DaVinci Code: To Boycott or Not to Boycott?

There's quite a controversy brewing over the premier of the movie The DaVinci Code. Leaders of the Roman Catholic hierarchy are calling for a boycott due to the movie's blasphemous nature, while Tom Hanks, who stars in the film, is saying it's all hogwash:

"It's a damn good story and a lot of fun... all it is is dialogue. That never hurts."

Well, that may be true. Generally I've averse to censorship of fictional works, as repression tends to lend greater creedence to any claims of the targeted work. The history of banned books is instructive.

But in this instance, given the popularity of the Dan Brown novel AND the woeful state of Catholic religious education, I must admit I am concerned about the movie's impact. The movie will hurt the Catholic Church.

When Catholics themselves go into the movie more familiar with the noxious hodgepodge of fact and fiction in the Brown novel than with their own religion's theology and structure, viewers do not enter the experience with enough of a foundation in the truth to discern what is fiction.

Still, while I don't think I'll boycott per se - I won't make any special effort to see it either. I have not read the book, although I have read reviews, critiques, and praise extensively. Frankly, I've had more interesting and important things to read and do.

One of the most interesting observations came from Cardinal Amato, and I think it makes a legitimate point about the strange social permissibility when it comes to attacking the Catholic Church with pop culture:

"If such lies and errors had been directed at the Koran and Holocaust they would have justly provoked a world uprising.

"Instead, if they are directed against the church and Christians, they remain unpunished. I hope you will boycott the film."

In the end, the movie will probably ride the Passion-like buzz to blockbuster status. I simply hope everyone chowing down on popcorn and Pepsi goes into the theater knowing that the bulk of The DaVinci Code can be cracked with ease - it's mostly a bunch of baloney.

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