Eric's Beijing Diary

The Davinci Code has been pulled from theatres in China. I saw the news the other day in the China Daily. The reason given is the need to make room for local films. Possible, but I rather suspect that there is another reason. This film was making a lot of money. It's possible that the Catholic Church lodged a complaint, since the movie is blatantly anti-Catholic. Or perhaps the government felt that the movie generated too much interest in Christianity, although I personally doubt that. The movie makes very minimal reference to the Bible.

I didn't like this movie. And I am getting tired of spending my precious time watching movies I know I am not going to like, just so I have something to say to the many, many students who ask me what I think. I come off looking quite biased if I criticize a film I have not seen. But how much of this nonsense must I endure?

I read one Chinese reviewer who bemoaned the superficiality of the movie compared to the book. But that's an old story. The movie is never as good as the book. The reviewer was speaking only in terms of the decoding sequences, which were created with a developing suspense in the book, and sort of fall apart in the movie, mainly because they are so rushed compared to the book.

My problem with the movie was entirely different, partly because I didn't read the book, but mainly because I think the flaw I see is far more significant than the one this Chinese reviewer mentions. There are two things, really. First is the fact that the movie is openly blasphemous. Most people won't react to this, mainly because they don't know what blasphemy is, but also because the blasphemy is presented very tactfully. Jesus is not presented as a "bad guy" or imposter in the movie. Indeed, he is the ancestor of the heroine. But one intent of the movie is clearly to show that Jesus was not God. And the Jesus and Mary Magdalene thing. That is such a tired theme. For me, it started with the 70's rock opera, Jesus Christ Superstar and Mary Magdalene singing,

I don't know how to love him.
What to do, how to move him.
I've been changed, yes really changed.
In these past few days, when I've seen myself,
I seem like someone else.
I don't know how to take this.
I don't see why he moves me.
He's a man. He's just a man...

Then it was Martin Scorsese's "Last Temptation of Christ." I didn't see either of those, partly, I guess, because I didn't have to. I didn't have bunches of students asking me what I thought. In America, the lines are much more clearly drawn. You know what the movie (or opera, in the case of "Superstar") is about before it hits the theaters. You know what everyone from the established corners (religious right, religious left, etc.) thinks about it.

In China, it's different. There is no "religious right" in China. There is no "Moral Majority." Movies don't generally take on a political identity. If they do, they are probably going to be gone for that reason, if for no other, which may be why "Davinci Code" was pulled.

The other thing that irks me about this movie, is that it deliberately alters history. I am getting weary of this, but I suppose I should brace myself, because there will surely be more. These "Oliver Stone" types are a symptom of a decaying society. America is clearly a civilization in decline. One could say that the audience in China is vulnerable to this kind of thing, because the Bible is not well known in China. You can buy it in any church, no questions asked. But it is not available in bookstores (yet). Most people have not read it. In that sense, perhaps, a Chinese audience is more vulnerable than an American audience. But I don't know...people are just gullible. Several years ago, there was a mini-series on the life of Abraham Lincoln which suggested all sorts of negative things about his life that have no basis in history. I would wager that most of the average Americans who watched the mini-series did not know that it was based on a book (Gore Vidal's "Lincoln") that is found in the fiction section of the library. These days, you can say anything you want, and alter history any way you want, as long as you put the word "novel" on the cover.

I don't mean to suggest that historical novels per se are a symptom of a sick or decrepit society. Great novels have been a part of great literature since before there was America. But a great novel must have integrity. It is assumed that a novel will have some fictitious events. But when a novel addresses real people or events, it must be true to history. This whole spate of historical novels, movies, etc. that deliberately rewrite history are a sickening sign of a society where truth is relative, and , as Tom Hanks says at the end of the movie, "The only thing that matters is what you believe."