Wednesday, May 17, 2006

The Da Vinci Code-To Ban or Not to Ban!

In light of the growing protests in India by Christian groups against the release of the movie The Da Vinci Code and the ever-increasing possibility that the government will bow down to the pressure and ban it, I’m left feeling a mixture of outrage and amusement at the mere pettiness of it all! The way these protests are going on, one would be forgiven for thinking that the Church indeed has something to hide! Does the Church and its priests/archbishops/other officials think that the Christian faith and religion is so fragile that it can be knocked down by a mere movie? Don't they know that millions of Christians have already read the book which has been on the bestseller list now for more than a year? So if the government bans the movie because it hurts the sentiments of a certain section of society, what about my right to watch the movie? And others like me? Instead of banning the movie, they could call for a boycott instead or even a disclaimer for the movie (which the book has anyway!). Thanks to these protests, they have given enough publicity to the movie and even those who have not read the book now know about the "Jesus Christ Married Mary Magdalene and Had Kids” Theory!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't know if it is right to say that only the Indians protested against the release of The Da Vinci Code. There were protests even in the U.S.

As an adult, I guess its upto me to decide whether I want to see a movie or read a book. If I feel it hurts my sentiments, then I should not read it. At the end of the day, its a piece of fiction! I don't think anybody has the right to stop me from doing or seeing something I want to as long as I don't harm someone. Its a free world!

Pradeep Nair said...

I am totally against banning anything, unless it is of some exceptionally extreme nature. In today's age, one doesn't achieve anything by banning. What I can't stand is some people asking for the ban have no clue about Da Vinci Code or anything related to it. Deccan Herald had an article on June 8, written by a member of Opus Dei thanking Dan Brown for giving them an opportunity to educate the public.

http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/jun82006/panorama144950200667.asp

Anonymous said...

Hi Kary,

I couldn't agree more!! I made a very similar point on another blog a couple of weeks back. By asking for it to be banned, it appears as if they do have something to hide. It's also life many people are just jumping on the band wagon and just want to join in on the protests for the hell of it. Either way, I think it's unlikely to be banned and if to them, they're faith is true, then they have nothing to fear or hide!