How did the Da Vinci Code effect our culture?

Answer 1

As for the content, I don't think it did at all. But a book being on the top of the best seller list and selling as many copies as it did for as long as it did definitely does say something about our culture. It says that people are reading and that they are curious. And every writer on this planet should rejoice because for a while there it looked as though television, movies, video games and the internet might just drive reading to a back burner. People either loved that book or hated it. There was no middle ground. But the fact is they READ it! It wasn't meant to change your mind about Christianity - it was meant to get you to READ. It was written to entertain. And in that respect, you may say what you will about Brown's skill or lack of as a writer, but he went a long way to bring reading back to average America. People who hadn't picked up a book in years suddenly spent 20 bucks and read it. What was really cool was that he put out a deluxe edition with photographs that showed the art, architecture etc. depicted in the book. What a stroke of marketing genius that was. Picture books for adults. Realizing that people today are visually oriented through television, movies, etc. he found a way to bring that to a book and it worked. Years from now, writing students as well as marketing students will be studying the Da Vinci Code phenomenon. Pax - C

PS 15 minutes of fame? Are you kidding me? EVERY author should have that kind of 15 minutes of fame. It is a worldwide bestseller with more than 60.5 million copies in print (as of May 2006) and has been translated into 44 languages. It is thought to be the fourteenth best-selling book of all time. I will take that 15 minutes any day. It was on the NY Times Bestseller list for over TWO YEARS. Some 15 minutes!! That book literally kept Doubleday, its publisher, from tanking after over a century of publishing books.

Answer 2

Did the Da Vinci Code affect our culture? If it had any effect, it made Jesus a major topic of conversation.

You could say that it gave yet another "amazing" conspiracy theory to those who want to believe that the New Testament is not true and that Jesus is NOT Who He said He is. It also gave some who don't know about Jesus the desire to do some further research on their own. Those who believe that the Bible is the Word of God and Jesus is Lord weren't affected at all (though some did research into the "facts" of the book only to find they were nothing but fabrications and misstatements and pieces of history from varying times and places that were randomly fitted together...thus a cleverly written piece of fiction).

Answer 3

It didn't. It was a so so book that was easy to read. I read it on a long train journey when i was travelling trough Europe. Some of the questions is asked were interesting, but nothing that hadn't been asked before.

I actually found the discussion about the way that the meaning of symbols can be manipulated and changed, and the way that the early founders of the Church portrayed women, more compelling than whether or not Jesus and Mary Magdalen had a child.

Answer 4

I had a lot of acquaintances who knew that I had a large collection of books about Christianity and Church history, ask to borrow books from me after reading Brown's book. That's a good thing. No one ever asked to borrow those books before. On the flip side, while it was wildly popular and I wish I'd written it, it was just another occasion for the iconoclasts (at least in the US) to rally. We seem to thrive on tearing down institutions in this country.

Answer 5

It made a lot of people more aware of the history of Christianity. I don't think it really changed anyone's mind, it just was one of the periodic reminders that Christianity wasn't always as monolithic as it was during the middle ages. It also taught a pair of writers that you're better off not claiming your vast conspiracy theories are all true.

Answer 6

It didn't effect my culture at all. I thought it all to be hokum. The movie looked interesting for a few minutes but it also palled. Did effect anyone's whole culture? That's a little scary.

Answer 7

I don't see that it has affected our culture, other than being another conspiracy theory, anyway.
It had no political, social impact.
It was simple a book, then a movie, that caused some controversy, had its 15 minutes of fame, then went back on the shelf.

Answer 8

Further perpetrated the myth of secret societies and conspiracy. Priory of Sion has been thoroughly disproved and the real group Opus Dei has unfairly had their good name tarnished. Tom Hanks did not win Best Actor. Mona Lisa is a nice painting.

Answer 9

It made the people who read it more likely to believe in secret societies & consiparcy theories. On our culture at large? Not too much, I think.

Answer 10

well I think most the Americans are very ignorants and have anything to think so they can not leave in Peace the dead and the most intelligent people in the world.In Italy yes we have bad people ignorants like every country has but we had and we still have the most super intelligent people in the world .Italy has so many inventions in everything in since in medicine in communications in architect and in discovery in singing in everything you can image which today the humanity we enjoy so place leave the dead alone to rest in Peace and thanks them for the good thinks left for us to enjoy