Religion and Sexism in The Da Vinci Code
Ron Howard directs the 2006 movie “The Da Vinci Code” with screenplay by Akiva Goldsman. The Da Vinci Code based on the 2003 mystery detective novel written by Dan Brown. The movie features Academy award winner Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou, in their thrilling journey to solve an unusual murder mystery, which takes them from the midst of France to England. The movie takes the audience behind the curtain of an enigmatic ancient society, where the characters uncover a secret that had been protected since the age of Christ.
In both the film and the book there are various themes, which touch on aspects such as race, gender, violence, power and the notion of representation. The author Dan Brown chooses not to accept the belief that faith in God is embedded through the ignorance of the truth. The Church often depicted a sort of vagueness and “unintelligence,” when it came to facing the truth about God. This is also illustrated through the role of Bishop Aringarosa, with the idea that the Church should not be involved with scientific investigation. The Da Vinci Code also highlights that the Church has also implemented “ignorance” towards the existence of the descendants of Jesus Christ. However, in the book Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) reveals that maybe the secret and understanding of the Grail should be left a secret. He goes on to explain that the secret should be conserved so that people would be able to keep their religious beliefs intact. Langdon explains in both the book and the film that people who faithfully believe in God would be able to understand that the Bible created through metaphors, in contrast to literal records of the truth. In short, the belief and faith of people can endure the truth.
The Da Vinci Code also questions the truth behind history. The book consists of various reinterpretations of stories and tales, from the life of Jesus, the pentacle as well as Leonardo Da Vinci’s The Last Supper. Author Dan Brown provides his own interpretation on how the bible was constructed and of the misplaced gospels. The character of Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) also refers to the Disney movie The Little Mermaid, in order to depict the divine femininity, which was lost. These retellings are illustrated as moderately true throughout the book and film.
The theme of gender plays a role as various characters in both the book and film continuously dismiss the power of women. The role of Sophie Neveu Saint-Clair is undervalued and misjudged in The Da Vinci Code. In fact as depicted in the book, Sophie is capable of sneaking into the Louvre museum in France and cleverly gives Robert Langdon a secret message, which saves him from being arrested. This is all because of the fact that Fache doubts that Sophie is capable of completing the mission. Fache also labels Sophie as a “female cryptologist,” where he uses words such as “female” in order to discriminate Sophie. Fache depicts his doubts about Sophie as well as Robert Langton’s capability to invade Interpol. The intelligence of women is also highlighted through the example of Robert Langdon and Teabing excluding Sophie from investigating one of the various clues concealed in the rose box. As a result this belittles Sophie Neveu Saint-Clair. Ironically when Sophie sees the clue for the first time, she is able to instantly decipher it. There are various other examples of women in The Da Vinci Code who are discriminated in comparison to their male-counterparts. For example Sister Sandrine who is a sentry for the Brotherhood and Marie Chauvel, Sophie’s grandmother who is able to preserve her bloodline.
The theme of sexism is continuously brought up throughout The Da Vinci Code, as sexist men are used as a notion to the religions, which commemorate the divine feminine. There are numerous examples of this type of bias, as seen in the book and the film, for example Fache’s failure to acknowledge women in the workplace. Also, Opus Dei’s female followers, who are not paid for their cleaning duties and are not allowed to be around men. Another example is portrayed when Teabing discloses that he created the plot and ridicules Sophie as undeserving of keeping the secret of the Grail.
References:
Brown, Dan. The Da Vinci Code: A Novel. New York: Doubleday, 2003.
Encyclopedia Britannica Online, s. v. “Leonardo da Vinci”, accessed October 12, 2016, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Leonardo-da-Vinci.
Priwer, Shana, and Cynthia Phillips. Leonardo Da Vinci. Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 2011.
