The Truth about Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown was on the New York Times bestselling list for more then two years, recently returning to the top of the list due to the release of the paperback version in March of 2006. Released by Doubleday in March of 2003, it was an instant hit. The book is a very well written piece of fictional literature that combines the use of historical facts and artifacts with a completely fictional adventure. Brown's use of history has created a certain amount of believability to his story. When it comes to writing authors enjoy the use of creative freedom. So if they choose to use historical fact in a fictional book does that make it a non-fiction book? The use of historical facts, events, artifacts, and so on, in a fictional writing does cannot change that fiction into non-fiction. A fictional book is a fictional book regardless of the amount of fact used to enhance a storyline.
The Da Vinci Code is the story of the thrilling adventure of Robert Langdon. He becomes involved in the hunt for the truth behind the beginnings of Christianity and the Holy Grail. The main plot line of the book is based off the idea that the Holy Grail is Mary Magdalena herself, the supposed wife of Christ, and that she had a female child, thus the bloodline of Christ continues after his death. This truth of Christ's bloodline is of course the largest secret of the church and could destroy the church if it was ever found out by the public. Therefore this truth has been kept secret and protected by a number of secret religious societies. (Brown)
Dan Brown has claimed that all of the historical information in his book is accurate. On the Today Show he stated, "Obviously, there are--Robert Langdon is fictional, but all of the art, architecture, secret rituals, secret societies, all of that is historical fact."(Today). This is restated this on the bottom of one of the first pages of his book, along with a brief description of The Priory of Sion and Opus Dei, the two main secret societies in the book. However along with this mention of historical accuracy come the statement in on the copyright page of the book "In this work of fiction, the characters, places and events are either the product of the author's imagination or they are used entirely fictitiously.
Warner, Marina. Alone of all Her Sex: The Myth and the Cult of the Virgin Mary. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1976.
Is it possible for a fictional novel to have the characteristic elements to make the reader believe that it is nonfiction? In the novel, Bleachers by John Grisham, we witness a disoriented former high school all-star quarterback make a return to his hometown after many years as he tries to figure out the feelings he has for his former Coach. The novel takes place in a small town called Messina, where the biggest events to happen are high school football on a Friday night. Other than Spartan football, the small populated, Messina does not have much going for them besides hearing about the latest news and gossip spread with the locals. Neely Crenshaw is the main character focused in the story. A once high school hero for breaking quarterback records and accumulating wins for the Spartans, decides whether if it is right to keep a grudge or be thankful from his passing coach, Eddie Rake. Eddie Rake is the reason why Spartan football was put on the map. His intense and unorthodox practice turned students into actual Spartans of football. He is also the reason many former Spartan football players have returned, including Neely because he has been in severe condition due to cancer. As the players reminisce on realistic events and moments of state games, they also await for the lights to shut off on Rake’s Field. The believable context of this fictional novel has a convincing setting, theme, characters, and events that make readers believe the possibility in real life.
Inferno follows the story of Dr. Langdon and Sienna Brooks as they travel through Florence trying to stop a mad man from setting loose a disease that could wipe out huge amounts of populations as a way to solve the world’s overpopulation problem. This disease being later shown to be a vector virus that make’s 1/3 of humans actually sterile instead. Langdon however has no memory of anything and has to retrace his steps in order to stop the possible outbreak. Many of the places told in the story all have to deal with significant areas within Florence herself. Florence is the breeding ground of the world’s most famous artists and have inspired books and even video games alike. From the Boboli Gardens to the Florence Baptistry.
The book gives specific examples that can be found in primary sources that came directly from the courts. It paints a picture of how certain events such as the smallpox epidemic and Native American raids on the settlers of Colonial America impacted Salem and its surrounding towns. While not everything in the novel could be considered historically correct, there is enough accuracy to use the book for educational
Historians do not have access to many documents that elaborate on the Knights Templar, but what they do have access to demonstrates that the Knights Templar, were extremely influential on the Medieval Church. The Knights Templar, a fairly controversial and secretive order, has been greatly misunderstood since the order began in the Middle Ages. Despite the misunderstandings and controversy, the Knights Templar had many good accomplishments; including protecting Christian pilgrims, defending the Church from heresy and blasphemy, and helping oppressed Christians.
William C. Plachers’ article, “Is the Bible True?” explores deeper into the subject of the Bible and if it content it contains is credible information. Through Plachers’ statement, “We need to understand the genre to understand a text. Reading a text literally is not always reading it faithfully,” we are able to reach the idea that the Bible is in fact true, but it all depends on how the individual interprets the text.
The Painting Martha and Mary Magdalene is one of the many masterpieces in the DIA’s collection in Detroit. Although there is much more to understanding a work of art then just looking at it. In order to understand a piece, you have to understand the Artist, the time period, and the symbols in that painting that may have very different meaning today.
Throughout history, there have been many noteworthy events that have happened. While there are many sources that can explain these events, historical fiction novels are some of the best ways to do so, as they provide insight on the subject matter, and make you feel connected to the people that have gone through it. An example of a historical fiction that I have just read is The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne, a story about the life of a German boy who becomes friends with a Jewish boy in a concentration camp during the holocaust. The author of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas portrays the historical period well,and uses many details from the real life holocaust to make his story more believable. This book is a classic, and is a very good look on how it feels to be living in Nazi Germany.
...se and no one in this book has super powers. There is also nothing about their situation that couldn’t happen to a person in real life. I think that the only thing that makes this story different from non-fiction is that it would not be as entertaining if it were real life events. It would be hard to think there would be this many twists to a real life story.
"The Passion of the Christ" by Mel Gibson, recounts the last twelve hours of the life of Jesus of Nazareth, portraying his arrest, trial, crucifixion and death. One of the most popular religious movies in modern times, it therefore becomes susceptible to criticism. Although the film is based upon the stories within the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, there are many exaggerations and non-biblical elements present in the movie. This is not unexpected, since it is a movie, but the vivid detail of the brutality in the movie as well as the Anti-Semitic theme are the most publicly criticized elements of the movie. The Passion emphasizes the brutality Jesus endured to give himself for his people, but at the same time in the movie the Jews are the ones that cry for his death. During several scenes of The Passion of the Christ, there are elements such as characters, themes, and motifs that are not found within the gospels, but are in the movie to add more dramatic elements.
Mary Magdalene was a woman who was a mystery to many people for centuries. She was mentioned only a handful of times in the New Testament. Even though she was only mentioned a few times she carried a lot of character. To this day there is not an extended amount of information to help support people’s thoughts and ideas about this woman.
In 1984 the government, or "The Party," controlled the past. They were able to destroy all proof that something did or did not happen. If at the beginning of the year "The Party" published an estimate that 10 million shoes would be produced that year, and only 5 million were produced they would destroy all evidence of them ever having estimated 10 million. They would find all of the newspapers with this and destroy it. The Ministry of Truth (MiniTrue in NEWSPEAK) would have someone change the estimate to something like 3 million shoes. Then the next newspaper article would state that they actually over-filled their quota. This is a very scary thought. "The Party" in the book was able to destroy all of the references that something, even a person, ever existed. Although you KNEW he had, you could never find proof that it was true. The really scary part about this is that we could do this with even greater ease today. Since most information is now kept on disk, and backed up onto even more magnetic media, one could simply destroy all areas where the data said that someone had existed. The only problem would be finding the newspapers and other references, which could be taken care of by agents of the government.Our government is taking steps
Movies and books such as The Da Vinci Code that carry themes that are directly related to the Bible are going to face criticism, especially when the themes within them display controversial information that undermines how Christians and the Church understand the Bible. The Da Vinci Code explores a conspiracy about the Vatican and Jesus, and director Ron Howard displays on screen what author Dan Brown presented as historical truth in his novel. Much like Brown, director Darren Aronofsky presented his 2014 film Noah to be a truthful account of the famous Biblical story, but in reality rewrote the story to be what many argue is an “anti-biblical” representation of the true story of “Noah’s
To this day the Last Supper continues to be one of the most famous art pieces created by da Vinci. It is considered the first great configuration of the High renaissance and visual interpretation of its theme focus. Although several other artist has attempted to paint a portrait of The Last Supper da Vinci remains the most studied and well known of all.