Thinking activity on Da Vinci code
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1)"Brown states on his website that his books are not anti-Christian, though he is on a 'constant spiritual journey' himself, and says that his book The Da Vinci Code is simply "an entertaining story that promotes spiritual discussion and debate" and suggests that the book may be used "as a positive catalyst for introspection and exploration of our faith".
2)"Although it is obvious that much of what Brown presented in his novel as absolutely true and accurate is neither of those, some of that material is of course essential to the intrigue, and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman has retained the novel's core, the Grail-related material: the sacred feminine, Mary Magdalene's marriage, the Priory of Sion, certain aspects of Leonardo's art, and so on” How far do you agree with this observation of Norris J. Lacy?
Dan Brown said that this is the novel for entertainment. What are the things presented by him it can be wrong,not true. He also present use of technology here which one can not find in reality. It is his imagination power which present that this is not true one. Here he tries to look with his own perspective towards the religion and give his ideas.
3)You have studied ‘Genesis’ (The Bible), ‘The Paradise Lost’ (John Milton) and ‘The Da Vinci Code’ (Dan Brown). Which of the narrative/s seem/s to be truthful? Whose narrative is convincing to the contemporary young mind.
These all the sources are based in christianity and God. I think Milton ' s Paradise lost is more convincing and truthful for today.
4)What harm has been done to humanity by the biblical narration or that of Milton’s in The Paradise Lose? What sort of damage does narrative like ‘The Vinci Code’ do to humanity
In Biblical narration or in Milton's Paradise lost ,present main theme on female characters . In Paradise lost ,Eve become reason for man's fall down. It is the most harmful thing . It decreases women. Always in religion the character of women is presented as the reason of man's fall down. In Hindu myth, there are some lady character who gives the idea that if we remove that character then the myth can be grown with another face. Also in Da Vinci code, it breaks the christianity. This novel is trying to shows faminine sacredness which harms women with objecting them.
5)What difference do you see in the portrayal of 'Ophelia' (Kate Winslet) in Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet, 'Elizabeth' (Helena Bonham Carter) in Kenneth Branagh's Mary Shelley's Frankenstein or 'Hester Prynne' (Demi Moore) in Roland Joffé's The Scarlet Letter' or David Yates's 'Harmione Granger' (Emma Watson) in last four Harry Potter films - and 'Sophie Neuve' (Audrey Tautau) in Ron Howard's The Da Vinci Code? How would justify your answer.
In all this books ,women character is presented as an object of man except the character of Hester Prynne. She is the real heroine of novel and the main male character is weak here. In all other literary books women character is come after male character. In Da Vinci code also the character of Sophie is more powerful than other male but after that she become dumb character. So we can say that all the women character are strings in man's hand.In movie all this characters are presented as objectified one for sexual pleasure like Ophelia, Elizabeth, and Hester Prynne. But the character of Sophie Neuve in Da Vinci code is dumbest one.
6)Do novel / film lead us into critical (deconstructive) thinking about your religion? Can we think of such conspiracy theory about Hindu religious symbols / myths?
Yes these type of novel or movies leads us to deconstruct religion or doubt it. We can easily deconstruct the story of Da Vinci code. It raised openly attack on Christianity and it's follower, debate in people's mind. In Hindu religion also there is some elements which we can deconstruct but it needs more time. There are so many examples which can be helpful for deconstruct the Hindu God. Now we can also deconstruct it with raise questions against it and read it as it is against of it.
7)Have you come across any similar book/movie, which tries to deconstruct accepted notions about Hindu religion or culture and by dismantling it, attempts to reconstruct another possible interpretation of truth.
In Mahabharata ,there is not any particular interpretation of Bhagvat Gita. This is added one in Mahabharata.
8)When we do traditional reading of the novel ‘The Da Vinci Code’, Robert Langdon, Professor of Religious Symbology, Harvard University emerges asprotagonist and Sir Leigh Teabing, a British Historian as antagonist. Who will claim the position of protagonist if we do atheist reading of the novel.
I think Leigh Teabing is more powerful character of the novel whose intension is not to get money but to make people free from the faith of religion and church. He wants to reveal truth with any cost of destroying huma faith on religion. So he is hero of atheist religion.
9)Explain Ann Gray’s three propositions on ‘knowability’ with illustrations from the novel ‘The Da Vinci Code’.
a. 1) Identifying what is knowable
b. 2) identifying and acknowledging the relationship of the knower and the known
c. 3) What is the procedure for ‘knowing.
It is very difficult to show that what we knows is truth. So always be doubtful on our own interpretation and knowledge. If we got all the knowledge of things then there is not any possibility of curiosity and knowing about truth. In Da Vinci code,Bezu Fache is believer of Opus Die , he works with blindness of what his religious person said. Silas is also one of them. These both person not know reality or even not trying to know reality. So its matter that from where we try to get knowledge. Example of Sophie that she is also does not know what she really is. She is that what she is not believing. So knowability is important thing here.
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