Holy Hollywood, Batman

I was advised at a tender age that one should refrain from arguing politics and religion at all costs I have never been afraid to argue both, because I usually kept an open mind and had facts to support my supposition. But then again I remember being thrown out of a little bar in Florida for espousing my beliefs and also for depositing coin after coin in the juke box to play a song by Anne Murray that no one wanted to hear any longer.

The advice against arguing about the two subjects becomes even more fundamental when they are combined and the discussion turns to the politics of religion. If I had argued that subject in that little bar, I most likely would have been sharing a plot in Michigan with Mr. Hoffa. Hence, the debate about the “DaVinci Code”.

The movie debuted in this country today to mixed reviews. More like mixed concrete of bad reviews. But the subject matter of the movie is the crux of the issue and not the artistic merit of the film. DaVinci has been to religious sects what “Brokeback Mountain” was to the homophobic construction worker from New York Labeling DaVinci as a pure work of fiction is much like tagging Brokeback as the all American love story. Kind of like Jell-O made with sand.

Millions upon millions have read the book by Mr. Brown. These will be the same people that having been able to fork over the price of the hardcover copy will be able to put down the price of admission at the movie theater. Most likely, a redundant audience. But supply and demand of Hollywood blockbusters is similar to the price at the gas pump. We gripe about the high prices, but we still take in our fill. And so we flock to the theaters to watch the affluent whites and the pitiable black gangster thugs. We cheer on the underdog kids led to victory by the alcoholic coach. Israeli gun slinging assassins become heroes. Men are macho; women are bimbos. The examples go on and on.

The work by Brown is fiction and should be viewed as such. A true believer in their faith will not nor should not be swayed by a media presentation. I, like William Donohue of the Catholic League, find all the uproar concerning the movie as much to do about nothing. Mr. Donohue , in an interview this morning stated, that he had only asked that a disclaimer be inserted to clarify that the movie was indeed fiction. While I hardly ever agree with Mr. Donohue’s position, I don’t think that was too much to ask. Then the audience would truly have known that they shouldn’t be taking this all that seriously. Perhaps this idea of the “fiction disclaimer” could extend on to the next James Bond epic.

Yet we take up our swords and arrows to fight for this nonsense when we are engaged in a war which sees no end and genocide runs rampant in Dafur. We only pay lip service to these issues.