Keith Watanabe * NET 2.0

Just finished up the book last night. After hearing all the hype I decided to check it out. Thing that interested me was not just the hype but the mystique surrounding the novel. Essentially, the novel's genre is murder-mystery. It reads like an episode of CSI as the historical details are deep and connected somehow. At the same time, the characters are extremely shallow (you can barely call them "characters") and the plot mostly moves through them piecing clues together. Worse yet, the style is abhorrent because it comes in the vein of "tell don't show", which, in my book, violates the principles of good fiction, much less murder-mystery since it's up to the reader to pick up on the facts by themselves. That said, the piecing of the clues and the interrelationships are what make the novel a fascinating read. The presentation of the clues read like history and there's even a disclaimer at the beginning that mentions the accuracy of what's said in the novel in an attempt to boost it's credibility. Whether this is a device to garner speculation and hype is irrelevant as the notes in the story are intricately brought together using the lense of Leonardo Da Vinci as the focal point. Despite the "tell don't show" style of the author, the book attempts to demonstrate a line of thought that demystifies Christ and the history of the church. Namely that idea comes from Gnosticism where Jesus was married to the whore Mary. But more than that, the fact that the church has covered up this fact for centuries to consolidate it's power base. With those overarching themes as being the truth that the book and a character, Teabing, attempt to bring to light, the book attempts to balance both sides in not trying to preach that one side is correct or the other. Quite the contrary, the book tries to illuminate how certain members of the church (and in society) on the abuse of power and fanaticism. The core issue here is not that Jesus was married to Mary. The core issue is how the church people manipulated masses using religion to increase their power. Along those lines the Opus Dei in the novel runs parallel to the way the church in history (the Roman Catholic Chruch) had done to improve their standing. They too are reported to use brainwashing techniques to increase their ranks. However, it's revealed at the end how the Vatican itself abandons Opus Dei for their misconduct and abusive means, demonstrating that the church itself isn't the problem, but the institution of power and the hunger to strive for such a thing. Yet at that moment, the Bishop of Opus Dei himself realizes his own foley, but is too late in being able to save himself and Silas, the fanatical assassin, from this misguidance. Both the bishop and Silas are redeemed in their final understanding of themselves and what they've accomplished, which again demonstrates that it's avarice which accosts them. Again this aiming of the gun away from the church but at individuals manifest when it's revealed that Teabing has master minded this plot in an effort to bring Truth to the world. However, if we were to examine some basic principles in the end, we realize that Teabing's desire supercedes some fundamental laws of humanity which is to not to harm others. However, the deaths of the heads of the Priory of Sion along with his own butler, the Bishop of Opus Dei and Silan make him "unworthy" to view the Holy Grail. Again we see one's sense of pride, greed, and values superceding societies, which is what the author problematizes about society. The other issue is that the situation of whether Jesus and Mary were married and had children while being covered up by the church ought to be revealed. The specifics about that actually become irrelevant because both Sophie and Langdon recognize the social implications of releasing that information. Here, the author attempts to demonstrate what religion really is meant for (well at least for some of us): structuring society. Religion helps provide foundation for morality while giving people an abstract sense of hope. The crux of the problem isn't the crimes of the church, as Teabing sees it, but rather removing the belief system of people that they hold dear. The thing that moves people and creates a sense of stability, these are elements that form a basis for society. The funny part is how this allegory plays into society all the time. For instance, patriotism is the primary example of how this works in society. If you live in a country and are indoctrinated into a way of life, you don't want to change. Most people have difficulty accepting other belief systems. Just check out how homosexuality is viewed in the world. Or blacks vs whites. This is the politics of similarity and difference at work, which is central to how humans as animals behave and why order in society is required to a certain degree. One of the interesting things to me is the response from religious groups (as usual) against the novel. I've read things from banning the novel to people disagreeing with the view of Mary being married to Jesus or the church murdering for the purpose of power. Then some fanatics go as far to say that the novel is the work of Satan. Ironically, like South Park the Movie, this novel seems to deconstruct itself and anticipate the moves of these people by demonstrating blind fanaticism. These people are similar to Silas who lack control of their own thought and are run by a simplified, narrow view of the Bible. These are the same people that are willing to bomb abortion clinics for their belief systems and yet not see anything morally wrong by killing others. But these people to me are those usually in the lower rung of society, meant to scrap by at gas stations while others who are mentally superior drag them around with an invisible rope. To me these people are not the fittest to survive in society, especially in a day whether mental capacity, flexibility, etc. will carry one far more than raw strength and abstract will. These people are the termites of the world, waiting to be swept over. Or maybe they're like ants who somehow serve in the scheme of things, but are mostly out to annoy us who are on a picnic. Either way, these are people to be ignored as they serve little purpose outside of the front lines in a military campaign, flipping burgers unquestioningly, clicking on ads to make some of us rich, buying the latest Britney Spears album because they have no taste in music, etc. And I bet these are the same people that will go to see the movie.