So Says The Mouse In My Hair

Dan Brown Is A Liar?

So the Da Vinci Code is in the news again, this time because the Catholic Church fears that this book gives them a bad name. "It’s full of lies," they say. And this is easily rebutted by any thinking person anywhere by saying, "It’s friggin fiction! What were you expecting, George and a cherry tree?"

Me personally, I didn’t care for the book. How does it irk me? Let me count the ways. No, that would take to long and make me sound like an elitist bitch. (me? Ha!) So let me summerize. I have no problem with the thesis of the book, if Dan Brown wants to get people thinking about something they’ve just taken for granted since their parents were conceived, that’s fine with me. I have a problem with bad writing. And The Da Vinci Code was bad writing. I suffered from an appalling lack of curiosity over what was going to come next, and his little "cliffhangers" at the end of every chapter were overused, over dramatic, and overkill. (As was my use of the word, for which I apologize.) The only thing that kept me reading was habit.

Originally, I decided that this would be a perfectly wonderful book if the man hadn’t tried to stick it in an ooo-lets-get-everyone-ever-to-read-this-thing hole. Translation: I would have preferred non-fiction.

Thing is, fiction is going to reach a larger audience than a thesis paper. If you take what you want to say, dumb it down into a cheesy suspense novel and add the Mona Lisa (to make them feel smart) you’re going to reach roughly an extra billion people. Your message has got do much further than it ever could have otherwise.

Where was I? Oh, that’s right, I was talking about people using the fiction label as a defense of the book. Not too happy, about that. It’s a cop out. Saying The Da Vinci Code has no responsibility to the truth because it’s a work of fiction is cheating.

That’s not to say that I think Dan Brown is telling the truth. That is to say that I think Dan Brown thinks that his theory is true (or at least that it has some validity) and when people say "it’s fiction" meaning, "it’s just fiction" that undermines the potency of what he wants to say. (Yet another problem that could have been solved if the man had done the simple thing and non-fictized the book.)

Unless of course, he doesn’t believe a word he’s written and it really is just fiction to him, in which case he’s much worse than just a bad writer, he’s a cult leader and should be removed from the face of the Earth ASAP. (But then again, he should be removed from the face of the Earth ASAP anyway, just for being a hack.)

OK, I’m getting off the high horse now. Tune in tomorrow for something completely different.

And please, please, please, if you didn't like The Da Vinci Code, show your face (or voice, or fingerprint or SSN). We can start a support group. I think I might need it.

posted by Sarah Eliza @ 12:06 PM