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DVC in Newsweek

Archived from The Magdalene Review on Thursday 22 December 2005

The Da Vinci Code is featured in this week’s issue of Newsweek. The article revolves around how those involved with the film feel about the story as well as their roles in the movie. Some interesting tidbits about the business of DVC are revealed, such as how the film rights were captured by Sony, how the actors and directors came to be involved, and how sets were handled on location. (The real Mona Lisa, relegated to a storage closet!?) Read more

Posted on by redegg

Umberto Eco has been naughty

Archived from The Magdalene Review: Monday 28 November 2005

This is an excerpt from an opinion piece posted today on The Sunday Telegraph opinion page:

God isn’t big enough for some people
by Umberto Eco

G K Chesterton is often credited with observing: “When a man ceases to believe in God, he doesn’t believe in nothing. He believes in anything.” Whoever said it – he was right. We are supposed to live in a sceptical age. In fact, we live in an age of outrageous credulity.

The “death of God”, or at least the dying of the Christian God, has been accompanied by the birth of a plethora of new idols. They have multiplied like bacteria on the corpse of the Christian Church — from strange pagan cults and sects to the silly, sub-Christian superstitions of The Da Vinci Code.

It is amazing how many people take that book literally, and think it is true. Admittedly, Dan Brown, its author, has created a legion of zealous followers who believe that Jesus wasn’t crucified: he married Mary Magdalene, became the King of France, and started his own version of the order of Freemasons. Many of the people who now go to the Louvre are there only to look at the Mona Lisa, solely and simply because it is at the centre of Dan Brown’s book.

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