The Catholic Church spent this Easter weekend continuing it’s crusade against Sony’s upcoming “Da Vinci Code” movie instead of… oh I don’t know… thinking about Jesus? Sony, eager for the free advertising generated by controversy, couldn’t be happier.
The book on which the movie is based, tells of a conspiracy by an organization inside the Catholic Church called Opus Dei, to hide the fact that Christ never died and instead ran off with Mary Magdalene and fathered kids. Opus Dei is a real group inside the church, and they even have an official website, which they’re using to make demands of Sony.
USA Today says that on Good Friday an Opus Dei spokesman sent Sony a letter demanding that they put a disclaimer in front of their movie stating that it’s a work of fiction. Opus Dei asks that they do this as a sign of respect to Jesus Christ, but also probably because they’re afraid their parishioners are just dumb enough to believe the movie is fact. “We are stressing that the novel is unfair in its treatment of Opus Dei and the church and for a reminder that there should be some sensitivity shown," says an Opus Dei spokesman.
But since when have works of fiction ever had to be fair to anyone, let alone religion? It’s a work of fiction. Whether or not the Catholic Church likes it to me seems pretty irrelevant unless we’re headed back towards the dark ages and church approved reading lists. Sony has yet to respond to the Church’s demands, but Opus Dei is regarded as a very powerful group of people, the type that might make even wealthy Hollywood execs think twice. So far, all Sony has done is set up a discussion forum on the film’s official site for devout deists to complain about the film.
Other Christian groups are already planning anti-Da Vinci marketing campaigns this summer, to be advertised through Christian outlets. Most of the campaigns will focus on disputing the facts of Da Vinci… except of course it isn’t fact and has never pretended to be anything other than complete and total fiction.
