or altered faith, it's a matter of respect. We all saw how muslims demonstrated against the danish cartoons. Well, it is the Christian's right to ask for respect as well. We also saw muslims get outraged by the French ban on hijab (which I totally understand) when Christians in Saudi don't have the right to a place of prayer. So, you might find nothing wrong with the movie from a muslim point of view, when it lacks respect for the Christian faith by implying wrong things about it.
At 6/10/2006 8:55 PM,
x said…
Omernos, I guess our definition of insult are different, and that's cool. I think it's good that Jordan showed respect for a Christian minority, although I think that muslim dislike of the ideas prsented in the movie was a big part of the ban.
Anonymous, actually both muslims and christians thought of the movie as disrespectful. Best example of that is Bombay, where people from both minorities worked together to ban the movie. I don't find anything wrong with the movie (or book) from a secular point of view, not a muslim one. I hope my views of the movie are not direspectful in any way.
Btw I loved your response to a-hajeji.
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