The Da Vinci Code

Thanks to the numerous history teachers who without exception managed to bore me stiff right through my entire school career, I am often hard pressed to see anything exciting in history per se. Even though, I must admit the lecturers we had during an MTA course a few years ago - Malta, t-turist u int - were amazing, inspired and inspiring teachers, who I wished I had met sooner! But I digress...

I am a voracious reader... But because of my bad head start into the subject of history I have taken to the habit of giving give wide berth to books whose title even remotely indicates their contents being connected with history. It's shameful, somehow, but I just can't help it. Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code was no exception. For a few months, while the debate about its story began to simmer, I withstood the temptation with ease. Then the subtle advertising techniques of the Catholic Church worked on me, too, and I succumbed. Against my expectations, I devoured it within a couple of days, thoroughly enjoyed it and went on to read three other books by the author. Controversy has always been the best marketing tool!

(Just a thought on the side: should I build some silly controversy into my novel and have the Church rave about it?)

Now a group of Maltese Catholics that consider themselves holier than the pope are striving to have the film banned from being screened in Malta... I will not go into detail about the scandalous issues surrounding the Da Vinci Code. I am not a Catholic and I have no intention of hurting anybody's religious sentiments. Suffice to say, I have trouble understanding just why it is so scandalous. First and foremost, the story is a very well-told work of fiction. And why should it be shocking to imagine (the keyword for fiction!) that Jesus was indeed married and had a daughter? Last but not least: Today, in 2006, who can give definite proof that this was not the case?

And I reckon that exactly is the bone of contention. The Church has a long history of making every effort to keep the common people out of the know. (Funny this snippet of information has stuck in my anti-historian memory...) Knowledge is power, and power is a dangerous thing for an ordinary person. The strange twist here is that it is ordinary persons who are going out of their way in their endeavour to prevent the Maltese people from watching this film.

It seems they are indeed making their own valid contribution to the movie's box office success!

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Update 27/04/2006

...and the story continues - read here!