the da vinci code

So I finally got on the bandwagon and have started to read The Da Vinci Code. It really interesting so far but the concepts don't seem terribly original. In fact, alot of its ideas have been appearing in the culture lately

For example, there is Stigmata a film which is, in a visual sense, very well done. There are many shots of the movie which are set up like powerfully beautiful photographs. Aspects of the movie are inspired by the Gospel of Thomas and (like the Da Vinci code) part of the plot involves a group within the Catholic Church who is apparently willing to go to great lengths in order to gain control of a powerful secret.

Dogma is a Kevin Smith comedy. It certainly isn't for the easily offended. I won't say very much about the plot except that like The Prophecy and Constantine (two movies which are in other respects also VERY similar to one another... but The Prophecy came first) it features angels as the "villians". And like the Da Vinci code it also plays with the idea that Jesus has living relatives in the modern-day.

My favorite thing to mention about Dogma is the fact that Chris Rock's character, Rufus the black disciple, is *actually in the Bible*. He's possibly mentioned twice:

Right before Mark's description of the crucifixion we can read:

And they compelled a passer-by, Simon of Cyre'ne, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. And they brought him to the place called Gol'gotha (which means the place of a skull). (Mark 15:21-22)

Cyrene is in Northern Africa. And then as a part of the introduction to one of Paul's letters he writes:

Greet Rufus, eminent in the Lord, also his mother and mine. (Romans 1:13)

Millenium is a tv series by the makers of the X-Files. Except where the typical X-files episodes might have to do with aliens and psychic phenomena, the typical episode of Millenium has to do with serial killers and apocalyptic/satanic cults. And like the Da Vinci code, a big part of the series had to do with the idea that Jesus has relatives who are alive in modern-times.

Actually, I understated it when I said that the Da Vinci is based on ideas which have already been floating around in the culture. In fact the authors of another work Holy Blood, Holy Grail (which claims to be a non-fictional work about secret societies, the Holy Grail and the descendents of Jesus) are trying to sue the author of The Da Vinci code for plagarism.

Even so, the Da Vinci Code seems like an engaging book so far and I'm eager to see how it ends.