What would Leonardo have said?
Landed back in Copenhagen today and immediately took up where I left off - the couch. A man needs his rest after all. The four six-hour shifts I've worked this past week have really taken their toll so I'm having at least two weeks off before heading back to the UK. Anyway, I've been thinking about this film of the Da Vinci Code recently. Despite an absolute panning in the press the film has taken four hundred billion pounds or thereabouts in its opening weekend. Mark Lawson said it was the latest example of the 'critic-proof product'. I say it's further proof of mankind's headlong descent into cretinism. I came to this conclusion after reading that one of the principal characters in the book is a 'self-flagellating albino monk'. I have not read Dan Brown's opus as long ago I vowed I would never dirty my brain with any books which 1/ sell more than 2,800 copies and 2/ have the soubriquet 'publishing phenomenon' printed on the cover. For some reason these words conjure up images of a bespectacled bookbinder, his hands moving at speeds not seen since Data out of Star Trek: The Next Generation attempted to save the life of his android progeny by soldering her neural pathways quicker than they were being eroded by a 'system-wide failure'. Sadly for Data, or Mr Data as Captain Picard called him, he failed. Anyway. A 'self-flagellating albino monk'. Good God. Clearly this is the work of a man who spent his formative years locked in a room where the only books were the Hardy Boys' Detective Handbook and The Collected Ian Fleming (with annotated guide to overdone baddies). Oh and of course that one by those acid-damaged pseudo historians about the 'real-life' search for the Holy Grail. You know, the one Dan Brown copied. Incidentally I tried to read that when I was 17 but gave it up because I HAD A LIFE. So what do we conclude from all of this? Obviously, good things happen to weirdos with bad haircuts and worse prose and Captain Picard was the best Star Trek captain though Deep Space Nine was easily the best series. FACT.
posted by Aaron78 @ 11:19 PM
4 Comments:
I had vowed never to read the darned book either. I held out for a long time. Then last Christmas I was in Jutland for a week and had finished my book. I went to the book store and that's the only English book they had. Rows and rows of it. So I bought it and read it.
My conclusion is that it is very good at making the reader believe he/she is clever. It works to make the average joe flatter his intelligence. On that level it's a work of genius (clearly proved by its success). As for being a good piece of writing, it appalled me.
The film is another interesting aspect though. Could this be the first time that the majority of an audience *have* read the book before they see the film? Books are all about personal interpretations and imagery. I'm facinated how all these people are going to feel when it's not quite like they imagined.
Or something.
Are you up to anything at the weekend?
Hi! Good to hear from you. Well, it's my birthday on Sunday so Anne is taking me out on Saturday for a meal at a place called Les Trois Couchons which should be nice. No plans tomorrow though. How's tricks? Did you find anyone for the room?
Well, I only have one thing to say! Culture snob!... No, wait: wannabe culture snob.... No, wait: One-eyed wannabe culture snob. Let us commoners have a little fun with the bestsellers while you geek out with Star Trek.... (!). And by the way, I know for a fact that you have monkey genes and watch Malcom in the Middle every morning - how intellectual is that?
Happy Birthday, Aaron. Go us Geminis! Our motto: "Whatever it is, I'll take two". I'm enjoying your writing - thank you, darling.
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