The Da Vinci Code blog task

Daniel Gerhard Brown:-

Daniel Gerhard Brown is an American author best known for his thriller novels, including the Robert Langdon novels Angels & Demons, The Da Vinci Code, The Lost Symbol, Inferno and Origin. His novels are treasure hunts that usually take place over a period of 24 hours. They feature recurring themes of cryptolography, art , and conspiracy theories. His books have been translated into 57 languages and as, of 2012, have sold over 200 million copies. Three of them, Angels & Demons, The Da Vinci code, and Inferno, have been adapted into films.

The Da Vinci Code

The Da Vinci Code is a 2003 mystery detective novel written by Dan Brown. It follows symbologist Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu as they investigate a murder in Paris’s Louvre Museum and Descovery a battle between the Priory of Sion and Opus Dei over the possibility of Jesus having been married to Mary Magdalene. The title of the novel refers to, among other things, the fact that the murder victim is found in the Grand Gallery of the Louvre, naked and posed like Leonardo da Vinci’s famous drawing, the Virtuvian man, with a cryptic message written beside his body and a pentacle drawn on his chest in his own blood. The Novel is part of the exploration of alternative religious history, whose central plot point is that the Merovingian Kings of France were descendents from the bloodline of Jesus Christ and Mary Megdalene, ideas derived from Clive Prince’s The Templer Revelation and books by Margaret Starbird. As the story progresses, Langdon finds himself on the run from the French police, along with Sophie Neveu, accused of murdering four public faces, and steling a package from the Swiss Bank. The Package which he has now, is actually a map – a cryptos, designed by Jacques Sauniere, that leads to the hiding of the holy grail. The rest of the story lies on how Robert and Sophie evade the French Police, and break The Da Vinci Code.

1. Brown states on his website that his books are not anti Christian, though he is on a ‘constant spiritual journey’ himself, and says that his book ‘The Da Vinci Code’ is simply “an entertaining story that promotes spiritual discussion and debate” and suggests that the book may be used “as a positive catalyst for introspection and exploration of our faith”.

Dr.Hodgson says that “The Da vinci Code” is merely a story that aims to distort the truth and attack a 2,000 year old faith. But the success of “The Da Vinci Code” cannot be accounted for simply because the book presents a compelling story that is being aggressively marketed. This level of interest from so many millions of people would not happen for a work of fiction that was simply a thriller on par with other adrenaline pumping page turners. This thriller differs from others in its daring assertion that Jesus had been married to Mary Magdalene and had a child.

Here, we can say that this story is plainly fiction. It is a big part of centers on which the conspiracy theory that bothers us so deeply and also allages that the Catholic Church is responsible for a repressive and often violent coverup. People told that Jesus was no more than an ordinary human being, governed by sex and death like the rest of us. There could be no human Son of God. The belief that Jesus was devine is being seen as belonging to the past. Faith can operate without words, without verbal concepts. It is a sense of the presence of “God “ to use the word we have to use. A recovery of faith in opposition to dogma is far from unchristian. It has been a central emphasis in Protestantism to oppose faith to law. That was the insight of Martin Luther, to whom much of Protestant Christianity looks back. Da Vinci Code has made a substantial contribution to Christian theology.

2. You have studied ‘Genesis’ (The Bible), ‘The Paradise Lost’ (John Milton) and ‘The Da Vinci Code’(Dan Brown ). Which of the narrative/s seem/s to be truthful? Whose narrative is convincing to the contemporary young mind?

I don't read more about Genesis. So I can’t give any arguments on Genesis.

But I read about Paradise Lost.Paradise Lost introduced gender binaries like male and female. Here, we can take both as a central theme. But Eve was punished. And nowadays women get opportunities as well as men get. So in this era, men and women are equal. So it is very difficult to say that the narrative of Paradise Lost is convincing to the contemporary young man.

After reading The Da Vinci Code, I learned many things from this novel. In this novel, Dan Brown shows the girl as intelligent as men. It is difficult to become cryptologist for a girl but in this novel Sophie is a cryptologist and Robert Langdon is a symbologyst. So we can say that Sophie is as intelligent as Robert Langdon. Sophie and Robert both are also known as secret keepers. So, I would like to say that The Da Vinci Code is more convincing to the contemporary young mind rather than The Paradise Lost.

3. What harm has been done to humanity by the biblical narration or that of Milton’s in The Paradise Lost? What sort of damage does narrative like ‘The Da Vinci Code’ to do humanity?

In The Paradise Lost, we can see that Eve ate the apple because the fruit is suggests the knowledge fruit. We can interpret that Eve was not hungry for fruit but she was hungry for knowledge. But God punished because Eve ate the knowledge fruit. And also we can find gender binaries. We can’t see the equality between men and women in The Paradise Lost. So, here we can say that many points of The Paradise Lost harm has been done to humanity by Milton’s The Paradise Lost.

In The Da Vinci Code, the members of The Priory of Sion were passed their whole life behind keep the secret of The Holy Grail. As we all know that Sauniere was the grand master of The Priory of Sion and he was also very intellectual person but he had spent his entire life keeping the secret of Holy Grail rather than behind anyother aimful works. So, I can tell that this thing has been harmed to humanity by Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code.

4. What do you see in the portrayal of ‘Ophelia’ (Kate Winselt) in Kenneth Brangagh’s Hamlet, ‘Elizabeth’ (Helena Bonharm Carter) in Kenneth Branagh’s Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein or ‘Hester Prynne’ (Demi Moore) in Roland Joffe’s The Scarlet Letter’ or David Yates ‘Harmione Granger’ (Emma Watson) in last four Harry Potter films – and ‘ Sophie Neuve’ (Audrey Tautau) I Ron Howard’s The Da Vinci Code? How would justify your answer?

In Hamlet, I watched that the camera is moved around Ophelia. In the movie, we can see the nude scenes of Ophelia. But in the play we can not find anykind of this descriptions. But the director tried to show the nudity of Ophelia in the movie. And there is scene of sucide of Ophelia. She is shown as inferior rather than superior.

In Frankenstein, we can also find the scenes of kissing of Elizabeth. Monster also fall in love with Elizabeth in the movie but in the novel we can not find this type of description. Elizabth has to die in the movie and also in the novel by Monster. So here also we can find that the Elizabeth’s character is inferior rather than superior.

In The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne is the victim. She has to wear “A”. The society and also her husband do not support her but punished her. In the movie, we can find the scenes of kissing with Hestser’s lover. In this movie and also in the novel we can say that the women are inferior rather than superior.

In Harry Potter, in last four parts we can find the camera is moved around the body of Harmione Granger. Ron Howard and Harmione were getting marry to each other as well as Harry and Jini were getting marry. But in this novel or movie we can not say that the women are inferior rather than man because in this novel or movie women were portrayed as a intellectual women. They are as intelligent as men. In this movie we can find many kissing scenes.

In Tha Da Vinci Code, there is no one scene of kissing in the whole movie. The director removed every scenes in the movies. And also Sophie is very intelligent woman rather than man. Sophie is a cryptologist, generally women are not in this field because it was believed by people that women can not do like this work. But in this movie or novel we can see that Sophie is very intelligent woman.

5. Do novel / film lead us into critical (deconstructive) thinking about your religion? Can we think of such conspiracy theory about Hindu religious symbols / myths?

Yes, novel / film lead us into critical thinking about our religion. We can take the Shivling which is the Hindu religious symbol or myth which has a aconspiracy theory. The image of Shiva Lingam is as a male organ and viewed with obscenity, but had conveniently forgotten how a phallus could have appeared from the base. Moreover, science Lord Shiva is described as having no form, it is ridiculous to maintain that Lingam represents a phallus. This is the reason why Swami Vivekanand described Shiva Lingam as the symbol of the Eternal Brahman, when a German Orientalist, Gusta Oppert traced it to phallicism.

The Lingam is shaped like an egg and represents the ‘Brahmanand’ or the cosmic egg. There are two types of Shiva Lingam. One is black meteorite egg – shaped stone. It is said that such a stone is installed at Kabba in Mecca. The other one is man made and is solified mercury. Solidifying mercury is an ancient Vedic science.

This is the scientific truth but it is not accepted by the HariBhakta. So we can say that in Hindu religion we also have conspiracy theories.

6. Have you come across any similar book / movie, which tries to deconstruct accepted notions about Hindu religion or culture and by dismantling it, attempts to reconstruct another possible interpretation of truth?

Yes, I was read a book ‘The Purpose’ by T.P. Kailasam. T.P Kailasam broke the whole idea of myth in his The Purpose. We can find how Kailasam gave the voice to Eklavya and portrayed as a protagonist of the play. And Pandavas are antagonist.