Unless you’ve been living on another planet, you’ll know that Dan Brown’s controversial bestseller, The Da Vinci Code, has been translated to the big screen and taken the debate about the alleged lineage of Jesus to another level.
After steaming into mega flack in Christian-dominated Western countries, the movie handlers must have thought they would have sailed into calmer waters releasing their magnus opus (pun intended) in Asia, where Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam predominate. Things didn’t quite go according to plan. The movie was banned in the Philippines, met an uproar of protest in Thailand, Singapore and South Korea and in predominantly Hindu India, the Catholic community won a case to ensure the movie began and ended with a large disclaimer on the screen stating it was a work of fiction.
China and The Da Vinci Code have (had) an interesting relationship. According to the official Xinhua News Agency, the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, an organization that operates independently of the Vatican, lambasted the movie for “violating religious ethics and morals and insulting the feelings of clergy and followers.” In the process the Chinese church called on its 10 million followers to give the movie a wide berth. Whether their plea fell on deaf ears or not is hard to say.
In the midst of all this, Beijing won the toss and screened The Da Vinci Code a full four hours before its international launch at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Local moviegoers smugly sank into their cinema seats, chomped on their popcorn, crackled packets of snacks and chatted away loudly to friends on their cellphones knowing they were the first in the world to watch the movie of the moment.
But things change quickly in the world’s fastest developing country and today’s hero can soon be tomorrow’s zero. Three weeks after the much publicized world premiere the hammer came crashing down and The Da Vinci Code was unceremoniously yanked off screens across the country.
Reasons given varied, depending on whom you were listening to. Official sources said it was a “commercial decision” made to give a package of upcoming local movies a chance at some box office success. Other sources said it was pulled to avoid the ignominy of a controversial religious film proving a massive hit. That argument in itself is peppered with holes, as controversy is the biggest drawcard for any creative offering and therefore bound to translate into success of some kind--in this case, financially.
Looking at the rush around The Da Vinci Code from the point of view of a former Roman Catholic, I have to ask myself if any publicity really is good publicity. In this case the answer seems to be in the affirmative. People in China and across Asia are now beginning to examine Christianity based on the work of Dan Brown. For many who knew (and still know) very little about Jesus and the role he plays in Western civilization, this is their first introduction.
The movie’s director was at great pains to remind viewers the work is one of fiction. The book’s author, on the other hand, maintains that while the book is fiction, there are factual elements to it. Christians worldwide have found it an affront to their beliefs--rejecting the notion that Jesus sired a child with Mary Magdalene as blasphemous.
So is being drawn to Christianity by a “sacrilegious” method wrong, if one is then led to look at and better understand what this religion stands for? Many Chinese people I have spoken to, who have watched the movie, are doing just that and starting to ask why, how and who in relation to Jesus, God and the Vatican. The movie has sparked debate here in China--always a good thing in any evolving society. This also slots in nicely with the government’s much-publicized credo of ongoing religious freedom.
Never a studio to rest on its laurels, Columbia Pictures is already planning to turn Brown’s first best-selling religious thriller, Angels & Demons, into a film. Given the mass hysteria generated by The Da Vinci Code, I wonder if we are going to have to go through it all again, although Angels doesn’t drag Jesus and Mary into the plot. Its story is much more sedate--focusing on a secret society blowing the Vatican to smithereens.
Foreigners living in China are welcome to share their experiences.省略 Submissions may be edited.